
Gass E_L<i.i 

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THE FIRST DISCOVERY OF 



PUBI.I8HF.:) UV J. i*: J. HA.B-PIB^. 



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A lLEA.lD)E,lEL.&iP TPHiE. S J?Ji."VA.© IB TILUBIE 

Rei-rrdiim liLt Virtcries en a. Tree. 



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HISTORY 

op THE 

DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 

OF 

AMERICA. 

BY WILLIAM ROBERTSON, D.D. 

PRINCIPAL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, ETC. ETC. 
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS. 

COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. 



^eijj=^ovU : 



IHIIXTED BY J. S,- ./. JMRPER, 82 CLlh'F-sTREKT. 

SOLD BY E. DUVCKINCK, COLLINS AND HANNAY, COLLINS AND CO., G. AND C. CARVILL, 
O. A. ROORBACII, W. B. GILLEV, AND E. BLISS ;— PHILADELPHIA, CAREY, LEA, AND 
CAREY, TOWAR AND IIOGAN, AND JOHN GRIGO ;— BOSTON, RICHARDSON AND 
LORD, 'and HILMAUn. CRAY, AND CO.;— BALT1M0H E, F.LUCAS, JR. 

182S. 



t-14-3 



THE 



LIFE OF DR. Win. ROB£RTJSON< 



William Robertson^ the eldest son of the Reverend William Robert- 
son, was born on the 8th of September, 1721, at Borthwick, in the shire of 
Mid Lothian, of which parish his father was the minister. By the paternal 
line he descended from a respectable family in the county of Fife, a branch 
of that which, for many generations, possessed the estate of Struan, in 
Perthshire. His mother was the daughter of David Pitcairn, esq. of 
Dreghorn. He had one brother and six sisters ; all of whom were well 
settled in life, and most of whom lived to an advanced age. 

It was at the parochial school of Borthwick that Robertson received the 
initiatory part of his education ; but as soon as he was sufficiently forward 
to enter on the study of the learned languages, he was removed to the 
school of Dalkeith. The latter seminary was then under the superintend- 
ence of Mr. Leslie, whose eminence as a teacher was such as to attract 
pupils from all parts of Scotland ; and the father of Robertson was con-^ 
sequently induced to send him to Dalkeith rather than to the Scottish 
metropolis. 

When the future historian was twelve years old, his father was trans- 
ferred from Borthwick to one of the churches of Edinburgh. In the 
autumn of 1733 he joined his parents ; and, in October, he was admitted 
into the college and university of the northern capital. 

Whatever were his first attempts at composition, and it is probable they 
were many, nothing has been preserved to show how early he began to 
exercise his talents, or with what degree of rapidity those talents were 
expanded. It is certain, however, that in the pursuit of knowledge he 
displayed that ardour and perseverance -svithout which nothing great will 
ever be accomplished. A strong proof of this is afforded by some of his 
early commonplace books, which bear the dates of 1735, 1736, and 1737. 
The motto, vita sine Uteris mors est, which he prefixed to these books, 
sufficiently indicates by what an honourable ambition and love of literature 
he was inspired at a very tender and generally thoughtless age. The boy 
of fourteen, who can cherish the feeling which is implied by this motto, 
gives promise that his manhood will reflect lustre on himself and on the 
country of his birth. 

Among the men of eminence, by whose instructions he profited at the 
iniiversi^, were sir John Pringle, afterwards president of the Royal 
Society, but then professor of moral philosophy; Maclaurin, justly cele- 
brated for the extent of his mathematical skill and the purity of his style ; 
and Dr. Stevenson, the learned and indefatigable professor of logic. To 
the masterly prelections of the latter, especially to his illustrations of the 
poetics of Aristotle, and of Longinus on the Sublime, Robertson often 
declared that he considered himself to be more deeply indebted than to 
any circumstance in the course of his academical career. It was indeed 
not towards the abstract sciences that the bent of his genius was directed. 
To mathematical and mechanical speculations he seems to have been at 
least cold, perhaps averse. Neither was he remarkable for metaphysical 
acuteness. His delight was to trace and elucidate moral and religious 
truths, to apply the process of reasoning to subjects more immediately co" 



jv THE LIFE OF 

nected with the every-day business of existence, to search into the causes 
and effects of historical events, to expatiate amidst the perennial beauties of 
classic lore, and, by meditating on the great models of oratorical art, to 
render himself master of all the poweriul resources of a ready and persua- 
sive eloquence. 

With respect to eloquence, ihe possession of it was in fact indispensable 
to one who, as m all probability was the case with Robertson, had deter- 
mined to assuire a prominent station among the pastors and leaders of the 
Scottish church. The mere knowledge ol rules, however, or even a tho- 
rough acquaintance with the rich stores of ancient and modern oratory, 
will not suffice to form an orator. It is by use alone that facility of speech 
and promptitude oi reply can be acquired. It is the collision of minds 
which strikes out the " thoughts that breathe, and words that burn." 
During the last years, therefore, of his residing at college, he joined with 
some of his contemporaries in establishing a society, the avowed purpose 
of which, as we are told by Mr. Stewart, was " to cultivate the study of 
elocution, and to prepare themselves, by the habits of extemporary dis- 
cussion and debate, for conducting the business of popular assemblies." 

Of the colleagues of Robertson in this society many ultimately rose, like 
himself, to high reputation. Among them were Cleghorn, subsequently 
professor of moral philosophy at Edinburgh, Dr. John Blair, who became 
a member of the Royal Society, and a prebendajy of VVestmmster, and 
who gave to the public " The Chronology and History of the World," 
Wilkie, the author of the Epigoniad, a faulty poem, but above contempt, 
Home, the author of Douglas, and Dr. Erskine, who, in after life, was at 
once the coadjutor, rival, opponent, and friend of Robertson. 

This society continued in existence, and, no doubt, was beneficial to its 
members, till it was broken up by a quarrel, which had its rise from a reli- 
gious source, and which, consequently, was of more than common bitter- 
ness. In 1741 that extraordinary man Whitefield, who was then in the 
zenith of his fame, paid a visit to Scotland, and his preaching excited in 
that country a feeling equally as strong as it had excited in England. On 
the subject of his merit violent parties immediately sprang up, especially 
among the clerg)^. By the one side he was considered as a clerical won- 
der, a kind of apostle, from whose evangelical labours the happiest result 
might be expected ; by the other side he was calumniated as an impostor, 
and a worthless private character, while some, in the excess of their holy 
zeal, did not scruple to stigmatize him, even from the pulpit, as " an agent 
of the devil." It was natural that this question should be debated by 
Robertson and his associates; and it was, perhaps, not less natural that it 
should be argued with so much heat and asperity as not only to cause the 
dissolution of the society, but even, it is said, to interrupt, tor some time, 
the intercourse of the members as private individuals. Of those who 
entertained doubts with regard to the personal conduct of Whitefield, and 
the utility of his efforts, Robertson was one. From his acknowledged 
moderation and evenness of temper we may, however, infer that his hos- 
tility to the preacher was carried on in a liberal spirit, and that he did not 
think it either necessary or decorous to brand him as an agent of the prince 
of darkness. 

To excel in his written style as much as in his oral Avas one object of his 
ambition. The practice of clothing in an English dress the standard works 
of the ancients has beep often recommended, as conducive to the improve- 
ment of style; and he seems to have believed it to be so, for it was 
adopted by him- He carried it so far as to entertain serious thoughts ot 
preparing for the press a version of Marcus Antoninus. His scheme was. 
however, frustrated by the appearance of an anonymous translation at 
Glasgow. " In making choice of this author." says Mr. Stewart, "he was 
probably not a little iniluenced by that parliality with which (among the 



DR. ROBERTSON. v 

writers of heathen moralists) he always regarded the remains of the stoical 
philosophy." 

Having completed his academic course, and richly stored his mind, he 
quitted the university, and, in 1741, beiore he had quite attained the age 
of twenty, a license to preach the gospel was given to him by the presby- 
tery of Dalkeith. This kind of license, which does not authorize to 
administer the sacraments or to umlertake the cure of souls, is granted to 
laymen ; and the person who receives it may be considered as being placed 
by it in a state of probation. 

After the lapse of two years, from the period of his leaving the univer- 
sity, when he was yet little more than twenty-two, he was, in 1743, pre- 
sented, by the Earl of Hopetoun, to the living of Gladsmuir. Of this pro- 
ferment the yearly \alue was not more than one hundred pounds. Scanty, 
however, as were its emoluments, it was most opportunely bestowed, lie 
had not long resided at Gladsmuir when an unexpected and melancholy 
event occurred, which put to the trial at once his firmness and his benevo- 
lence. His tather and mother expired within a few hours of each olhei-, 
leaving behind them a family of six daughters and one son, without the 
means of providing for their education and maintenance. On this occa- 
sion Robertson acted in a manner which bore irrefragable testimony to the 
goodness of his heart, and which was also, as Mr. Stewart justly observes, 
" strongly marked with that manly decision in his plans, and that perse- 
vering steadiness in their execution, which were the characteristic features 
of his mind." Regardless of the privations to which he must necessarily 
submit, and the interruption which his literary and other projects must 
experience, he received his father's family into his house at Gladsmuir, 
educated hi:5 sisters under his own roof, and retained them there till oppor- 
tunities arose of settling them respectably in the world. His merit is 
enhanced by the circumstance of his fraternal affection having imposed on 
him a sacrifice far more painful than that of riches or fame. He was ten- 
derly attached to his cousin Miss Mary Nesbit, daughter of the Reverend 
Mr. Nesbit, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, and his attachment was 
returned ; but it was not till 1751, when his family had ceased to stand in 
need of his protecting care, that he thought himself at liberty to complete 
a union which had, tor several years, been the object of his ardent wishes. 
It is pleasant to know that the wife whom he so tardily obtained was every 
way worthy of such a husband, and that he suffiered no interruption of his 
domestic happiness. 

While he was laudably occupied in promoting the welfare of his orphan 
relatives, the rebellion broke out in Scotland. " It afforded him," says 
Mr. Stewart, " an opportunity of evincing the sincerity of that zeal for the 
civil and religious liberties of his country, vvhichhe had imbibed with the 
first principles of his education ; and which afterwards, at the distance of 
more than forty years, when he was called on to employ his eloquence in 
the national commemoration of the revolution, seemed to rekindle the fires 
of his youth. His situation as a country clergyman confined indeed his 
patriotic exertions within a narrow sphere ; but even here his conduct was 
guided by a mind superior to the scene in which he acted. On one occa- 
sion (when the capital was in danger of falling into the hands of the rebels) 
the present state of public affairs appeared so critical that lie thought him- 
self justified in laying aside for a time the pacific haJjits of his proiession, 
and in quitting his parochial residence at Gladsnuiir to join the volunteers 
of Edinburgh. And when, at last, it was deteimined that the city should 
be surrendered, he was one of" the small band who repaired to Hadding- 
ton, and offered their services to the commander of His Majesty's forces." 
With the exception of this one troubled interval he continued, for many 
years, in the tranquil performance of his pastoral duties. The hours of 
his leisure were devoted to literary researches and to living the solid fonn- 



vi THE LIFE OF 

dation of future eminence. It was his practice to rise early, and to read 
and write much before breakfast. The remainder of the day he devoted 
to the claims of his profession. As a minister of the gospel he was consci- 
entious and active ; not confining himself to the mere routine of his sacred 
office, but endeavouring by every means to extend the comibrts and influ- 
ence of religion. In the summer months it was customary for him, previous 
to the commencement of the church service, to assemble the youthful part 
of his flock tor the purpose of explaining to them the doctrines of the 
catechism. By his zeal, his punctuality, and the suavity of his behaviour, 
he won the love of his parishioners ; so that, in all their difficulties, it was 
to him that they resorted for consolation and tor counsel. His pulpit elo- 
quence was such as atforded delight to all classes of people ; because, 
while it was adorned with those graces of style which are required to 
satisfy men of judgment and taste, it was rendered level to the compre- 
hension of his humblest hearers, by the clearness of its ai^ument and the 
perspicuity of its language. 

The time at length arrived when the talents of Robertson were to be 
displayed on a more extensive and public scene of action, and he was to 
assume a leading share in the government of the Scottish church. He did 
not, however, come forward among his colleagues till he had attained the 
mature age of thirty, and had thoroughly prepared himself to sustain his 
new and important part with untiring vigour and a decisive effect. It was 
on the question of patronage that he tirst exerted his powers of eloquence 
in a deliberative assembly. 

To enable the mere English reader to comprehend this subject, it may, 
perhaps, be proper to give some account of the constitution of the church 
of Scotland, and also of the right of patronage, out of which arose the 
contentions and heartburnings by which the church was disturbed for a 
considerable period. 

The church of Scotland is ruled by a series of judicatories, rising by 
regular gradation from the kirk session, or parochial consistory, which is 
the lowest in order, to the general assembly, which is the highest. The 
kirk session is composed of the ministers and lay elders of parishes ; a 
presbytery is formed of the ministers of contiguous parishes, with certain 
representatives from the kirk sessions ; and a provincial synod is consti- 
tuted by the union of a plurality of presbyteries. Crowning the whole is 
the general assembly. This body consists of three hundred and sixty-four 
members, of whom two hundred and two are ministers, and (he remainder 
are laymen. Of this number two hundred and one ministers and eighty- 
nine lay elders are sent by the presbyteries ; the royal boroughs elect 
sixty-seven laymen ; the universities depute five persons, who may be 
either ecclesiastics or laymen ; and the Scottish church of Campvere in 
Holland supplies two deputies, the one lay and the other clerical. The 
annual sittings of the assembly are limited to ten days ; but whatever busi- 
ness it has left utisettled is transacted by a committee of the whole house 
(called the commission), which, in the course of the year, has four stated 
meetings. Among the lay members of the assembly are men of the high- 
est consequence in the kingdom ; lawyers, judges, and sometimes nobles. 

Though all the ministers in Scotland are on a perfect equality with each 
other, yet each individual and each judicatory is bound to yield a prompt 
obedience to the superintending authority, and each court must punctually 
lay the record of its proceedings before the tribunal which is next in rank 
above it ; but the general assembly has the power of deciding without 
appeal, of enforcing, uncontrolled, its decrees, and, with the concurrence 
of a majority of the presbyteries, of enacting laws for the government of 
the Scottish church. 

The history of clerical patronage in Scotland since the overthrow of 
Catholicism, and of the struggles to which it has given rise, has been traced 



DR. ROBERTSON- vii 

with so much clearness by Dr. Gleig that, though the passage is of some 
length, I shall give it in his own words. " The Reformation in Scotland," 
says he, " was irregular and tumultuous ; and the great object of the pow- 
erful aristocracy of that kingdom seems to have been rather to gel posses- 
sion of the tithes, and the lands of the dignified clergy, than to purify the 
doctrine and reform the worship of the church. Of this Knox and the 
other reformed clergymen complained bitterly ; and their complaints were 
extorted from them by their own sufferings. Never, 1 believe, were the 
established clergy of any Christian country reduced to such indigence as 
were those zealous and well meaning men, during the disastrous reign of 
queen Mary, and the minority of her son and successor ; while the pit- 
tance that was promised to them, instead of being regularly paid, was 
often seized by the rapacity of the regents and the powerful barons who 
adhered to their cause, and the ministers left to depend for their subsist- 
ence on the generosity of the people. 

" As nearly the whole of the ecclesiastical patronage of the kingdom 
had come into the possession of those barons, partly by inheritance from 
their ancestors, and partly with the church lands which, on the destruction 
of the monasteries, they had appropriated to themselves, it is not wonder- 
ful that, in an age when men were very apt to confound the illegal and 
mischievous conduct of him who exercised an undoubted right with the 
natural consequences of that right itself, strong prejudices were excited in 
the mmds of the clergy and more serious part of the people against the 
law which vested in such sacrilegious robbers the right of presentation to 
parish churches. It is not indeed very accurately known by whom minis- 
ters were nominated to vacant churches for thirty years after the com- 
mencement of the Reformation, when there was hardly any settled 
government in the church or in the state. In some parishes they were 
probably called by the general voice of the people ; in others, obtruded 
on them by the violence of the prevailing faction, to serve some political 
purpose of the day ; and in others again appointed by the superintendent 
and his council : while in a few the legal patron may have exercised his 
right, without making any simoniacal contract with the presentee ; which, 
however, there is reason to suspect was no uncommon practice.* 

" Hitherto the government of the Protestant church of Scotland had fluc- 
tuated from one form to another, sometimes assuming the appearance of epis- 
copacy under superintendents, and at other times being presbyterian in the 
strictest sense of the word. In the month of June, 1592, an act was passed, 
giving a legal sanction to the presbyterian form of government, and resto- 
ring the ancient law of patronage. By that act the patron of a vacant 
parish was authorized to present, to the presbytery comprehending that 
parish, a person properlj' qualified to be intrusted with the cure of souls ; 
and the presbytery was enjoined, after subjecting the presentee to certain 
♦rials and examinations, of which its members were constituted the judges, 
' to ordain and settle him as minister of the parish, pro.vided no relevant 
objection should be stated to his life, doctrine, or qualifications,' 

" Though we are assured by the highest authority! that this right of 
patronage, thus conferred by the fundamental charter of presbyterian 
government in Scotland, was early complained of as a grievance, it ap- 
pears to have been regularly exercised until the era of the rebellion against 
Charles I. during the establishment as well of the presbyterian as of the 
episcopal church. It was indeed abolished by the usurping powers, which 
in 1649 established in its stead what was then called ' the gospel right of 
popular election ;' but at the restoration it was re-established together with 
episcopacy, and was regularly exercised until the revolution, when epis- 

• The reader will derive much valuable information on this subject from Dr. Cook's " History 
of the Refurmation in Scotlaml." ' Dr, Hill. Principal of PJ. Mary's CoIIpcp. in >1(/? T'niver 

«ity of St. j^ nflreu''>-. 



v.ii THE LIFE' OF 

copacy was finally overthrown, and, by an act passed on'the 26th of May, 
' the preshyterian church, government, and discipline, by kirk sessions, 
presbyteries, provincial synods, and general assemblies,' established in its 
stead. The act of James VI. in 1592 was ' revived and confirmed in every 
head thereof, except in that part of it relating to patronages,' which were 
utterly abolished, though nothing was substituted in their stead until the 
19th of July immediately succeeding. 

" It was then statuted and declared, to use the language of the act, ' that, 
in the vacancy of any particular church, and for sui)plying the same with 
a minister, the protestant heritors and elders are to name and propose the 
person to the whole congregation, to be either approven or disapprove!! by 
ihe!ii ; and if they disapprove, they are to give in their reasons, to the 
effect the affairs may be cognosced by the presbytery of the bounds ; at 
whose judgment, and by whose detern!ination, the calling and entiy of 
every particular minister is to be ordered and concluded. In recompense 
of which rights of presentation the heritors of every parish were to pay 
to the patron six hundred merks (£'33 6s. 8d. sterling), against a certain 
lime, and under certain proportions. 

" Whether this sum, which at that period was very considerable, was 
actually paid to the patrons of the several parishes, I know not ; but if it 
was, or i!]deed whether it was or not, had it been the intention of the legis- 
lature to produce dissension in the country, it could not have devised any 
thing better calculated to effect its puipose than this mode of ap|>« inting 
ministers to vacant churches. The heritors or landholders, if the price was 
paid, Avould naturally contend for the uncontrolled exercise of the right 
which they, and they only, had purchased ; but it is not by any means 
probable that at such a period they could often agree in their choice of a 
minister for a vacant parish. The elders, who were men of inferior rank 
and inferior education, would, by the envy of the low, when comparing 
themselves with the high, be prompted to thwart the wishes of their land- 
lords, which the act of parliament enabled them to do effectully ; and the 
consequence must have been that two or three candidates for eveiy vacant 
church were at once proposed to the people of the parish for their appro- 
bation or disapprobation. The people might t;ither give the preference to 
one of the candidates proposed, or reject them all, lor reasons of which the 
members of the presbytery were constituted the judges ; and as it appears 
that the presbytery generally took part with the people, a source of ever- 
lasting contention was thus established betwee!i the country gentlemen and 
the parochial clergy ; an evil than which a greater cannot easily be con- 
ceived. For these, and other reasons, this ill digested law was repealed 
in the tenth year of the reign of queen Anne, and the right of patronage 
restored as in all other established churches. 

"By many of the clergy, howevei', patronage seems to have been con- 
sidered as an appendage of prelacy ; though it has obviously no greater 
connexion with that form of ecclesiastical polity than with any other that 
is capable of being allied with the state ; and, till after the year 1730, 
ministers continued to be settled in vacant parishes in the manner pre- 
scribed by the act of king William and queen Mary. ' Even then,' says 
Dr. Hill, ^ the church courts, although they could not entirely disregard the 
law, continued, in many instances, to render it ineffectual, and by their 
authority sanctioned the prevailing prejudices of the jieople against it. 
They admitted, as an incontrovertible principle in preshyterian church 
government, that a prese!itee, although perfectly well qualified, and unex- 
ceptionable in his life and doctrine, was nevertheless inadmissible to his 
clerical office, till the concurrence of the ])eople who were to be under his 
ministry had been regularly ascertained.' The form of expressing this 
poncunence was by the subscription of a paper teiined ' a call j' to which 



DR. ROBERTSON. ix 

many of the old ministers paid greater respect than to the deed of pre- 
sentation bv the patron of the church. 

" To render the call good, however, the unanimous consent of the land- 
holders, elders, and people, was not considered as necessary, nor indeed 
ever looked for. Nay, it appears that even a majority was not in all cases 
deemed indispensable ; for the presbyteiy often admitted to his charge, 
and proceeded to ordain the presentee whose call, by whatever number of 
parishioners, appeared to them to afford a reasonable prospect of his be- 
coming, by prudent conduct, a useful parish minister. On thi' -.'iiier hand, 
presbyteries sometimes set aside the presentation altogether, when they 
were not satisfied with the call ; and when the patron insisted on his right, 
and the presbytery continued inflexible, the general assembly was, in such 
cases, under the necessity either of compelling the members of the presby- 
tery, by ecclesiastical censures, to do their duty, or of appointing a com- 
mittee of its own body to relieve them from that duty, by ordaining the 
presentee, and inducting him into the vacant church. To compulsion re- 
course had seldom been had ; and the consequence was that individuals 
openly claimed a right to disobey the injunctions of the assembly, when- 
ever they conceived their disobedience justified by a principle of con- 
science. 

" Such was the state of ecclesiastical discipline in Scotland when Mr. 
Robertson first took an active part in the debates of the general assembly; 
and he very justly thought that its tendency was to overturn the presbyte- 
rian establishment, and introduce in its stead a number of independent 
congregational churches. He therefore supported the law of patronage, 
not merely because it was part of the law of the land, but because he 
thought it the most expedient method of filling the vacant churches. It 
did not appear to him that the people at large are competent judges of 
those qualities which a minister should possess in order to be a useful 
teacher of the truth as it is in Jesus, or of the precepts of a sound morality. 
He more than suspected that if the candidates for churches were taught 
to consider their success in obtaining a settlement as depending on a popu- 
lar election, many of them would be tempted to adopt a manner of preach- 
ing calculated rather to please the people than to promote their edification. 
He thought that there is little danger to be apprehended from the abuse 
of the law of patronage ; because the presentee must be chosen from 
among those whom the church had approved, and licensed as qualified for 
the olince of a parish minister ; because a presentee cannot be admitted to 
the benefice if any relevant objection to his life or doctrine be proved 
against him ; and because, after ordination and admission, he is liable to 
be deposed for improper conduct, and the church declared vacant." 

Whatever may be thought of the merits of the cause which Robertson 
espoused, it is impossible to doubt that he was a conscientious supporter of 
it. To undertake its defence some strength of nerve was, indeed, required. 
Success seemed, at the outset, to be scarcely within the verge of proba- 
bility, and there was much danger of becoming unpopular. The result, 
nevertheless, gave ample proof of what may be accomplished by per- 
severance and talents. The first time that he came forward in the assem- 
bly vvasin May, 1751, when a debate arose on the conduct of a minister, 
who had disobeyed the sentence of a former assembly. Seizing this 
opportunity to enforce his principles of church discipline, Robertson, in a 
vigorous and eloquent speech, contended that if subordination were not 
rigidly maintained the presbyterian establishment would ultimately be 
overthrown, and, therefore, an exemplary punishment ought to be inflicted 
on the ofTending party. But, though he was heard with attention, his argu- 
ments produced so little present effect that, on the house being divided, he 
was left in a minority of no more than eleven against two hundred. 
, 7^houe'h this decision was not calculated to encourage him, he deter- 



X THE LIFE OF 

mined to persist, and an occurrence very soon took place which enabled 
him to renew the contest. The presbytery of Dumferline having been 

fuilty of disobedience, in refusing to admit a minister to the church of 
nverkeithing, the commission of the assembly, which met in November, 
ordered them to cease from their opposition, and threatened, that, if they 
continued to be refractory, they should be subjected to a high censure. 
Notwithstanding this, the presbytery again disobeyed the mandate of the 
superior court. Yet, instead of carrying its threat into effect, the commis- 
sion came to a resolution that no censure should be inflicted. 

Such a resolution as this, after the commission had gone so far as to 
resort to threats, was at least absurd. So fair an opening as this circum- 
stance afforded was not neglected by Robertson. He accordingly drew up 
a protest, intituled, " Reasons of Dissent from the Judgment and Resolution 
of the Commission." This protest, which was signed by himself. Dr. 
Blair, Home, and a few other friends, is an able and closely reasoned pro- 
duction. It boldly declares the sentence of the commission to be incon- 
sistent with the nature and first principles of society ; charges the commis- 
sion itself with having, by that sentence, gone beyond its powers, and 
betra3'ed the privileges and deserted the doctrines of the constitution ; con- 
siders the impunity thus granted as encouraging and inviting contumacy; 
insists on the lawfulness and wisdom of ecclesiastical censures, and on the 
absolute necessity of preserving subordination and obedience in the church ; 
and, finally, maintains that the exercise of no man's private judgment can 
justify him in disturbing all public order, that he who becomes a member 
of a church ought to conform to its decrees, or, " if he hath rashly joined 
himself, that he is bound, as an honest man and a good Christian, to with- 
draw, and to keep his conscience pure and undefiled." 

When the assembly met, in 1752, the question was brought before it; 
and Robertson supported the principles of his protest with such cogency 
of ai^ument, that he won over a majority to his side, and achieved a com- 

{)lete triumph. The judgment of the commission was reversed, Mr. Gil- 
espie, one of the ministers of the presbytery of Dumferline, was deposed 
from his pastoral office, and ejected from his living, and three other indi- 
viduals were suspended from their judicative capacity in the superior 
ecclesiastical courts. Gillespie, whose only crime was that of being 
absent on the day appointed for the induction of the presentee, was a pious 
and amiable man, and his deposition occasioned so much dissatisfaction, 
that it gave rise to a new sect of dissenters, afterwards known by the 
appellation of "the Presbytery of Relief;" a sect which still exists, and is 
of considerable magnitude. 

From this time, though it was not till the year 1763 that he became its 
avowed leader, Robertson was, in fact, at the head of the assembly ; which 
body, for the whole period of his ascendancy, he contrived to keep steady 
to his principles. In this task he was ably seconded by Dr. Drysdale, one 
of the ministers of Edinburgh. It was not, however, without many strug- 
gles that he retained his pre-eminence. Those which took place in 1765 
and 1768 were peculiarly violent ; motions having then been made, and 
vehemently contended for, to inquire into the causes of the rapid progress 
of secession from the established church ; and, in order to counteract them, 
to introduce a more popular mode of inducting the parochial ministers. 
From what is mentioned by sir Henry Wellwood, in his " Memoirs of 
Dr. Erskine," it appears that the exertions of Robertson were kept con- 
tinually on the stretch ; and that for his victory he was partly indebted to 
cautious management, and to patience which nothing could tire. " During 
Dr. Robertson's time," says he, " the struggle with the people was perpe- 
tual ; and the opposition to presentees so extremely pertinacious, as in a 
great measure to engross the business of the assemblies. The parties in 
the church were then more equally balanced than they have ever been 



DR. ROBERTSON. xi 

since that period. The measures which were adopted, in the face of such 
perpetual opposition, it required no common talents to manage or defend ; 
especially considering that the leaders in opposition were such men as Dr. 
Dick, Dr. Macqueen, Dr. Erskine, Mr. Stevenson of St. Madois, Mr. Free- 
bairn of Dumbarton, Mr. Andrew Crosbie, kc. &c. ; men of the first ability 
in the country, and some of them possessed of an eloquence for a popular 
assembly to which there was nothing superior in the church or in the 
state. 

" Dr. Robertson's firmness was not easily shaken, but his caution and 
prudence never deserted him. He held it for a maxim, never wantonly 
to offend the prejudices of the people, and rather to endeavour to manage 
than directly to combat them. Some of the settlements in dispute were 
protracted tor eight or ten years together ; and though the general assem- 
blies steadily pursued their system, and uniformly appointed the presentees 
to be inducted, their strongest sentences were not vindictive, and seldom 
went beyond the leading points to which they were directed." 

In 1757 an event happened, which afforded to him an opportunity of 
manifesting the liberality of his spirit, and of exercising his influence over 
his colleagues, to moderate the vengeance which was threatened to be 
hurled on some of his brethren, for having been guilty of an act which was 
considered to be of the most. profane nature. The chief offender was his 
friend Home, who was then minister of Athelstaneford. The crime con- 
sisted in Home having not only produced the tragedy of Douglas, but 
having also had the temerity to be present at the acting of it in the Edin- 
burgh theatre. With him were involved several of his clerical intimates, 
who, as much from a desire to share with him any odium or peril which 
might be incurred, as from a natural curiosity, had been induced to accom- 
pany him to the theatre on the first night of the performance. The storm 
which this circumstance raised among the Scottish clergy can, in the pre- 
sent age, hardly be imagined. It seemed as if they had witnessed nothing 
less than the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. The 
presbytery of Edinburgh hastened to summon before its tribunal such of 
its members as had committed this heinous offence, and it likewise 
despatched circulars to the presbyteries in the vicinity, recommending 
rigorous measures against all clergymen who had desecrated themselves 
by appearing in the polluted region of the theatre. The alarm thus 
sounded awakened all the bigotry of the circumjacent presbyteries. That 
of Haddington, to which Home belonged, cited him and nis friend Car- 
lyle, of Inveresk, to answer for their misconduct. That of Glasgow had no 
criminals to chastise, but it was resolved not to remain silent, and, there- 
fore, with a zeal which assuredly was not according to knowledge, it ful- 
minated forth a series of resolutions on this appalling subject. It lamented 
" the melancholy but notorious fact, that one, who is a minister of the 
church of Scotland, did himself write and compose a play entitled the 
Tragedy of Douglas, and got it to be acted in the theatre at Edinburgh ; 
and that he, with several other ministers of the church, were present, and 
some of them oftener than once, at (he acting of the said play before a 
numerous audience;" it affirmed, in direct hostility to historical evidence, 
that stage plays had "been looked upon by the Christian church, in all 
ages, and of all different communions, as extremely prejudicial to religion 
and morality ; and, as a natural consequence from this, it called on the 
general assembly to reprobate publicly " a practice unbecoming the cha- 
racter of clei^men, and of such pernicious tendency to the great interests 
of religion, industry, and virtue." The ciy of the church was echoed from 
the press, angry disputants were arrayed on both sides, and a multitude of 
ephemeral pamphlets and pasquinades was rapidly produced. 

Throughout the whole of the ecclesiastical proceedings, which on this 
occasion were instituted in the presbyteries and in the seneral assembly, 



xil THE LIFE OF 

Robertson exerted himself with more than common ardour and eloquence 
on behalf of his friends. Though, being restrained by a promise whic i he 
had given to his father, he had himself never been within the walls of a 
theatre, he did not hesitate to avow his belief that no culpabilitj^ attached 
to the persons who were under prosecution. " The promise, ' said he, 
" which was exacted by the most indulgent of parents, I have hitherto 
religiously kept, and it is my intention to keep it till the day of my death. 
1 am at the same time tree to declare, that I perceive nothing sinful or 
inconsistent with the spirit of Christianity in writing a tragedy, which 
gives no encouragement to baseness or vice, and that I cannot concur in 
censuring iny brethren tor being present at the representation of such a 
tragedy, from which I was kept back by a promise, which, though sacred 
to me, is not obligatory on them." 

AVholly to overcome the prevalent spirit of bigotry was more than 
Robertson could accomplish, but it is believed to have been at least greatly 
mitigated by his laudable eflbrts. To his persuasive eloquence is attri- 
buted, and no doubt justly, the comparative mildness of the sentence which 
was ultimately pronounced. A declaratory act vvas passed by the assem- 
bly, forbidding the clergy to visit the theatres, but not extending the pro- 
hibition to the writing of \j\ays. The silence of the assemb!}' on the latter 
head vvas at least one point gained in favour, of liberal principles. As to 
the offending ministers, some of them were rebuked by the presbyteries 
to which they belonged, and one or two of them were suspended liom 
their oHice tor a lew weeks. Home, however, being disgusted with the 
treatment which he had experienced, and having, perhaps, already been 
offered patronage in the British metropolis, resigned his living of Athel- 
staneford in .Tune, 1757, and fixed his residence in London. 

By the departure of Home, the Select Society, as it was called, lost one 
of its ablest members. This society was instituted at Edinburgh, in 1754, 
by Allan Ramsaj', the painter, who was son to the poet of the same name. 
The object of it was philosophical and literary inquiry, and the improve- 
ment of the members in the art of speaking. It held its meetings in the 
Advocates' Library, and met regularly every Friday evening, during the 
sittings of the court of session. At the outset it consisted of only fifteen 
persons, of whom Robertson was one. Jt, however, soon acquired such 
high reputation, that its list of associates was swelled to more than a hun- 
dred and thirty names ; among which were included those of the most 
eminent literary and political characters in the northern division of the 
kingdom. Of this number were Hume, Adam Smith, Wedderbuin, after- 
wards Lord Chancellor, sir Gilbert Elliot, lord Elibank, lord Monboddo, 
lord Karnes, lord Woodhouselee, Adam Furguson, VVilkie, Dr. Cullen, 
and many others less gifted perhaps, but still rising far above mediocrity 
of talent. This society flourished in lull vigcnir ibr some years ; and is 
said by professor Stewart, to have produced such debates as nave not often 
been heard in modern assemblies ; debates, where the dignity of the 
speakers was not lowered by the intrigues of policy, or the intemperance 
of faction; and where the most splendid talents that have ever adorned 
this country were roused to their best exertions, by the liberal and enno- 
bling discussions of literature and philosophy." That such an assemblage 
of learning and genius must have done much towards diffusing through 
Scotland a taste for letters, there cannot be the shadow of a doubt. Robert- 
son took an active part, and was one of its presidents. As a speaker, it 
was remarked of him, that " Avhereas most of the others in their previous 
discourses exhausted the subject so much that there was no room for 
debate, he gave only such brief but artful sketches, as served to suggest 
ideas, without leading to a decision." 

By a few members of the society, a Review was atfernpted in 1755, the 
principal contributors to which wore Blair, Smith, and Robertson. This 



DR. ROBERTbUiV. xjii 

undertaking was designed to form a record of the progress ol' Scottish lite- 
rature, and, occasionally, to criticise such English and foreign works as 
might appear to be worthy of notice. After having published two num- 
bers, which appeared in July and December, the reviewers were under 
the necessity ol relinquishing their plan. The failure is said to have arisen 
from their having lashed, with just but caustic severity, "some miserable 
effusions of fanaticism, which it was theii wish to banish from the church." 
Their attack upon this mischievous trash excited such a vehement party 
outcry, tliat they thought it prudent to discontinue labours which, while 
they musi fail of being usetui, could nut fail to expose them to vulgar 
odium, and involve them in endless disputes. Time, the great worker of 
changes, has since produced a marvellous alteration. At a period less than 
half a century later, the most prejudice-scorning and pungent of all 
Reviews was established in the Scottish capital, and was received with 
enthusiasm ! • 

The lirst separate literary production of Robertson, or at least the first 
known production, was also laid before the public in 1755. It is a sermon 
which he preached in that year before the Scotch society for propagating 
Christian knowledge. He chose for his subject, "'The situation of the 
world at the time of Christ's appearance, and its connexion with the suc- 
cess of his religion." Though this discourse never rises into a strain of 
glowing eloquence, it is a dignified and argumentative composition, in a 
chaste and animated style. If it does not flash and dazzle, it at least 
shines with a steady lustre. Its merit, indeed, affords us ample cause to 
regret that, before his removal from Gladsmuir, he lost a volume of ser- 
mons, on which much care is said to have been bestowed. The sole spe- 
cimen which remains of his talents as a preacher has passed through five 
editions, and has been translated into the German language by Mr. Edeling. 

The time now came when the high character for learning and talent, 
which Robertson had acquired among his friends, was to be ratified by 
the public voice. He had long i)een sedulously engaged on the History 
of Scotland, the plan of which he is said to have formed soon after his 
settling at Gladsmuir. By his letters to Lord Hailes we are, in some 
measure, enabled to trace his progress. It appears that as early as 1753 
he had commenced his labours, and that by the summer of 1757 he had 
advanced as far as the narrative of Cowrie's conspiracy. In the spring of 
1758 he visited London, to concert measures for publishing ; and the His- 
tory, in two volumes, quarto, was given to the world on the first of Fel)- 
ruary, 1759, about three months subsequent to the completion of it. While 
the last sheets were in the press, the author i-eceived, by diploma, the de- 
gree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Edinburgh. 

At the period when Dr. Robertson commenced his career, this country 
could boast of kw historians, possessed of philosophic views and an ele- 
gant style. Rapin, who, besides, wrote in his native language. Carte, and 
others, could not aspire to a loftier title than that of annalists ; and the re- 
cent production from the pen of Smollet, though displaying talent, was by 
far too imperfect to give him a place among eminent historical writers. 
Hume alone had come near to the standard of excellence ; and, after en- 
during a doul)tful struggle, in the course of which his spirits were well 
nigh overpovvered, had at length begun to enjoy the literary honours which 
he had so painfully acquired. For a considerable time past he had been 
occupied on Ihe reigns of the Tudor race ; and, as this subject is insepa- 
rably connected with Scottish history. Dr. Robertson was alarmed lest ho 
liimself should sustain injury from the volumes of his friend being pub- 
lished simultaneously with his own. The new candidate for fame endea- 
voured to induce Hume to proceed with some other portion of his narra- 
tive ; and, having failed in this, he appears to have been desirous that he 
should at least be allowed to be the first to claim the notice cf the public. 



xw THE LIFE UF 

" I am (says Hume m a letter to him) nearly printed out, and shall be sure 
to send you a copy by the stage coach, or some other conveyance. I beg 
of you to make remarks as you go alon;^. It would have been much bet- 
ter had we communicated before printing, which was always my desire, 
and was most suitable to the friendship which always did, and I hope 
always will subsist between us. I speak this chiefly on my own account. 
For though I had the perusal of your sheets before I printed, I was not 
able to derive sulficient benefits from them, or indeed to make any altera- 
tion by their assistance. There still remain, I fear, many errors, of which 
you could have convinced me if we had canvassed the matter in conversa- 
tion. Perhaps I might also have been sometimes no less fortunate with 
you." He adds, " Millar was proposing to publish me about March : 
but I shall communicate to him your desire, even though I think it entirely 
groundless, as you will likewise think after you have read my volume. 
He has very needlessly delayed your publication till the first week of 
February, at the desire of the Edinburgh booksellers, who could no way 
be afifected by a publication in London. I was exceedingly sorry not to 
be able to comply with your desire, when you expressed your wish that I 
should not write this period. I could not write downward. For when 
you find occasion, by new discoveries, to correct your opinion with regard 
to facts which passed in queen Elizabeth's days ; who, that has not the best 
opportunities of informing himself, could venture to relate any recent 
transactions ? I must therefore have abandoned altogether this scheme of 
the English History, in which I had proceeded so far, if I had not acted as 
I did. You will see what light and force this history of the Tudors be- 
stows on that of the Stewarts. Had I been prudent I should have begun 
with it." 

The alarm which Dr. Robertson conceived from the rivalship of his 
friend was, however, groundless. His success was not, like that of Hume, 
the slow growth of years. It was complete and immediate. So rapid 
was the sale of the book, that, before a month had elapsed, his publisher 
informed him that it was necessary to set about preparing for a second edi- 
tion. It was read and admired by a part of the royal family; and plau- 
sive and gratulatory letters were showered on him from all quarters. 
Warburton, Horace Walpole, Lord Mansfield, Lord Lyttelton, Dr. Doug- 
las, Hurd, and many other men of eminence, all concurred in swelling the 
chorus of praise. Among the foremost to blazon his merits was his ami- 
cable rival, Hume, whose letters bear repeated testimony to the warmth of 
his friendship, and his noble freedom from the base dominion of envy. 
" I am diverting myself," says he, " with the notion of how much you 
■will profit by the applause of my enemies in Scotland. Had you and I 
been such tools as to have given way to jealousy, to have entertained ani- 
mosity and malignity against each other, and to have rent all our acquaint- 
ance into parties, what a noble amusement we should have exhibited to 
the blockheads, which now they are likely to be disappointed of! All the 
people whose friendship or judgment either of us value are friends to both, 
and will be pleased with the success of both, as we will be with that of 
each other. I declare to you 1 have not of a long time had a more sensi- 
ble pleasure than the good reception of your History has given me within 
this fortnight." In another place, with a sportiveness not unusual in his 
correspondence, he exclaims, " But though I have given this character of 
your work to Monsieur Helvelius, I warn you that this is the last time 
that, either to Frenchman or Englishman, I shall ever speak the least good 
of it. A plague take you ! Here I sat near the historical summit of Par- 
nassus, immediately under Dr. Smollet ; and you have the inripudence to 
squeeze yourself by me, and place yourself directly under his feet. Do 
you imagine that this can be agreeable to me ! And must not I be guilty of 
"great simplicity to contrilnite my endeavours to your thrusting me out of 



DR. KOBEKTSON. xv 

my place in Paris as well as at London ? But I give you warning that you 
will find the matter somewhat diflicult, at least in the former city. A 
friend of mine, who is there, writes home to his father the strangest ac- 
counts on that head ; which my modesty will not permit me to repeat, but 
which it allowed me very deliciously to swallow." 

The hold which the History of Scotland thus suddenly acquired on the 
public mind it yet retains. Fourteen editions were published during the 
life-time of the author, and the editions since his decease have been still 
more numerous. It has undoubtedly established itself as a classical Eng- 
lish production. For a while, indeed, the voice of criticism was mute ; 
and the historian had only to enjoy the luxury of his triumph. But, at 
length, some of his opinions, particularly his belief of the guilt of Mary, 
found opponents in the candid and well informed Tytler, the learned, 
acute, and eloquent Stuart, and the dogmatical Whitaker; the latter of 
whom, though master of talents, erudition, and forcible reasoning, almost 
rendered truth itself repulsive Ijy the petulance and overbearingness of 
liis manner, and the ruggedness of'^his style. Of his antagonists, however, 
the historian took not the slightest public notice, contenting himself with 
the silent correction of such passages in his work as his matured judgment 
had decided to be erroneous. In a letter to Gibbon he laconically notices 
Whitaker. " You will see," says he, "that I have got in Mr. Whitaker an 
adversary so bigoted and zealous, that though I have denied no article of 
faith, and am at least as orthodox as himselt, yet he rails against me with all 
the asperity of theological hatred. I shall adhere to my fixed maxim of 
making no reply." 

It was not merely a harvest of unproductive fame that was reaped by 
Dr. Robertson. He was no sooner known to the world than preferment 
was rapidly bestowed on him. In the autumn of 1758, while his work 
was in the hands of the printer, he was translated from Gladsmuir to one 
of the churches of the Scottish metropolis. I believe the church to which 
he was removed to have oeen that of the Old Gray Friars, in which, some 
years afterwards, his friend Dr. Erskine became his coadjutor. On the 
History issuing from the press, he was appointed chaplain of Stirling Cas- 
tle, and, in 1761, one of his Majesty's chaplains in ordinary for Scotland, 
The dignity of Principal of the College of Edinburgh was conferred on 
him in 1762 ; and, two years subsequently to this, the office of Historio- 
grapher for Scotland, which, since the death of Crawfurd, in 1726, had 
been disused, was revived in his favour, with an annual stipend of two 
hundred pounds. 

By the remuneration which he had received for his history, and the 
salaries which arose from his various appointments. Dr. Robertson was 
now in possession of an income far greater than had ever before been pos- 
sessed by any Scotch presbyterian minister, and certainly not falling short 
of that which had been enjoyed by some bishops at the period when the 
church of Scotland was under episcopal government. A few of his indis- 
creet friends seem, however, to have thought that his talents were not ade- 
quately rewarded, and even that the clerical profession in the northern 
part of our island did not afford for them a sphere of action sufficiently ex- 
tensive. The church of England held forth richer prospects to ambition 
and to mental endowments ; and they were of opinion that, by transferring 
his services to that church, he might obtain a share in its highest dignities 
and emoluments. To this scheme allusions may be found in the letters 
which, about this time, were addressed to him by Dr. John Blair, Sir Gil- 
bert Elliot, and Mr. Hume. But Dr. Robertson had a larger share of 
foresight and prudence than his advisers, and he rejected their dangerous 
though well intended counsel. It is, perhaps, more than doubtful whether, 
had it been executed, their plan would have produced the desired effect. 
This kind of transplanting has often been tried, but seldom, if ever, with 



xvi THE LIFE Ot 

any degree of success. The plant, vig^orous on its native bed, languishes 
and is dwarfed on an alien soil. Dr. Robertson had now reached the ma- 
ture aee of forty-one; his opinions, his habits, his connexions, had all been 
formed with a reference to the circle in which he moved, and it was not 
pro])able that they could be suddenly bent wilh advantage in an opposite 
direction. In Scotland he had no competitors who could rise to a level 
with him ; in England he would, perhaps, have had many ; and he may 
be supposed to have thought with Caesar, that it is better to be the first 
man in a village than the second at Rome. Nor was there any room in 
England for the exercise of that kind of eloquence in which he particularly 
excelled ; the eloquence which is manifested in debate. By the force of 
his oratory he left far behind all his rivals and opponents, and wielded at 
will the general assembly of the Scottish church ; but, since the convoca- 
tion was shorn of its controversial and declamatory glories, since it was 
smitten with an incapacity of embarrassing the government, fostering theo- 
logical rancour, and displaying the unseemly spectacle of Christian divines 
arrayed in worse than barbarian hostility to each other, there has not in 
this country existed any deliberative clerical body in which Dr. Robert- 
son could nave exerted those argumentative and rhetorical powers that, 
among his fellow ministers, obtained for him so entire an ascendancy. His 
preferment might also have stopped short of the point which his sanguine 
friends expected it to attain ; and, whatever its degree, it would in all pro- 
bability have been looked on with a jealous eye by many of his brethren 
on the south of the Tweed. There was, besides, another and still more 
powerful reason that must have influenced his decision. He had for nearly 
twenty years been a leading minister of the presbyterian establishment ; 
and his now quitting it to enter into a prelatical church, which, as being 
deemed a scion from the hated stock of Roijne, was still held in abomina- 
tion by many of his countiymen, could scarcely have failed to be considered 
as an interested and base sacrifice of his principles and his character at the 
shrine of lucre and ambition. To be branded as a deserter by the zealots 
of the one institution, and by the envious of the other, was not a favourable 
auspice under which to commence bis new career ; and he therefore acted 
■wisely, as well as honourably, in remaining a member of the Scottish 
church. 

Having resolved to remain in Scotland, and to rely chiefly on his pen for 
the advancement of his fortune. Dr. Robertson had now to choose another 
theme on which his talents could be profitably employed. To the com- 
position of history, in which he had met with such stimulating success, he 
wisely determined to adhere. It was, indeed, in that department that he 
was peculiarly qualified to excel, by his power of vivid description, and 
his happy delineation of character. His friends were consulted on this 
occasion ; each had some favourite plan to suggest to him ; and he seems 
to have been absolutely embarrassed by the affluence of subjects, many 
of which were worthy of his best exertions to illustrate and adorn them. 
If a ludicrous simile may be allowed, we may say that he found it no less 
difficult to fix his choice, than it was for Mr. Shandy to decide to what pur- 
pose he should apply the legacy which was left to him by his sister Dinah. 
Dr. John Blair strenuously recommended to him to write a complete His- 
toiy of England, and assured him that Lord Chesterfield had declared his 
readiness to move, in the house of peers, for public encouragement to him, in 
case of his undertaking a work which might with justice be considered as 
being a national one. But from adopting this project, though it Avas one which 
he had early cherished, Dr. Robertson was deterred by his honourable un- 
willingness to interfere wilh his friend Hume, who was now putting the 
finishing hand to his great labogr. Hume himself advised him to under- 
take a series of modern lives, in the manner of Plutarch. "You see," 
said he. "that in Plul.Dfb the life of Caesar mny be read in half an hour. 



DR. ROBERT SON. xvii 

Were you to write the life of Henry the Fourth of France after that model, 
you might pilla2:e all the pretty stories in Sully, and speak more of his 
mistresses than of his battles. In short, you might o;ather the flower of all 
modem history in this manner. The remarkable popes, the kit)gs of Swe- 
den, the great discoverers and conquerors of the New World, even the 
eminent men of letters might furnish you with matter, and the quick des- 

f»atch of every different work would encourage you to begin a new one. 
f one volume were successful, you might compose another at your leisure, 
and the field is inexhaustible. There are persons whom you might meet 
with in the corners of histoiy, so to speak, who would be a subject of en- 
tertainment quite unexpected ; and as long as you live, you might give and 
receive amusement by such a work." That so excellent an idea should 
not have been acted upon must be regretted by eveiy one who is a lover 
of literature. By Horace VValpole two subjects, of no trivial interest, 
were pointed out. These were the History o( Learning, and the History 
of the reigns of Nerva, Trajan, Adrian, and the two Antonines ; the latter 
of which VValpole declared that he should be tempted to denominate the 
History of Humanity. Dr. Robertson himself seems, at one time, to have 
thought, though but transiently, of tracing the events which occurred in 
the age of Leo the Tenth. There is no reason to lament that he did not 
undertake this task, which was once meditated on by VVarton, and has 
since been performed by a writer whom nature has largely gifted, and who 
possesses a profound kno'.vledge of the records, arts, and language of Italy. 
But the two plans which haS the ascendancy in his mind, and between 
which he long hesitated, were the History of Greece, and the History of 
Charles the ?ifth. At length, notwithstandir)g the objections which were 
urged by Hume and Horace VValpole, he made choice of the reign of 
Charles as the subject of his second attempt. 

When he had for about a j'ear been engaged, partly in those preliminary' 
researches which are necessary to give value to a work like that on which 
he was occupied, and partly in composition, his progress was suddenly 
suspended, by the intervention of a personage of such elevated rank as to 
render it almost impossible for him to decline a compliance with that 
which was required from him. It has been seen, that he v/as early desirous 
to be the historian of his native island, and that friendship alone prevented 
him from being so. He was now informed that the Avishes of the British 
sovereign were in unison with his own. In the latter part of July, 1761, 
he was written to on this head by lord Cathcart. " Lord Bute told me the 
king's thoughts as well as his own," said lord Cathcart, " with respect to 
your History of Scotland, and a wish his majesty had expressed to see a 
History of England by your pen. His lordship assured me, every source 
of information which government can ct)mmand would be open to you : 
and that great, laborious, and extensive as the work must be, he would 
take care your encoura"jement should be proportioned to it. He seemed 
to be aware of some objections you once had, lourided on the apprehen- 
sion of clashing or intert'ering with Mr. David Hume, who is your friend : 
but as your performance and his will be upon plans so different from each 
other, and as his will, in point of time, have so much the start of yours, 
these objections did not seem to him such as, upon reflection, were likely 
to continue to have much weight with you. I must add, tliat though I 
did not think it right to inquire into lord iUite's intentions before I knew a 
little of your mind, it appeared to me plain, that they were higher than 
any views which can open to you in Scotland, and which, I believe, he 
would think inconsistent with the attention the other subject would neces- 
sarily require." 

A proposition thus powerfully enforced it would, under any circum- 
stances, have been difficult for Dr. Roliertson to reject. But, in fact, the 
reasons which formerly influenced his conduct Ivad ceased to exist. Hume 

Vol. I.— C 



xviii THE LIFE OF 

had now completed his history, it was before the pubhc, and its late must 
be irrevocably decided before a line of the rival narrative could be com- 
)nitted to paper. Dr. Robertson was convinced of this, and therefore he 
did not hesitate to embrace the opportunity which was offered to him. 
" After the first publication of the Flistory of Scotland, and the favourable 
reception it met with," said he in his answer to lord Cathcart, " I had both 
veiy tempting offers from booksellers, and very confident assurances of 
public encouragement, if I would undertake the History of England. 
Hut as Mr. Hume, with whom, notwithstanding the contrariety of our sen- 
timents both in religion and politics, I live in great friendship, was at that 
time in the middle of the subject, no consideration of interest or reputation 
would induce me to break in upon a field of which he had taken prior pos- 
session ; and I determined that my interference with him should never be 
any obstruction to the sale or success of his work. Nor do I yet repent of 
jny having resisted so many solicitations to alter this resolution. But the 
rase I now think is entirely changed. His Histoiy will have been pub- 
lished several years before any work of mine on the same subject can 
appear; its first run will not be manedby any justling with me, and it 
will have taken that station in the literary system which belongs to it. 
'iiiis objection, therefore, which I thought, and still think, so vveighty at 
that time, makes no impression on me at present, and 1 can now justify my 
undertaking the English History, to myself, to the world, and to him. 
Besides, our manner of viewing the same subject is so different or peculiar, 
that (as was the case in our last books) both may maintain their own rank, 
Jiave their own partisans, and possess their own merit, without hurting 
each other-" 

To enable him to accomplish so arduous a labour, he considered it neces- 
sary, not only that he should be established in such a manner as would 
divest him of all anxiety as to pecuniary concerns, but that he should like- 
wise have the power of devoting to study a laiger portion of his time than 
it was noAv possible ibr him to allot to that purpose. " Were T to carve 
out my own fortune," said he, '-'' 1 should wish to continue one of his ma- 
jesty's chaplains for Scotland, but to resign my charge as a minister of 
Edinburgh, which engrosses more of my time than one who is a stranger to 
the many minute duties of that office can well imagine. I would wish to 
apply my whole time to literary ptirsuits, which is at present parcelled out 
among innumerable occupations. In order to enable me to make this resig- 
nation some appointment must be assigned me for life. What that should 
be, it neither becomes me, nor do 1 pretend to say. One thing, however. 
I wish with some earnestness, that the thing might be executed soon, both 
as it will give me great vigour in my studies to have my future fortune 
ascertained in so honoural)le a manner, and because, by allowing me to 
apply myself wholly to my present work, it will enable me to finish it in 
a less time, and to begin so much sooner to my new task." But though he 
was desirous to obtain some appointment, in order that he might not be 
"reduced entirely to the profession of an author," he at the same moment, 
with becoming spirit, declared that he did not wish to derive any emolu- 
ment from it before he could commence the particular task for which the 
appointment was to be given. The proposal that he should remove to 
liOndon, he was averse from complying with, though he did not put a 
ilirect negative on it ; and he could not consent to begin the History of 
Britain till he had completed that of Charles the Fifth. 

This scheme, which seems to have been almost brought to maturity, 
was, nevertheless, dropped ; but for what reason is unknown. Mr. Stewart 
is disposed to believe that the failure of it may in part be attributed to th« 
resignation of lord Bute. It was certainly so much a favourite with Dr. 
Uobertson that he long cherished it, and abandoned it with reluctance. 
We may, perhaps, be allowed to smih.', or to wonder, that a sovereigu 



DR. ROBERTSON. xis 

should have selected a writer conlessedly of Whig principles to compose 
a History of England, in opposition to one produced by a friend of arbi< 
trary power ; and we maj' also be allowed to doubt, whether, as far as 
regarded its sentiments, such a work, written by a Whig under the auspices 
of a court, would have proved quite satisfactory either to the monarch or 
to the people. There might, at least, have been some danger that it would 
havejustihed the sarcasm which Vv'as uttered by Horace Walpole, on ano- 
ther occasion- " You must know, sir," said Dr. Robertson to him, " that 
I look upon myself as a moderate Whig."-^" Yes, doctor," replied Wal- 
pole, " I look on you as a very moderate Whig." 

As soon as this negotiation was broken off", he bent all his exertions to 
the task which he had commenced. The public curiosity was highly 
excited, and it was long kept on the stretch before it was gratified. In 
the summer of 1761, he stated that one third of the work was finished, and 
that two years more would be required to bring the whole to perfection. 
But there never yet was an author who did not deceive himselt, and con- 
sequently deceive others, as to the period at which his labour would be 
completed. The stupid, the thoughtless, and the malignant (and there are 
many persons, not literaiy, though connected with literature, who belong 
to these classes) consider as intended for the purpose of deception the 
erroneous estimate which authors are thus apt to form. They either can- 
not or will not be taught that, in spite of Dr. Johnson's bold assertion to 
the contrary, no rnan is at all hours capable of tliinking deeply, or of 
clothing his thoughts in an attractive dress ; that he who is dependent on his 
reputation for existence ought not to be compelled to hazard it by crude 
and slovenly efforts, the product of haste ; that he who draws up a narra- 
tive from widely scattered, numerous, and conflicting documents must 
often, in painful research and in balancing evidence, spend more months 
than he had calculated on spending weeks ; that the discovery of a single 
paper, the existence of which was previously unknown, may not only 
throw a new light upon a subject, but give to it an entirely new colour^ 
and may compel a writer to modify, to arrange, and even to cancel, much 
that he had supposed to have received his last touches ; and, therefore, 
that the delay whicli, as being a proof of literary indolence, is so fre- 
quently and so unfeelingly an object of censure, ought rather in many cases 
to be rewarded with praise, because it is a duty which an author con- 
scientiously, and at his own cost, performs to s-ociety and to truth. Impe- 
diments of this kind no doubt retarded the progress of Dr. Robertson ; to 
which must be added his multifarious avocations, as principal of the uni- 
versity, a minister of one of the churches of the Scottish metropolis, and 
an active member of the general assembl}', in which body, as Mr. Stewart 
informs us, faction Avas running high at that epoch. The transactions 
relative to America he likewise found to be of too vast a magnitude, to 
allow of their being compressed into an episode. He was under the neces- 
sity of reserving them for a separate history ; and this circumstance obliged 
him in some degree to make a change in his original plan. It is, there- 
fore, not wonderful that the publication of his work was protracted six 
years beyond the time which he had himself assigned for it. 

At length, early in 1769, appeared, in three volumes quarto, the History 
of Charles the Fifth. It had been perused, while in the press, by Hume,' 
and probably by other friends, and had gained the warmest praise. " 1 
got yesterday from Strahan," says Hume, in one of his letters, "about 
thirty sheets of your Histoiy, to be sent over to Suard, and last night ami 
this morning have run them over with great avidity. I could not deny 
myself the satisfaction (which I hope also will not displease you) of 
expressing presently my <;xtreme approbation of them. To say only (hey 
are very well written, is by far too taint an expression, and much inferior 
to the sentiment's T {(>v\ : I hey are composed with nobleness, with dignity, 



XX THE LIFE OF 

with elegance, and with judgment, to which there are few equals. They 
even excel, and I think in a sensible degree, your History of Scotland. I 
propose to myself great })leasure in being the only man in England, during 
some months, who will be in the situation of doing you justice, after which 
you may certainly expect that my voice will be drowned in that of the 
public." 

Hume's anticipation was prophetic. Soon after the work had come out, 
he wrote to his friend, in the following unequivocal terms. " The success 
has answered my expectations, and 1, who converse with the great, the 
fair, and the learned, have scarcely heard an opposite voice, or even whis- 
I>er, to the general sentiments. Only I have heard that the Sanhedrim at 
Mrs. Macaulay's condemns you as little less a friend to government and 
monarchy than myself." Horace VValpole was almost equally laudatory; 
lord Lyltelton testified his admiration ; and, as Hume had long before 
done, recommended to the historian to write, in the manner of rlutarcb, 
the lives of eminent persons. V^oltaire, also, paid a flattering tribute. " It 
is to you and to Mr. Hume," said he, " that it belongs to write history. 
You are eloquent, learned, and impartial. I unite with Europe in esteem- 
ing you." Nor was the tame of the author confined to his native island. 
Through the intervention of the baron D'Holbach, M. Suard was induced 
to translate the work into French, while it was being printed in England, 
and his masterly translation is said to have established his own literary 
character, and to have been the means of his obtaining a seat in the French 
academy. The remuneration which the author himself received was mag- 
nificent ; especially in an age when it was not customary to give a large 
sura of money for the purchase of copyright. It is affirmed to have been no 
less than four thousand five hundred pounds. 

It is not to be imagined, however, that the History of Charles the Fifth 
could entirely escape the severity of criticism, which appears to be the 
common lot of all literary productions. By the Abbe Mably it was attacked 
in rude and contemptuous language ; which, without having the power to 
injure the work, was disgraceful to the person who descended to use it. 
Gilbert Stuart likewise assailed it ; but with more skill than the French 
critic, and with a vigour which was animated by personal resentment. 
That his acuteness detected many inaccuracies, it would be absurd to dis- 
]»ute ; but no one can doubt thai he pushed his censure farther than was 
consonant with justice, when he characterized Dr. Robertson as an author 
" whose total abstinence from all ideas and inventions of his own permitted 
him to carry an undivided attention to other men's thoughts and specula- 
tions." VValpole, too, in later life, asserted that the reading of Dr. Robert- 
son was not extensive, that the Introduction to the History of Charles 
abounds with gross errors, and that in many instances he has mistaken 
exceptions for rules. The work, however, still maintains its station ; and, 
even admitting all that truth or ingenious prejudice can urge against it, 
who is there who will now have the boldness to deny that it forms a splen- 
did addition to our historical treasures ? 

After having completed this arduous undertaking, Dr. Robertson allowed 
himself some respite from literary toil ; a respite which, in fact, was neces- 
i^ary for the preservation of his health. His mind was, however, too active 
to remain long unoccupied, and he hastened to resume the pen. As a se- 
quel to the history of Charles, he had promised to give to the public a nar- 
rative of tlie Spanish discoveries, conquests, and proceedings in America. 
This plan he soon resolved to enlarge, so as to include in it the transactions 
ef all the European colonizers of the American continent. To the origin 
and progress of^ the British empire in that quarter, it was originally his in- 
tention to devote an entire volume. Than the History of the New World 
it was impossible tor him to have chosen a subject more fertile, more 
attractive, or better calculated for the display of his peculiar talents. 



DR. ROBERTSON. xxi 

There was ''ample room and verge enough" for olt>quence to expatiate 
in. The rapidly succeeding events which he '.vas to describe were 
scarcely less marvellous than those ot an oriental fiction ; one of Jiis heroes, 
(he dauntless explorer ot" unknown oceans, will always excite tlie wonder, 
admiration, and pity of mankind ; others, though villains, were at least 
villains of no common powers ; and the characters, the customs, the man- 
ners, the scenery, every thing in short that was connected with the work, 
possessed throughout the charm of novelty, and, in many instances, that of 
the most picturesque and forcible contrast. 

To the first part of his subject, that which relates to the discovery of the 
Kew World, and the conquests and policy of the Spaniards, eiarht years 
of studious toil were devoted by Dr. Robertson. At length, in the spring 
of 1777, he put forth, in two quartos, the result of his labours. The pub- 
lic again received him with enthusiasm, and his literaiy friends again 
pressed forward to congratulate and to praise him. Hume was no longer 
in existence ; but his place was supplied by Gibbon, who testified his entire 
approbation of the volumes even before he had wholly perused them. 
" I have seen enough," said he, " to convince me that the present publica- 
tion will support, and, if possible, extend the fame of the author ; that the 
materials are collected with care, and arranged with skill ; that the pro- 
gress of discoveiy is displayed with learning and perspicuity; that the 
dangers, the achievements, and the views of the Spanish adventurers, are 
related with a temperate spirit ; and that the most original, perhaps tlie 
most curious portion of human manners, is at length rescued trom the 
hands of sophists and declaimers." 

But, perhaps, of all the applause which was bestowed on Dr. Robert- 
son, none was more gratifying than that which was given by Burke ; a 
man eminent at once as a writer, an orator, and a statesman. " I am per- 
fectly sensible," says he, " of the very flattering distinction I have received 
in your thinking me worthy of so noble a present as that of j-our History 
of America. I have, however, sulfered my gratitude to lie under some 
suspicion, by delaying my acknowledgment of so great a tavour. But my 
delay was only to render my obligation to you more complete, and my 
thanks, if possible, more merited. The close of the session brought a 
great deal of very troublesome though not important business on me at 
once. I could not go through your work at one breath at that time, though 
I have done it since. 1 am now enabled to thank you, not only for the 
honour you have done me, but for the great satisfaction, and the infinite 
variety and compass of instruction. I have received from your incomparable 
work. Every thing has been done which was so nadnally to be expected 
from the author of the History of Scotland, and of the Age of Charles the 
Fifth. I believe few books have done more than this, towards clearing up 
tlark points, correcting errors, and removing prejudices. You have too 
the rare secret of rekindling an interest on subjects that had so often been 
treated, and in which every thing which could feed a vital flame appeared 
to have been consumed. I am sure I read many parts of your History 
with that fresh concern and anxiety which attend those who are not pre- 
viously apprized of the eAcnt. You have, besides, thrown quite a new 
light on the i)resent state of the Spanish provinces, and furnished both ma- 
terials and hints for a rational theory of what may bo expected trom them 
in future 

" The part which I read with the greatest pleasure is the discussion on 
the manners and character of the inhabitants of the New World. 1 have 
always thought with you, that we possess at this time veiy great advan- 
tages towards the knowledge of human nature. We need no longer go to 
history to trace it in all its ages and periods. History, from ils compara- 
tive youth, is but a poor instructer. When the Egyptians called the Greeks 
children in antiquities, we may well mil them rnildren : and so we may 



xxH THE LIFE OF 

call all thosn nations wliir.h were able to trace the progrnss ol society only 
within their own limits. But now the great map of mankind is unrolled 
at once, and there is no state or gradation of barbarism, and no mode of 
refinement, which we have not at the same moment under our view ; the 
very different civility of Europe and of China ; the barbarism of Persia 
and of Abyssinia ; the erratic manners of Tartary and of Arabia ; the 
savage state of North America and New Zealand. Indeed you have made 
a noble use of the advantages you have had. You have employed philo- 
sophy to judge on manners, and from manners you have drawn new re- 
sources for philosophy. 1 only think that in one or two points you have 
hardly done justice to the savage character." 

The honours which were paid to him by foreigners were equally grati- 
fying. The Royal Academy of History at Madrid unanimously elected 
him a member on the eighth of August, in 1777, "in testimony of their 
approbation of the industry and care with which he had applied to the 
study of Spanish History, and as a recompense for his merit in having con- 
tributed so much to illustrate and spread the knowledge of it in foreign 
countries." It likewise appointed one of its members to translate the His- 
tory of America into the Spanish language, and considerable progress is 
believed to have been made in the translation. But the latter measure 
excited alarm in an absurd and decrepit government, which sought for 
safety in concealment rather than in a bold and liberal policy, and, like 
the silly bird, imagined that by hiding its own head it could escape from 
the view of its pursuers. The translation was, therefore, officially ordered 
to be suppressed, with the vain hope of keeping the world still in the 
dark, with respect to the nature of the Spanish American commerce, and 
of the system of colonial administration. 

It was not from Spain alone that he received testimonies of respect. In 
1781, the Academy of Sciences at Padua elected him one of its foreign 
members ; and, in 1783, the same compliment was paid to him by the Im- 
perial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburgh. The empress Catharine 
also, who, numerous as were her faults, was a woman of a strong and en- 
lightened intellect, also conferred on him a flattering distinction. She 
ordered his friend. Dr. Rogersoa, to transmit to him, as a mark of her 
esteem, a gold snuff box, richly set with diamonds ; observing at the same 
time, that a person whose labours had afforded her so much satisfaction 
merited some attention from her. So much, indeed, was she delighted 
\vith the works of the Scottish author, that she did not hesitate to assign to 
him the place of first model in historical composition, to express much 
admiration of the sagacity and discernment which he displayed in painting 
the human mind and character, and to declare that the History of Charles 
the Fifth was the constant companion of her journeys, and that she Avas 
never tired of perusing it, particularly tiie introductory volume. 

As soon as enthusiasm had subsided, criticism began its labours in search 
of defects. It was objected to the author, that he had shown a disposition 
to palliate or to veil the enormities of the Spaniards, in their American 
conquests, and that he had shed an illusive lustre round the daring and 
intelligent but sanguinary and unprincipled Cortes. Even Professor Stew- 
art, notwithstanding his honourable aflection for the memory of his friend, 
shrinks from vindicating him on this score, and contents himself with oppo- 
sing to the charge " those warm and enlightened sentiments of humanity 
which in general animate his writings." Unwilling to censure severely, 
and unable to exculpate, Bryan Edwards suggests, as an apology for Dr. 
Robertson, that this is one of the cases in which the mind, shrinlcing from 
the contemplation of alleged horrors, wishes to resist conviction, and to re- 
lieve itself by incredulity. Dr. Gleig, however, the latest biographer of 
the historian, indignantly rejects this apology as al)surd ; and, more enter- 
prising than his predecessors, partly labours to invalidate the accusation, 



DR. ROBERTSON. xxiii 

by lessening the sum of Spanish cruelties, and partly lo render it of no 
weight, by pleading that the writer probably considered the conquests of 
Mexico and Peru as means employed by Providence to accomplish the no- 
blest and most beneficent purposes. That Dr. Robertson did really regard 
those conquests in such a light we may easily believe ; since, in his ser- 
mon on the state of the world at the appearance of Christ, he manifests 
similar sentiments with respect to the measureless and unslumbering ambi- 
tion of those universal robbers the Romans, whom he is pleased to style 
"the noblest people that ever entered on the stage of the world." But 
this defence is merely sophistical. Though we are not ignorant that a wise 
and benignant Providence educes good trom evil, it is not the business of 
an historian to diminish the loathing which evil deeds ought to excite ; nor 
does it appear that morality is likely to be much benefited, by teaching 
tyrants and murdereis to imagine that, while they are giving the rein to 
their own furious and malignant passions, they are only performing their 
destined tasks as instruments of the Deity. 

This was by no means all that was urged against the History of Ame- 
rica. It is, in fact, not now attempted to be denied that, in many instances, 
Dr. Robertson was led astray by his partiality to the brilliant but fallacious 
theories of De Pauw and Buffon. Clavigero, in his History of Mexico, 
detected and somewhat harshly animadverted on several errors, a part of 
which were subsequently rectified. Bryan Edwards, too, pointed out some 
contradictions, and some erroneous statements. But the most severe cen- 
sor is Mr. Southey, a man eminently well informed on ancient Spanish and 
American events. In his History of Brazil, after having described the 
mode of reckoning in use among the transatlantic tribes, he adds, " when 
Pauw reasoned upon the ignorance of the Americans in numbers, did he 
suppress this remarkable fact, or was he ignorant of it ? The same ques- 
tion is applicable to Dr. Robertson, who, on this, and on many other sub- 
jects, in what he calls his History of America, is guilty of such omissions, 
and consequent misrepresentations, as to make it certain either that he had 
not read some of the most important documents to which he refers, or that 
he did not choose to notice the facts which he found there, because they 
were not in conformity to his own preconceived opinions. A remarkable 
example occurs respecting a circulating medium ; when he mentions cocoa- 
nuts, which were used as money in Mexico, and says, ' this seems to be the 
utmost length which the Americans had advanced towards the discovery 
of any expedient for supplying the use of money.' Now, it is said by 
Cortes himself, that when he was about to make cannon, he had copper 
enough, but wanted tin ; and having bought up all the plates and pots, 
which he could find among the soldiers, he began to inquire among the 
natives. He then found, that in the province of Tachco, little pieces of 
tin, like thin coin, were used for money, there and in other places. And 
this led him to a discovery of the mines from whence it was taken. The 
reputation of this author must rest upon his History of Scotland, if that can 
support.it. His other works are grievously deficient." 

Such are the defects which are attributed to Dr. Robertson's History. 
On the other hand, it ought to be remembered, that many sources of know- 
ledge, which were then hidden, have since become accessible, that no 
man is at all times exempted from the dominion of prejudice, that the most 
cautious vigilance may sink into a momentary slumber, and that to him 
who has achieved much, a tribute of gratitude is due, even though it may 
be discovered that he has left something undone. Were the History of 
the Spanish Conquests proved to be merely a fiction, it would nevertheless 
continue to be read, such attraction is there in the general elegance of the 
language, the skilfiil delineation of the characters, and the sustained inter- 
est and spirit of the narrative. 

In the preface to this portion of his labours, he made known his intention 



.\xi\r THE LIFE OF 

to resume the subject at a future period; and he assigned the ferment 
\vliich then agitated our North American colonies as a reason for suspend- 
ing, at present, the execution of that part of his plan which related to 
British America. At the very be";inning, in truth, of the contest with the 
colonies, he congratulated himsellP on his not having completed his narra- 
tive. " It is kic£y," said he, in a letter to Mr. Strahan, " that my American 
History was not finished before this event. How many plausible theories 
that I should have been entitled to form, are contradicted by what has 
now happened." A fragment of this History, which, however, was care- 
fully corrected by him, and which he preserved when he committed his 
manuscripts to the flames, was all that he subsequently wrote of the work ; 
and this was published by his son to prevent it from falling into the hands 
of an editor who might make alterations and additions, and obtrude the 
whole on the public as the genuine composition of the author. 

With respect to a separation between the mother country and the colo- 
nists. Dr. Robertson seems to have somewhat varied in his sentiments, and 
to have contemplated the probability of such an event with much more 
dislike in 1775 than he did in 1766. In the latter year, speaking of the 
repeal of the stamp act, he said, " I rejoice, from my love of the human 
species, that a million of men in America have some chance of running the 
same great career which other free people have held before them. I do 
not apprehend revolution or independence sooner than these must or should 
come. A very little skill and attention in the art of governing may pre- 
serve the supremacy of Britain as long as it ought to be preserved." But, 
in 1775, though he still acknowledged that the colonies must ultimately 
l)ecome independent, he was anxious that their liberation should be 
delayed till as distant a period as possible, and was clearly of opinion that 
they had as yet no right to throw off their allegiance. Nor was he sparing 
of his censure on the ministers for the want of policy and firmness, which 
he considered them to have displayed at the commencement of the quar- 
rel. " I agree with you about the affairs of America," said he, in a letter, 
which was written in the autumn of 1775, " incapacity, or want of informa- 
tion, has led the people employed there to deceive the ministry. Trust- 
ing to them, they have been trifling for two years, when they should have 
been serious, until they have rendered a very simple piece of business 
extremely perplexed. They have permitted colonies, disjoined by nature 
and situation, to consolidate into a regular systematical confederacy ; and 
when a few regiments stationed in each capital would have rendered it 
impossible for them to take arms, they have suffered them quietly to levy 
and train forces, as if they had not seen against whom they were preparedf. 
But now we are fairly committed, and I do think it fortunate that the vio- 
lence of the Americans has brought matters to a crisis too soon for them- 
selves. From. the beginning of the contest I have always asserted that 
independence was their object. The distinction between taxation and 
regmation is mere folly. There is not an argument against our right of 
taxation that does not conclude with tenfold force against our power of 
regulating their trade. They may profess or disclaim what they please, 
and hold the language that best suits their purpose ; but, if they have any 
meaning, it must be that they should be free states, connected with us by 
blood, by habit, and by religion, but at liberty to buy and sell and trade 
where and with whom they please. This they will one day attain, but 
not just now, if there be any degree of political wisdom or vigour remain- 
ing. At the same time one cannot but regret that prosperous growing 
states should be checked in their career. As a lover of mankind, I bewail 
it ; but as a subject of Great Britain, 1 must wish that their dependence 
on it should continue. If the wisdom of government can terminate the 
contest with honour instantly, that would be the most desirable issue. 
This, however, I take to be nora impossible : and I will venture to fore- 



DR. ROBERTSON. xxv 

(ell, that if our leaders do not at once exert the power of the British em- 
pire in its full force, the struggle will be long, dubious, and disgraceful. 
We are past the hour of lenitives and half exertions. If the contest be 

Srotracted, the smallest interruption of the tranquillity that reigns in 
iurope, or even the appearance of it, may be fatal." 

It must be owned, that language like this goes very far towards justify- 
ing the sarcasm of Horace Walpole, that the reverend historian was *' a 
very moderate Whig." Perhaps, also, his belief that, at the outset, a {ew 
regiments in each capital would have sufficed to trample down the resist- 
ance of the Americans, may now appear ditBcult to be reconciled with a 
knowledge of military affairs, or of human nature. Yet we must, at the 
same time, remember that this erroneous idea was held by him in com- 
mon with many other men of intellect, and that it was even brought for- 
ward in the British senate as an undeniable truth. 

Though the Ameiican war precluded Dr. Robertson from bringing to a 
close his history of the British settlements, it is not easy to discover why 
he could not continue it to a certain point ; or why, at least, he could not 
proceed with that part of his narrative which related to the colonization of 
Brazil, and the violent struggles between the Dutch and the Portuguese in 
that country — an extensive subject, and worthy of his pen, as it would have 
afforded bim abundant opportunities for the display of his delineative 
talents. Our curiosity on this head is not satisfied by the reason which, 
as we have recently seen, he himself gave, in his preface and in his letter 
to Mr. Strahan. That reason, however, he repeated in a correspondence 
with his friend Mr. Waddilove, and it is now in vain to seek for a better. 
It is certain that a wish to retire from literaiy toil was not his motive ; for, 
at the same moment that he postponed his History of America, he declared 
that it was " neither his inclination nor his interest to remain altogether 
idle." As a proof of his sincerity, he projected a History of Great Bri- 
tain, from the revolution to the accession of the House of Hanover, and 
even began to collect the necessary documents. Notwithstanding this 
seems to have been, for a while, a favourite scheme, it was speedily relin- 
quished; a circumstance which may justly be regretted. Hume then sug- 
gested the History of the Protestants in France. " The events," said he, 
" are importatit in themselves, and intimately connected with the great 
revolutions of Europe : some of the boldest or most amiable characters of 
modern times, the admiral Coligny, Henry IV., &c. would be your peculiar 
heroes ; the materials are copious, and authentic, and accessible ; and the 
objects appear to stand at that just distance which excites curiosity with- 
out inspiring passion." 

The hint given by Hume was, however, not adopted. About the year 
1779 or 1780, Dr. Robertson seems, indeed, to have seriously resolved to' 
write no more for the public, but to pursue his studies at leisure, and for 
his own amusement. " His circumstances," says professor Stewart, " were 
independent: he was approaching to the age of sixty, with a constitution 
considerably impaired l)y a sedentary life ; and a long application to the 
compositions he had prepared for the press had interfered with much of 
the gratification he might have enjoyed, if he had been at liberty to follow 
the impulse of his own taste and curiosity. Such a sacrifice must be more 
or less made by all u ho devote themselves to letters, whether with a view 
to emolument or to fame ; nor would it perhaps be easy to make it, were 
It not for the prospect (seldom, alas! realized) of earning by their exer- 
tions, that learned and honourable leisure which he was so fortunate as to 
attain." 

We must now contemplate Dr. Robertson in another point of view — that 
of his ecclesiastical and academical character ; in which, no less than in 
his literary capacity, he occupied a prominent station. The eminence, 
however, which he had not attained without difficulty, he did not hold 

Vor,. I.— D 



xxvi THE LIFE OF 

entirely without danger. In one instance he was near falling' a victim to his 
spirit of liberality. In 1778, the British legislature relieved the English 
Roman catholics from some of the severest of the barbarous [ enalties to 
which they had been subjected nearly a century before. Encouraged by 
this event, the Scottish catholics determined to petition parliament to extend 
the benefit to themselves. To this measure Dr. Robertson was friendly, 
and he successfully exerted his influence, and that of his partisans, to pro- 
cure the rejection of a remonstrance against it, which was brought forward 
in the general assembly. But on this occasion, as, unhappily, on too many 
others, bigotry and ignorance triumphed over sound policy and Christian 
charity. The trumpet of fanaticism was immediately sounded, and men 
of the most opposite principles and interests hurried to obey the call. 
Presbyterians, seceders, and even episcopalians, the latter of whom were 
themselves under the lash of penal statutes, all combined in the crusade 
against papistiy. Pamphlets and speeches were lavished, to prove that 
the constitution in church and state must inevitably perish, if an iota of 
relief were granted to the faithless members of an idolatrous and sanguinary 
church. The Roman catholics were so terrified at the fury that was thus 
aroused, that the principal gentlemen among them informed the ministry 
that they would desist from appealino^ to parliament ; and they endeavoured 
to calm the popular tempest, by publishing in the daily papers an account 
of their proceedings. But the enlightened mob of Edinburgh had sagely 
resolved that the catholics should not even dare to wish for the slightest 
participation in the privileges of British subjects, without being punished 
for their temerity. Accordingly, on the 2d of February, 1779, multitudes 
of the lowest classes, headed by disguised leaders, assembled in the Scottish 
capital, burnt the house of the popish bishop and two chapels : and, in 
their even-handed justice, were on the point of committing to the flames 
an episcopal chapel, when they were propitiated, by being told that an 
episcopal clergyman was the author of one of the ablest tracts which had 
been published against poperj'. As, however, they could not consent to 
remit their vengeance, but only to change its object, they turned their 
wrath upon those who had expressed opinions favourable to the claims of 
the catholics. Dr. Robertson was marked out as one of the most guilty, 
and nothing less than the destruction of his property and life was considered 
as sufficient to atone for his crime. Fortunately his friends had provided 
for his safety, and, when the self-appointed champions of religion reached 
his house, it was found to be defended by a military force, which they had 
not enough of courage to look in the face. As they had come only to 
destroy and to murder, they, of course, retreated, when they discovered 
that, to accomplish their purpose, it would also be necessary to fight. Dr. 
Robertson is said to have manitested great firmness and tranquillity during 
this trying scene. 

In selecting Dr. Robertson as the person most worthy of suflPering by 
their summary process of punishment without trial, the mob of Edinburgh 
acted with a more than mobbish share of injustice. Though desirous that 
the catholics should be released from their thraldom, he was not disposed 
to put any thing to the hazard for the furtherance of that object, and Itad 
already withdrawn his patronage from such obnoxious clients. He was 
not one of those who, as Goldsmith says of Burke, are " too fond of the 
right to pursue the expedient.'''' With him prudence was a governing 
principle. When, therefore, he saw that his countrymen were adverse 
to the measure, he advised the ministry to forbear from lending their coun- 
tenance to it. In an eloquent speech, delivered in the general assembly, 
he afterwards explained and vindicated the view which he originally took 
of the subject, and the manner in which he finally acted. The perusal of 
that which he urged, on the latter point, will not merely show what were 
his motives in this instance, but also afford some insight into bis general 



D R. R O R K H T S O N. xxvii 

character. How far his system of policy is consonant with dignity or 
wisdom, which, indeed, are inseparable, I shall not stop to inquire. It 
might, perhaps, not improperly, be objected to him, that he mistakes the 
voice of a blind infuriated multitude for the voice of the people ; though 
it is impossible for any two things to be more diflerent in their nature. It 
might be asked, too, why the fanatical prejudices of a Scottish mob were 
to be treated with more respect than the complaints of the American 
colonists ; why the one were to be indulged or complied with, while the 
other were to be silenced by " a few regiments stationed in each capital ?" 
"As soon," says he, "as I perceived the extent and violence of the flame 
which the discussion of this subject had kindled in Scotland, my ideas 
concerning the expedience at this juncture of the measure in question, began 
to alter. "For although I did think, and I do still believe, that if the pro- 
testants in this country' had acquiesced in the repeal as quietly as our 
brethren in England and Ireland, a fatal blow would have been given to 
popery in the Rritish dominions ; I know, that in legislation, the sentiments 
and dispositions of the people, for ^vhom laws are made, should be attended 
to with care. I remembered that one of ths wisest men of antiquity de- 
clared, that he had framed tor his fellow-citizens not the best lavVs, but 
the best laws which they could bear. I recollected with reverence, that 
the divine Legislator himself, accommodating his dispensations to the frailty 
of his subjects, had given the Israelites for a season statutes which a-ere 
not good. Even the prejudices of the people are, in my opinion, respectable ; 
and an indulgent legislator ought not unnecessarily to run counter to them. 
It appeared manifestly to be sound policy, in the present temper of the 
people, to sooth rather than to irritate them ; and, however ill founded 
their apprehensions might be, some concession was now requisite in order 
to remove them." 

This was, I believe, the last speech which he made in the General As- 
sembly. While he was yet in the vigour of his faculties, and in the exer- 
cise of undiminished influence in that assembly, he came to a resolution to 
withdraw himself entirely from pdblic business. It was in the year 1780, 
about the time when he ceased to be an historian, and when he was only 
fifty-nine, that he adopted this resolution. Several causes seem to have 
concurred in producing his retirement. It has been supposed by some, 
that he did not wish to remain on the scene till he was eclipsed by younger 
rivals ; and it is known that he telt disgusted by the conduct of the violent 
men of his own party, who, though he had yielded many points to them 
against his better judgment, were nevertheless dissatistiea that he refused 
to resort to stronger measures than he deemed to be either right or pru- 
dent, and who, in consequence, tormented him with letters of remonstrance 
and reproach, which, as from their nature may easily be imagined, were 
written in a petulant and acrimonious style. In addition, there was one 
subject, which had long been a particular annoyance to him, and on which 
he had been more pertinaciously urged and fretted than on every other. 
This was a scheme for abolishing subscription to the Confession of Faith 
and Forniula. Into this scheme, which he had avowed his determination 
to resist, whatever shape it might assume, many of his friends had zealously 
entered, and his patience was severely tried by their *' beseeching or be- 
sieging" him with respect to so important an object. By his cautious and 
persuasive policy, he had for a considerable period prevented the contro- 
versy from bein^ agitated in the assemblies ; but he was of opinion that it 
would ultimately compel attention, and would give rise to vehement di.s- 

i)utes ; and it was this circumstance, as he himself confessed, that " at 
east confirmed his resolution to retire." 

Having rendered triumphant a cause which, to say the least, had nume- 
rous enemies, it was hardly to be supposed that his character would not 
be aspersed by many of those wlio wi-re mortiticd to witness his success. 



xxviii THE LIFE OF 

Accordingly, the charge of having deserted the genuine principles of the 
Scottish church was often urged against him by some of^his antagonists. 
Others, who had more of the zealot in their composition, did not stop here. 
These went so far as to accuse him of being indifferent to Christianity 
itself ; and, in proof of this, they alleged his habits of intimacy with Hume, 
and his correspondence with Gibbon. It is difficult to say whether this 
stupid calumny ought to excite anger or contempt. 

This, however, was the language of only malignant hearts, or little 
minds. By the great majority^ even of those who were in opposition to 
him, full justice was done to his virtues, his talents, and the purity of his 
motives. Among those who, believing patronage to be a nuisance, were 
the most strenuous in contending with him, was Dr. Erskine, his college 
mate, and colleague in the ministry. That venerable and learned person 
always preserved for him a warm esteem, and, after the historian was no 
more, paid to his memory an animated and affectionate tribute from the 
pulpit. " His speeches in church courts," says Dr. Erskine, " w ere ad- 
mired by those whom they did not convince, and acquired and preserved 
him an influence over a majority in them, which none before him enjoyed ; 
though his measures were sometimes new, and warmly, and with great 
strength of aigument, opposed, both from the press, and in the General 
Assembly. To this influence many causes contributed : his firm adhe- 
rence to the principles of church policy, which he early adopted ; his 
sagacity in forming plans ; his steadiness in executing them ; his qu)ck dis- 
cernment of whatever might hinder or promote his designs ; his boldness 
in encountering difficulties ; his presence of mind in improving every occa- 
sional advantage ; the address with which, when he saw it necessary, he 
could make an honourable retreat ; and his skill in stating a vote, and 
seizing the favoural))e moment for ending a debate and urging a decision. 
He guided and governed others, without seeming to assume any superiority 
over them ; and fixed and strengthened his power, by often, in matters of 
form and expediency, preferring the opinions of those with whom he acted, 
to his own. In former times, hardly afiy rose up to speak in the General 
Assembly, till called upon by the Moderator, unless men advanced in years, 
of high rank, or of established characters. His example and influence en- 
couraged young men of abilities to take their share of public business ; 
and thus deprived Moderators of an engine lor preventing causes being 
fairly and impartially discussed. The power of others, who formerly had 
in some measure guided ecclesiastical affairs, was derived from ministers 
of state, and expired with their fall. He remained unhurt amidst frequent 
changes of administration. Great men in office were always ready to 
countenance him, to co-operate with him, and to avail themselves of his 
aid. But he judged for himself, and scorned to be their slave, or to submit 
to receive their instructions. Hence, his influence, not confined to men of 
mercenary views, extended to many of a free and independent spirit, who 
supported, because they approved, his measures ; which others, from the 
same independent spirit, thought it their duty steadily to oppose. 

" Deliberate in forming his judgment, l)ut, \\ hen formed, not easily 
moved to renounce it, he sometimes viewed the altered plans of others 
with too suspicious an eye. Hence, there were able and worthy men, of 
whom he expressed himself less favourably, and whose later appearances 
in church judicatories he censured as inconsistent with principles they had 
formerly professed : while they maintained, that the system of managing 
church affairs was changed, not their opinions or conduct. Still, however, 
keen and determined opposition to his schemes of ecclesiastical policy 
neither extinguished his esteem nor forfeited his friendly offices, when he 
saw opposition carried on without rancour, and when he believed that it 
originated from conscience and principle, not from personal animosity, or 
envv. or ambition." 



^ DR. ROBERTSON. sxix 

Of his private character, Dr. Erskine adds, that " he enjoyed the boun- 
ties of Providence, without running into riot ; was temperate without aus- 
terity ; condescending and affable vvitliout meanness ; and in exjpense nei- 
ther sordid nor prodigal. He could feel an injury, and yet bridle his pas- 
sion ; was grave, not sullen ; steady, not obstinate ; friendly, not officious ; 
prudent and cautious, not timid." 

Than the triumph which the principles of Dr. Robertson obtained in 
the General Assembly nothing could be more complete; and it was the 
more flattering, inasmuch as it was consummated after he had ceased to 
take a part in the debates. It had, from the year 1736, been the custom, 
annually, for the Assembly to instruct the Commission, " to make due ap- 
plication to the king and parliament tor redress of the grievance of patron- 
age, in case a favourable oppcjrtunity for doing so should occur." So cau- 
tious was the policy of Dr. Robertson, that, although he had entirely sub- 
verted the veiy groundwork on which this instruction was raised, he never 
chose to move that it should be expunged. He knew that it was popular 
with the great body of the people, and, therefore, he did not think it ex- 
pedient to risk the chance of^ dissension in the Assembly, by an unnecessary 
and idle attack upon this shadow of a shade. In the year 1784, however, 
it was omitted, without any struggle being made in its favour, and it has 
never since been renewed. 

Whether the system established by him has contributed to the harmony 
and welfare of the Scottish church is a question which yet remains unde- 
cided. It is urged, by the friends of the system, that it has given peace 
to the church ; that the General Assembly is no longer occupied with angry- 
appeals and tumultuous disputes; that instead of there being, as formerly, 
a necessity to call in a military force, to protect the presbytery in the act 
of induction, ministers are now peaceably settled ; and that the worst that 
ever happens is the secession of the discontented part of the parishioners, 
and the consequent erection of a separate place of worship, which they 
frequent only till their zeal cools, and then desert to rejoin the kirk. But, 
on the other hand, it is contended, that the peace is rather in appearance 
than in reality ; that, though the people have ceased to appeal to the As- 
sembly, their silence arises from disgust and weariness, and not from satis- 
faction ; that, grown too wise to enter into a protracted and fruitless con- 
test, they immediately set themselves to rear a seceding meeting house^ 
which often carries off a lai^e proportion of the parishioners ; and that, by 
this quiet but continual increase of seceding meetings, the influence of the 
established church has been gradually weakened and contracted, a spirit of 
disunion has been spread, and a heavy additional burden has been imposed 
on property of every kind. 

But, whatever doubt may exist on this point, there seems to be none 
with respect to another. It is generally acknowledged that Dr. Robertson 
conduced greatly to give a more dignified character to the proceedings of 
the General Assembly, to introduce an impartial exercise of the judicial 
authority of the church, and to diffuse the principles of tolerance among 
men who had hitherto prided themselves on their utter contempt of them. 
In such respect are his decisions held, that they still form a sort of com 
mon law in the church ; and the lime which elapsed between his being 
chosen Principal of the University and his withdrawing from public life, 
is distinguished by the name of Dr. Robertson's administration. 

It is in his capacity of Principal that he is next to be considered. In this 
important office he displayed his wonted activity and talent. He began 
the performance of his duties, as his predecessors had done, by delivering 
annually a Latin discourse before the University. Of these orations, the 
first, the object of which was to recommend the study of classical learn- 
ing, was delivered on the third of February, 1763. ft is 5aid, among nu- 
merous other splendid passages, to have contained a beautiful panesrvric 



XXX THE LIFE OF 

on the stoical philosophy. In the following year, his discourse "consisted 
chiefly of moral and literary observations, adapted to the particular cir- 
cumstances of youth," and the style is affirmed to be " uncommonly elegant 
and impressive, and possessed of all the distinguishing characteristics of 
his English compositions." In 1765 and 1766, he chose for his theme the 
comparative advantages of public and private education; a subject which 
he treated in a masterly manner. After 1766 these annual lectures ceased ; 
his time being too fully occupied to allow of the continuance of them. 

But, though his lectures were of necessity discontinued, he never remit- 
ted in his attention even to the minutest duties of his office. He appears, 
indeed, to have felt a filial anxiety to omit nothing which could assist in 
giving lustre to the University at which his own talents had been cultivated. 
With very slender funds, he made large additions to the public library; 
he planned or reformed most of the literary and medical societies, which 
have raised Edinbui^'h to such eminence as a seminary of learning, and a 
focus of literature ; and he contrived to preserve an uninterrupted harmony 
among the numerous members of the body which he superintendedf. 
" The good sense, temper, and address," says professor Stewart, " with 
which he presided for thirty years at our university meetings, were 
attended with effects no less essential to our prosperity ; and are attested 
by a fact which is perhaps without a parallel in the annals of any other 
literary community, that during the whole of that period there did not 
occur a single question which was not terminated by a unanimous 
decision." 

To his exertions Scotland is also chiefly indebted for its Royal Society, 
which received its charter of incorporation in March, 1763. The basis of 
this establishment was the Philosophical Society, the founder of which was 
the celebrated Maclaurin. In his zeal to give all possible lustre to the new 
institution, by drawing together men of every species of merit. Dr. Ro- 
bertson seems, for once, to have acted with less than his usual liberality. 
An antiquarian society, at the head of which was the earl of Buchan, had, 
two years before, been formed in the Scottish metropolis ; and this body 
also was desirous to obtain the royal charter. The application which it 
made to the crown was, however, eagerly opposed, in a " Memorial ironi 
the principal and professors of the University of Edinburgh." This me- 
morial is signed by Dr. Robertson ; but it is so feeble in composition as 
well as in reasoning, that it is difficult to believe it to have flowed from his 
pen. The argument on which it wholly relies is, that " narrow countries" 
cannot supply materials for more than one society ; that Scotland is such a 
country ; and, therefore, that it "ought not to form its literary plans upon 
the model of the more extensive kingdoms in Europe, but in imitation of 
those which are more circumscribed." To this hostile proceeding the 
antiquaries responded, in a long memorial, which was penned with much 
acuteness, and was naturally expressive of some degree of resentment. 
They were successful in the contest, and their charter was granted. 

The labours of Dr. Robertson, as a writer, were closed by a work which 
entered largely into antiquarian investigation, as connected with history. 
In 1791 he published a quarto volume, containing his "Historical Disqui- 
sition concerning the Knowledge which the Ancitnlshad of India; and the 
Progress of Trade with that Country prior to the Discovery of the Passage 
to it by the Cape of Good Hope." An Appendix was dedicated to ob- 
servations on the civil policy, the laws and judicial proceedings, the arts, 
the sciences, and the religious institutions of the Indians. This subject, which 
occupied him twelve months, was suggested to him by the perusal of major 
Kennell's Memoirs for illustrating his History of Hindostan, and was origi- 
nally taken up with noother object than his own amusement and instruction. 
That it would become as popular as his other productions was, from its 
nature, not to be expecte<i. but it ol)taiiied an honourable share of public 



DR. ROBERTSON. axxi 

approbation ; and, though it has since been partly superseded by more 
elaborate inquiries, which, however, were grounded on more ample mate- 
rials, it will always retain a certain degree of value, and will be con- 
sidered as a proof of his industry, of his habits of research, and of the 
solidity of his judgment. 

The latter years of Dr. Robertson's existence were passed in the well 
earned enjoyment of honourable leisure. But, though he ceased to write, 
he did not cease to be studious. Till the end of his life he is said to have 
risen early, and to have given up no part of his time to company before 
the hour of dinner. What he was in the moments of social ease has been 
so excellently described by professor Stewart, thiit his own words ought 
to be used. "A rich stock of miscellaneous information, acquired from 
books and from an extensive intercourse with the world, together with a 
perfect acquaintance at all times with the topics of the day, and the 
soundest sagacity and good sense applied to the occurrences of common 
lite, rendered him the most instructive and agreeable of companions. He 
seldom aimed at art ; but, with his intimate iViends, he often indulged a 
sportive and fanciful species of humour. He delighted in good natured, 
characteristical anecdotes of his acquaintance, and added powerfully to 
their effect by his own enjoyment in relating them. He was, in a remark- 
able degree, susceptible of the ludicrous ; but on no occasion did he forget 
the dignity of his character, or the decorum of his profession ; nor did he 
ever lose sight of that classical taste which adorned his compositions. His 
turn of expression was correct and pure ; sometimes, perhaps, inclining 
more than is expected, in the carelessness of a social hour, to formal and 
artificial periods ; but it was stamped with his own manner no less than his 
premeditated style : it was always the language of a superior and a culti- 
vated mind, and it embellished every subject on which he spoke. In the 
company of strangers, he increased his exertions to amuse and to inform ; 
and the splendid variety of his conversation was commonly the chief cir- 
cumstance on which they dwelt in enumerating his talents ; and yet, I 
must acknowledge, for my own part, that much as I always admired his 
powers when they were thus called tbrlh, I enjoyed his society less than 
when I saw him in the circle of his intimates, or in the bosom of his 
family." 

It is not one of the least amiable features of his character, that, though 
he was not forward to volunteer his advice, yet, when he was consulted by 
his young acquaintance, as was very often the case, " he entered into their 
concerns with the most lively interest, and seemei to have a pleasure and 
a pride in imparting to them all the lights of his experience and wisdom." 

It was about the end of the year 1791 that the health of Dr. Robertson^ 
began to manifest indications of declii^e. Strong symptoms of jaundice 
next appeared, his constitution was sapped, and a lingering and fatal illness 
ensued. His spirits, however, remained unbroken. Till within a few 
months of his death, he persisted in officiating as a minister. When his 
decaying strength no longer allowed him to pertbrm his clerical duties, he 
retired to Grange House, in the neigiibourhood of Edinburgh, that he might 
have the advantage of more quiet, a pure air, and the sight of those rural 
and picturesque objects in which he had ever delighted. "While he wa^ 
able to walk abroad," says Mr. Stewart, "he commonly passed a part ol" 
the day in a small garden, enjoying the simple gratifications it afforded 
with all his wonted relish. Some who now hear me will long remember, 
among the trivial yet interesting incidents which marked these last weeks 
of his memorable life, his daily visits to the fruit trees (which were then 
in blossom), and the smile with which he, more than once, contrasted the 
interest he took in their progress, with the event which was to happen 
before their maturity." It was while he was thus lingering on the verge 
of the grave, that he was visited by two gentlemen from New -York, who 



xxaVi LI FE OF DR. KOBERTSOiN. 

were extremely anxious for an interview ivjth him. He rallied all his 
powers to entertain his gue«ts, and to inspire in their minds a feeling of 
kindness towards the parent land of the late colonists ; and, on their rising 
to take leave, he said to them, in accents at once dignified and pathetic, 
" When you go home, tell your countrymen that you saw the wreck of Dr. 
Robertson." In less than two months that wreck disappeared in the ocean 
of eternity. He expired, with the fortitude which became him, on the 
11th of July, 1793, in the seventy -first year of his age, and the fiftieth of his 
ministry. 

So much has been written by others, respecting the literary merit of 
Dr. Robertson, that on this point it is unnecessary, even would my con- 
lined limits permit me, to enter into a lengthened discussion. His style 
has less of careless easy grace, but has more of equable dignity, than tnat 
of Hume ; it does not display the masterly modulation, but it has none of 
the occasional obscurity and meretricious ornament, of that of Gibbon ; it 
is well balanced, unstained by vulgarisms, more idiomatically English 
than might be expected from a native of Scotland, and is defective, per- 
haps, only in being too uniformly of an elevated tone. In arranging and 
linking together into one harmonious whole the scattered parts of his sub- 
ject, he is eminently happy ; and in delineating characters, manners, and 
scenery, in making vividly present to the mind that which he describes, 
he has few rivals, and no superiors. If all that has been urged against his 
works be admitted, and some of it cannot be denied, it may nevertheless 
safely be affirmed, that the balance heavily preponderates in his favour, 
and that he will always continue to rank in the first class of modem 
historians. 



THE 



HISTORY OF AMERICA. 



BY WILLIAM ROBERTSON, D.D. 

rniNCIPAL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, ETC. ETC. 



PREFACE. 

In fulfilling the engagement which I had come under to the Public with 
respect to the History of America, it was my intention not to have pub- 
lished any part of the Work until the whole was completed. The present 
state of the British colonies has induced me to alter that resolution. While 
they are engaged in civil war with Great Britain, inquiries and specula- 
tions concerning their ancient forms of policy and laws, which exist no 
longer, cannot be interesting. Tiie attention and expectation of mankind 
are now turned towards their future condition. In whatever manner this 
unhappy contest may terminate, a new order of things must arise in North 
America, and its affairs will assume another aspect. I wait with the soli- 
citude of a good citizen, until the ferment subside, and regular government 
be re-established, and then I shall return to this part of my work, in which 
I had made some progress. That, together with the history of Portuguese 
America, and of the settlements made by the several nations of Europe in 
the West India Islands, will complete my plan. 

The three volumes which 1 now publish contain an account of the dis- 
covery of the New World, and of the progress of the Spanish arms and 
colonies there. This is not only the most splendid portion of the American 
story, but so much detached, as by itself to form a perfect whole, remark- 
able for the unity of the subject. As the principles and maxims of the 
Spaniards in planting colonies, which have been adopted in some measure 
by every nation, are unfolded in this part of rny work; it will serve as a 
proper introduction to the history of all the European establishments in 
America, and convey such information concerning this important article of 
policy, as may be deemed no less interesting than curious. 

In describing the achievements and institutions of the Spaniards in the 
New World, I have departed in many instances, from the accounts of pre- 
ceding historians, and have often related facts which seem to have been un- 
known to them. It is a duty I owe the Public to mention the sources from 
which I have derived such intelligence which justifies me either in placing 
transactions in a new light, or in forming any new opinion with respect to 
their causes and effects. This duty I perform with greater satisfaction, as 
it will afford an opportunity of expressing my gratitude to those benefactors 
who have honoured me with their countenance and aid in my researches. 

As it was from Spain that I had to expect the most important information, 
with regard to this part of my work, I considered it as a very fortunate 
circumstance for me, when Lord Grantham, to whom I had the honour of 
being personally known, and with whose liberality of sentiment, and dis- 
position to oblige, I was well acquainted, was appointed ambassador to 
the court of Madrid. Upon applying to him, I met with such a reception 
as satisfied me that his endeavours would be employed in the most proper 
manner, in order to obtain the gratification of my wishes ; and I am per- 
lectly sensible, that what progress I have made in my inquiries among the 
Spaniards, ought to be ascribed chiefly to their knowing how much his 
lordship interested himself in my success. 

But did 1 owe nothing more to Lord Grantham than the advantages 
which I have derived from his attention in engaging Mr. Waddilove, the 
chaplain of his embassy, to take the conduct of my literary inquiries in 
Spain, the obligations I lie under to him would be very great. During five 
years that gentleman has carried on researches for my behoof, with such 
activity, perseverance, and knowledge of the subject, to which his attention 
was turned, as have filled me with no less astonishment than satisfaction. 
He procured for me the greater part of the Spanish books which I have 
consulted ; and as many of them were printed early in the sixteenth cen- 
tury, and are become exlrcmely rai>», the cullccting of these was such an 



4 PREFACE. 

occupation as alone required much time and assiduity. To his friendly 
attention I am indebted for copies of several valual)le manuscripts, con- 
taining facts and details which I might have searched for in vain in works 
that have been made public. Encouraged by the inviting good will with 
which Mr. Waddilove conferred his favours, I transmitted to him a set of 
queries, with respect both to the customs and policy of the native Ameri- 
cans, and the nature of several institutions in the Spanish settlements, 
framed in such a manner that a Spaniard might answer them without dis- 
closing any thing that was improper to be communicated to a foreigner. 
He translated these into Spanish, and obtained from various persons who 
had resided in most of the Spanish colonies, such replies as have afforded 
me much instruction. 

Notwithstanding those peculiar advantages with which my inquiries 
were carried on in Spain, it is with regret I am obliged to add, that their 
success must be ascribed to the beneficence of individuals, not to any 
communication by public authority. By a singular arrangement of Philip 
II. the records of the Spanish monarchy are deposited in the Archivo of 
Simancas, near Valladolid, at the distance of a hundred and twenty miles 
from the seat of government and the supreme courts of justice. The 
papers relative to America, and chiefly to that early period of its history 
towards which my attention was directed, are so numerous, that they alone, 
according to one account, fill the largest apartment in the Archivo; and, 
according to another, they compose eight hundred and seventy-three large 
bundles. Conscious of possessing, in some degree, the industry which 
belongs to an historian, the prospect of such a treasure excited my most 
ardent curiosity. But the prospect of it is all that I have enjoyed. Spain, 
with an excess of caution, has uniformly thrown a veil over her transactions 
in America. From strangers they are concealed with peculiar solicitude. 
Even to her own subjects the Archivo of Simancas is not opened without 
a particular order from the crown ; and, after obtaining that, papers cannot 
be copied without paying fees of office so exorbitant that the expense 
exceeds what it would be proper to bestow, when the gratification of lite- 
]ary curiosity is the only object. It is to be hoped, that the Spaniards will 
at last discover this system of concealment to be no less impolitic than 
illiberal. From what 1 have experienced in the course of my inquiries, I 
am satisfied, that upon a more minute scrutiny into their early operations 
in the New World, however reprehensible the actions of individuals may 
appear, the conduct of the nation will be placed in a more favourable light. 

In other parts of Europe very different sentiments prevail. Having 
searched, without success, in Spain, for a letter of Cortes to Charles V.. 
written soon after he landed in the Mexican Empire, which has not hitherto 
been published ; it occurred to me, that as the Emperor was setting out 
for Germany at the time when the messengers from Cortes arrived in 
Europe, the letter with which they were intrusted might possibly be pre- 
served in the Imperial library at Vienna. I communicated this idea to 
Sir Robert Murray Keith, with whom I have long had the honour to live 
\\\ friendship, and I had soon the pleasure to learn, that upon his application 
her Imperial Majesty had been graciously pleased to issue an order, that 
not only a copy of that letter (if it were found), but of any other papers in 
the library which could throw light upon the History of America, <<hould 
he transmitted to me. The letter from Cortes is not in the Imperial 
library; but an authentic copy, attested by a notary, of the letter written 
by the magistrates of the cobny planted by him at Vera Cruz, which I 
have mentioned, p. 210, having been found, it was transcribed, and sent to 
me. As this letter is no less curious, and as little known as that which 
was the object of my inquiries, I have given some account, in its proper 
place, of what is most worthy of notice in it. Together with it, I received 
a copy of a letter from Cortes, containing a long account of his expedition 
'.o liondurasv ^vilh respect to Avhich I did not think it necessary to ente'.* 



PREFACE. 5 

into any particular detail ; and likewise those curious Mexican paintings, 
which I have described, p. 321, , ^ -i- 

My inquiries at St. Petersburg were carried on with equal lacility and 
success. In examining into the nearest communication between our conti- 
nent and that of America, it became of consequence to obtain authentic 
intbrrnation concerning the discoveries of the Russians in their navigation 
from Kamchatka towards the coast of America. Accurate relations of 
their first voyage, in 1741, have been published bv Muller and Gmelin. 
Several foreign authors have entertained an opinion that the court of Russia 
stu'liously conceals the progress which has been made by more recent 
navigators, and suffers the Public to be amused with false accounts of their 
route. Such conduct appeared to me unsuitable to those liberal senti- 
ments, and that patronage of science, for which the present sovereign of 
Russia is eminent; nor "could I discern any political reason, that might 
render it improper to apply for information concerning the late attempts ot 
the Russians to open a communication between Asia and America. My 
ingenious countryman, Dr. Rogerson, first physician to the Empress, pre- 
sented my request to Her Imperial Majesty, who not only disclaimed any 
idea of concealment, but instantly ordered the journal of Captain Krenitzin, 
who conducted the only voyage of discovery made by public authority 
since the year 1741, to be translated, and his original chart to be copied 
for my use. By consulting them, I have been enabled to give a more 
accurate view of the progress and extent of the Russian discoveries than 
has hitherto been communicated to the Public. 

From other quarters I have received information of great utility and 
importance. M. le Chevalier de Pinto, the minister from Portugal to the 
court of Great Britain, who commanded for several years at Matagrosso, a 
settlement of the Portuguese in the interior part of Brazil, where the 
Indians are numerous, and their original manners little altered by inter- 
course with Europeans, was pleased to send me very full answers to some 
queries concerning the character and institutions of the natives of America, 
which his polite reception of an application made to him in my name 
encouraged me to propose. These satisfied me, that he had contemplated 
■with a discerning attention the curious objects which his situation presented 
to his view, and fhave often followed him as one of my best instructed guides. 

M. Suard, to whose elegant translation of the History of the Reign of 
Charles V., 1 owe the favourable reception of that work on the continent, 
procured me answers to the same queries from M. de Bougainville, who 
had opportunities of observing the Indians both of North and South Ame- 
rica, and from M. Godin le Jeune, who resided fifteen years among Indians 
in Quito, and twenty years in Cayenne. The latter are more valuable from 
having been examined by M. de la Condamine, who, a few weeks before 
his death, made some short additions to them, which may be considered 
as the last effort of that attention to science which occupied a long life. 

My inquiries were not confined to one region in America. Governor Hutch- 
inson took the trouble of recommending the consideration of my queries 
to Mr. Hawley and Mr. Brainerd, two protestant missionaries employed 
among the Indians of the Five Nations, who favoured me with answers 
which discover a considerable knowledge of the people whose customs 
they describe. From William Smith, Esq. the ingenious historian of New. 
York, I received some useful information. When I enter upon the History 
of our Colonies in North America, I shall have occasion to acknowledge 
how much I have been indebted to many other gentlemen of that country. 

From the valuable Collection of Voyages made by Alexander Dalrymplc, 
Esq., with whose attention to the History of Navigation and Discoveiy the 
Public is well acquainted, I have received some very rare books, particu- 
larly two large volumes of Memorials, partly manuscript and partly in 
?rint, which were presented to the court of Spain during the reigns oi 
'bilip III. and Philip IV. From these I have If-arned many curious par- 



f> PREFACE. 

ticulars with respect to the interior state of the Spanish colonies, and thr? 
various schemes formed lor their improvement. As this collection of 
Memorials formerly belonged to the Colbert Library, I have quoted them 
by that title. 

All those books and manuscripts I have consulted with that attention 
which the respect due from an Author to the Public required ; and by 
minute references to them, I have endeavoured to authenticate whatever I 
relate. The longer I reflect on the nature of historical composition, the 
more I am convinced that this scrupulous accuracy is necessary. The his- 
torian who records the events of his own time, is credited in proportion to 
the opinion which the Public entertains with respect to his means oi infor- 
mation and his veracity. He who delineates the transactions of a remote 
period, has no title to claim assent, unless he produces evidence in proof of 
his assertions. Without this he may write an amusing tale, but cannot be 
said to have composed an authentic history. In those sentiments I have 
been confirmed by the opinion of an Author,* whom his industry, erudition, 
and discernment, have deservedly placed in a high rank among the most 
eminent historians of the age. Imboldened by a hint from him, I have 
published a catalogue of the Spanish books which I have consulted. This 
practice was frequent in the last century, and was considered as an evi- 
dence of laudable industry in an author; in the present, it may, perhaps, 
be deemed the effect of ostentation ; but, as many of these books are 
i.nknown in Great Britain, I could not otherwise have referred to them as 
authorities, without encumbering the page with an insertion of their full 
titles. To any person who may choose to follow me in this path of 
inquiry, the catalogue must be veiy useful. 

My readers will observe, that in mentioning sums of money, I have 
uniformly followed the Spanish method of computing by pesos. In Ame- 
iica, the Y)eso fuerte, or duro, is the only one known ; and that is always 
meant when any sum imported from America is mentioned. The peso 
fuerte, as well as other coins, has varied in its numerary value ; but I have 
lieen advised, without attending to such minute variations, to consider it as 
equal to four shillings and six-pence of our money. It is to be remembered, 
however, that, in the sixteenth century, the eftective value of a peso, i. c. 
the quantity of labour which it represented, or of goods which it would 
purchase, was five or six times as much as at present. 

N. B. Since tliis edition was put into the press, a History of Mexico, in two 
volumes in quarto, translated from the Italian of the Abbe D. Francesco Sa- . 
verio Clavigero, has been published. From a person who is a native of New 
Spain, who has resided forty years in that country, and who is acquainted with 
the Mexican language, it was natural to expect much new information. Upon 
perusing his work, however, I find tliat it contains hardly any addition to the 
ancient History of the Mexican empire, as related by Acosta and Hcrrera, but 
what is derived from the improbable narratives and fanciful conjectures of Tor- 
quemada and Boturini. Having copied their splendid descriptions of the high 
state of civilization in the Mexican empire, M. Clavigero, in the abundance of 
his zeal for the honour of his native country, charges me with having mistaken 
some points, and with having misrepresented others, in the history of it. When 
an author is conscious of having exerted industry in research, and impartiality 
in decision, he may, without presumption, claim what praise is due to these 
qualities, and he cannot be insensible to any accusation that tends to weaken 
the force of his claim. A feeling of this kind has induced me to examine such 
strictures of M. Clavigero on my history of America as merited any attention, 
especially as these are made by one who seemed to possess the means of ob- 
tainmg accurate information ; and to show that the greater part of tlicm is des,- 
titute of any just foundation. This I have done in notes upon the passages hi 
jny Historv which gave rise to his criticisms, 

College of Edinbureh. Jt/aroA 1, 1788. 

* JTr. Oihhon 



■■■ 0. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 



BOOK I. 

Progress of Navigation among 
the ancients — View of their dis- 
coveries as preparatory to those 
of the moderns — Imperfection of 
ancient navigation and geogra- 
phy — Doctrine of the zones — 
Further discoveries checked by 
the irruption of barbarous na- 
tions — Geographical knowledge 
still preserved in the East, and 
among the Arabians — Revival 
of commerce and navigation in 
Europe — favoured by the Croi- 
sades — extended by travellers 
into the East — promoted by the 
invention of the mariner's com- 
pass — First regular plan of dis- 
covery formed by Portugal — 
State of that kingdom-Schemes 
of Prince Henry-Early attempts 
feeble — Progress along the west- 
ern coast of Africa — Hopes of 
discovering a new route to the 
East Indies — Attempts to ac- 
complish this — prospects of suc- 
cess 

BOOK II. 

Birth and education of Columbus 
— acquires naval skill in the ser- 
vice of Portugal — conceives 
hopes of reaching the East In- 
dies by holding a westerly course 
— his system founded on the 
ideas of the ancients, and know- 
ledge of their navigation — and 
on the discoveries of the Portu- 
guese — his negotiations with dif- 
ferent courts — Obstacles which 
he had to surmount in Spain — 
Voyage of discovery — diflicul- 
ties — success — return to Spain 
— Astonishment of mankind on 
this discovery of a new world 
— Papal grant of it — Second 
voyage — Colony settled — Fur- 
ther discoveries — War with the 
Indians — First tax imposed on 
them — Third voyage — He dis- 
covers the Continent — State of 



17 



Paste 
the Spanish colony — Errors in 
the first system of colonizing — 
Voyage of the Portuguese to the 
East Indies by the Cape of Good 
Hope — Effects of this — discove- 
ries made bj' private adventurers 
in the New World — Name of 
America given to it — Machina- 
tions against Columbus — dis- 
graced and sent in chains to 
Europe — Fourth voyage of Co- 
lumbus — His discoveries — dis- 
asters — death 42 

BOOK HI. 

State of the colony in Hispaniola 
— New war with the Indians — 
Cruelty of the Spaniards — Fatal 
regulations concerning the con- 
dition of the Indians — Diminu- 
tion of that people — Discoveries 
and settlements — First colony 
planted on the Continent — Con- 
quest of Cuba — Discovery of 
Florida — of the South Sea — 
Great expectations raised by 
this — Causes of disappointment 
with respect to these for some 
time — Controversy concerning 
the treatment of the Indians — 
Contrary decisions — Zeal of the 
ecclesiastics, particularly of Las 
Casas — Singular proceedings of 
Ximenes — Negroes imported in- 
to America — Las Casas' idea of 
a new colony — permitted to at- 
tempt it — unsuccessful — Disco- 
veries towards the West — Yu- 
catan — Campeachy-New Spain 
— preparations for invading it . 02 

BOOK IV. 

View of America when first dis- 
covered, and of the manners 
and policy of its most uncivil- 
ized inhabitants — Vast extent 
of America — grandeur of the 
objects it presents to view — its 
mountains — rivers — lakes — its 
form favourable to commerce — 
temperature — predominance of 
colt) — catisps of this— nnculti- 



CONTENTS. 



Page 
vated — unwholesome — its ani- 
mals — soil — Inquiry how Ameri- 
ca was peopled — various theo- 
ries — what appears most proba- 
ble — Condition and character of 
the Americans — All, the Mexi- 
cans and Peruvians excepted, in 
the state of savages — Inquiry 
confined to the uncivilized tribes 
— Difficulty of obtaining infor- 
mation — various causes of this 
— Method observed in the in- 
quiry — I. The bodily constitu- 
tion of the Americans considered 
— II. The qualities of their minds 
— III. Their domestic state — IV. 
Their political state and institu- 
tions — V. Their system of war 
and public security — VI. The 
arts with which they were ac- 
quainted — VII. Their religious 
ideas and institutions — VIII. 
Such singular and detached cus- 
toms as are not reducible to any 
of the former heads — IX. Gene- 
ral review and estimate of their 
virtues and defects . . . .122 

BOOK V. 

History of the conquest of New 
Spain by Cortes 197 

BOOK VI. 

History of the conquest of Peru 
by Pizarro — and of the dissen- 
sions and civil wars of the Spa- 
niards in that country — Origin, 
progress, and effects of these . 261 

BOOK VII. 

View of the institutions and man- 
ners of the Mexicans and Pe- 
ruvians — Civilized states in com- 
parison of other Americans — 
Recent origin of the Mexicans 
— Facts which prove their pro- 
gress in civilization-View of their 
policy in its various branches — 
of their arts — Facts which indi- 
cate a small progress in civiliza- 
tion — What opinion should be 
formed on comparing those con- 
tradictory facts — Genius of their 
religion — Peruvian monarchy 
more ancient — its policy founded 
on religion — Singular effects of 
this — Peculiar state of property 
among the Peruvians — Their 
public works and arts — roads — 
bridees — buildings — Their un« 



fag", 
warlike spirit — View of other 
dominions of Spain in America 
— Cinaloa and Sonora — Califor- 
nia — Yucatan and Honduras — 
Chili — Tucuman — Kingdom of 
Tierra I^irme — New Kingdom of 
Granada 313 

BOOK VIII. 

View of the interior government, 
commerce, &;c. of the Spanish 
colonies—Depopulation of Ame- 
rica — first effects of their settle- 
ments — not the consequence of 
any system of policy — nor to be 
imputed to religion — Number of 
Indians still remaining — Funda- 
mental maxims on which the 
Spanish system of colonization 
is founded — Condition of differ- 
ent orders of men in their colo- 
nies— Chape tones— Creoles — Ne- 
groes — Indians — Ecclesiastical 
state and policy — Character of 
secular and regular clergy-Small 
progress of Christianity among 
the natives — Mines, chief object 
of their attention — Mode of 
working these — their produce — 
Effects of encouraging this spe- 
cies of industry — Other com- 
modities of Spanish America- 
First effects of this new com- 
merce with America on Spain — 
Why the Spanish colonies have 
not been as beneficial to the pa- 
rent state as those of other na- 
tions — Errors in the Spanish 
system of regulating this com- 
merce — confined to one port — 
carried on by annual fleets — 
Contraband trade — Decline of 
Spain both in population and 
wealth — Remedies proposed — 
View of the wise regulations of 
the Bourbon princes — A new and 
more liberal system introduced 
— beneficial effects of this — pro- 
bable consequences — Trade be- 
tween New Spain and the Phi- 
lippines—Revenue of Spain from 
America — whence it arises — to 
what it amounts ..... 347 

BOOK IX, 

History of Virginia to theyear 1688, 389 

BOOK X. 

History of New England to the 
vcar lfi.")2 426 



CATALOGUE 

OF 

SPANISH BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS. 



A Carette de Biscay, Relation des 
Voyages dans la Riviere de la Plata, et 
de Ik par Terre au Perou. £xst. RecueU 
de Thevenot. Part IV. 

A Voyage up the River do 

la Plata, and thence by Land to Peru. 
8vo. London, 1698. 

Acosta (P. Jos. de) Historia Natu- 
ral y Moral de las Indias. 4to. Ma- 
drid, 1590. 

(Joseph de) Histoire Natu- 

rclle et Morale des Indes tant Orien- 
tales qu' Occidentales. 8vo. Paris, 
1600. 

Novi Orbis Historia Naturalis 

ct Moralis. Exst. in Collect. Theod. 
de Bry. Pars IX. 

De Natura Novi Orbis, Libri 

duo, et de procuranda Indorum Salute, 
Libri sex. Salmant. 8vo. 1589. 

(Christ.) Tratadodelas Dro- 

gasyMedecinas,de las Indias Occiden- 
tales, con sus Plantas Dibuxadas al 
vivo. 4to. Burgos, 1578. 

Acugna (P. Christoph.) Relation de 
la Reviere des Amazones. 12ino. Tom. 
ii. Paris, 1682. 

Acugna's Relation of the great River 
of the Amazons in South America. 
8vo. London, 1698. 

Alarchon (Fern.) Navigations a 
Scoprere il Regno di sette Citta. Ra- 
musio iii. 363. 

Albuquerque Coello (Duart6 de) 
Memorial de Artes de la Guerra del 
Brasil. 4to. Mad. 1634. 

Alcafarado (Franc.) An Historical 
Relation of the Discovery of the Isle of 
Madeira. 4to. Lond. 1675. 

Al<jedo y Herrera (D. Dionysio de) 
Aviso Historico-Politico-Geografico, 
con las Noticias mas particulares, del 
Peru, Tierra Firm6, Chili, y Nuevo 
Reyno de Granada. 4to. Mad. 1740. 

Alqedo Compendi Historico de la 
Provinciay Puerto de Guayaquil. 4to. 
Mad. 1741. 

Memorial sobre diferentes 

Puntos tocantes al estado de la real 
hazienda y del commercio, &c. en las 
Indias. fol. 

Vol.. I.— "2 



Aldama y Guevara (D. Jos. Augns- 
tin de) Arde de la Lengua Mexicana. 
12mo. Mexico, 1734. 

Alvarado (Pedro de) Dos Relaciones 
a Hern. Cortes referiendole sus Expe- 
diciones y Couquistas e . anas Pro- 
vincias de N. Espagna. Lxst. Barcia 
Historiad. Primit. torn. i. 

■ Lettere due, &c. Exst. Ra- 
mus, lii. 296. 

Aparicio y Leon (D. Lorenzo dc) 
Discurso Historico-Politico del Hospital 
San Lazaro deLima. Bvo. Lini. 1761. 

Aranzeles Reales delos Ministros do 
la Real Audiencia de N. Espagna. 
fol. Mex. 1727. 

Argensola (Bartolome Leonardo de) 
Conquista de las Islas Malucas. fol. 
Mad. 1609. 

Anales de Aragon. fol. Sara- 

gOQa, 1630. 

Arguello (Eman.) Sentura Confes- 
sionis. 12mo. Mex. 1703. 

Arriago (P. Pablo Jos. de) Extirpa- 
cian de la Idolatria de Peru. 4to. Lima, 
1621. 

Avendagno (Didac.) Thesaurus In- 
dicus, ceu Gencralis Instructor pro Re- 
gimine Conscientiaj, in ijs quce ad In- 
dias spectant. fol. 2 vols. Antwerp, 1660. 

Aznar (D. Bern. Fran.) Discurso 
tocante a la real hazienda y adrainifl- 
tracion de ella. 4to. 

Bandini (Angelo Maria) Vita 4 Let- 
tere di Armerigo Vespucci . 4to. Firenze. 
1745. 

Barcia (D. And. Gonzal.) Historia- 
dores Primitives de las Indias Occiden- 
tales, fol. 3 vols. Mad. 1749. 

Barco-Centinera (D. Martin de) Ar- 
gentina y Conquista del Rio de la 
Plata : Poema. Exst. Barcia Histo- 
riad. Primit. iii. 

Barros (Joao de) Decadas de Asia, 
fol. 4 vols. Lisboa, 1682. 

Bellesteros (D. Thomas de) Orde- 
nanzas del Peru. fol. 2 vols. Lima, 1685. 

Beitran (P. F. Pedro) Arte de el Idi- 
oma Maya reducido a sucintas reglae, 
V Semilexieon. 4to. M»?x, 1746. 



10 



A CATALOGUE OV 



Benzo (Hieron.) Novi Orbis Histo- 
riae— De Bry America, Part IV, V, VI. 

Betancurt y Figueroa (Don Luis) 
Dorecho de las Inglesias Metropolita- 
aas de las Indias. 4to. Mad. 1637. 

Blanco (F. Matias Ruiz) Conversion 
de Piritu de Indios Cumanagotos y 
otros. 12mo. Mad. 1690. 

Boturini Bcnaduci (Lorenzo) Ideade 
ana nueva Historia general de la Ame- 
rica Septentrional, fundada sobre ma- 
terial copiosa de Figuras, Symbolas, 
Caracteres, Cantares, y Manuscritos de 
Autores Indios. 4to. Mad. 1746. 

Botollo de Moraes y Vasconcellos 
(D. Francisco de) El Nuevo Mundo : 
Poema Heroyco. 4to. Barcelona, 1701. 

Botero Benes (Juan) Description de 
Todas las Provincias, Reynos, y Ciu- 
dades del Mundo. 4to. Girona, 1748. 

Brietius (Phil.) Paralela Geographisc 
Vcteris et Novae. 4to. Paris, 1648. 

Cabeza de Baca (Alvar. Nugnez) 
Relacion de los Naufragios. Exst. Bar- 
cia Hist. Prim. torn. i. 

Examen Apologetico 

de la Historica Narration de los Nau- 
fragios. Exst. Barcia Hist. Prim. torn. i. 

Commentarios de lo 

succedido duarante su gubierno del Rio 
de la Plata. Exst. ibid. 

Cabo de Vacca, Relatione de. Exst. 
Ramus, iii. 310. 

Cabota (Sebast.) Navigazione de, 
Exst. Ramus, ii. 211. 

Cadamustus (Aloysius) Navigatio 
ad Terras incognitas. Exst. Nov. Orb. 
Grynffii, p. 1. 

Calancha (F. Anton, de la) Cronica 
moralizada del Orden de San Augustin 
on el Peru. fol. Barcelona, 1638. 

Calilbrnia — Diario Historico de los 
Viages de Mar y Tierra Heches en 1768, 
al Norte de California di orden del 
Marques de Croix Vi-rey de Nueva Es- 
pagna, &c. MS. 

Calle (Juan Diaz de la) Memorial 
Informatorio de lo que a su Magcstad 
Provien de la Nueva Espagna y Peru. 
4to. 1645. 

Campomanes (D. Pedro Rodrig.) 
Antiguedad Maritima de la Republica 
de Cartago, con en Periplo de su Gene- 
ral JIannon traducido e illustrado. 4to. 
Mad. 1756. 

Discurso sobre el fo- 

mento de la Industria popular. 8vo. 
Mad. 1774. 

— — Discurso sobre la 

Educacion popular de los Artofanos. 
8vo. 5 vol. Mad. 1775, &c. 



Caracas — Real Cedulade Fundacion 
de la Real Compagnia Guipuscoana 
de Caracas. 12mo. Mad. 1765.. 

Caravantes (Fr. Lopez de) Relacion 
de las Provincias que tiene el Govier- 
no del Peru, los Officios que en el sa 
Provien, y la Hacienda que alii tiene 
su Magestad, lo que se Gasta de ella 
y le queda Libre, &c. &c. Dedicado al 
Marques de Santos Claros, Agno de 
1611. MS. 

Cardenas y Cano (Gabr.) Ensayo 
Chronologico para la Historia general 
de la Florida, fol. Mad. 1733. 

Carranzana (D. Gon(;ales) A Geo- 
graphical Description of the Coasts, 
&c. of the Spanish West Indies. Bvo. 
Lond. 1740. 

Casas (Bart, de las) Brevissima Re- 
lacion de la Destruycion de las Indias. 
4to. 1552. 

(Bart, de las) Narratio Icon- 

ibus illustrata per Theod. de Bry. 4to. 
Oppent. 1614. 

(Bart, de las) An Account of 

the first Voyages and Discoveries of the 
Spaniards in America. 8vo. Lond.1693. 
Cassani (P. Joseph) Historia de la 
Provincia de Compagnia de Jesus del 
Nuevo Reyno de Granada, fol. Mad. 
1741. 

Castanheda (Fern. Lop. de) Historia 
do Dcscobrimento e Conquista de India 
pelos Portugueses, fol. 2 vol. Lisb. 1552. 
Castellanos (Juan de) Primeray Se- 
cunda de las Elegias de Varonee lUus- 
tres de Indias. 4to. 2 vol. Mad. 1589. 
Castillo (Bernal Dias del) Historia 
Verdadera de la Conquista de Nueva 
Espagna. fol. Mad. 1632. 

Castro, Figueroa y Salazar (D. Pe- 
dro de) Relacion di su ancimiento y 
servicios. 12nio. 

Cavallero (D. Jos. Garcia) Brieve 
Cotejo y Valance de las Posas y Medi- 
das di varias Naciones, reducidas a las 
que Corren en Castilla. 4to. Mad. 1731. 
Cepeda (D. Fern.) Relacion Universal 
del Sitio en que esta fundada la Ciu- 
dad de Mexico, fol. 1637. 

Cie<ja de Leon (Pedro de) Chronica 
del Peru. fol. Seville. 1533. 

Cisneros (Diego) Sitio, Naturaleza, 
y Propriedades de laCJudad de Mexico. 
4to. Mexico. 1618. 

Clemente (P. Claudio) Tablas Chro 
nologicas, en que contiencn los Suce- 
80S Ecclesiasticos y Secularcsde Indias. 
4to. Val. 1689. 

CoguUado (P. Fr. Diego Lopez) 
Historia de Yucatan, fol. Mad. 1688. 
Collccao dos Brivos Pontificos e 



SPANISH BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS. 



11 



Iieyes Regias que Forao Expedidos 
y Publicadas desde o Anno 1741, sobre 
a la Liberdada das Pessoas bene e 
Commercio dos Indos de Bresil. 

Colleccion General de la Providen- 
cias hasta aqui tomadas par el Gobier- 
no sobre el Estragnimento, y Occupa- 
cion deTemporalidades de los Regulares 
de la Compagnia de Espagna, Indias, 
&c. Partes IV. 4to. Mad. 1767. 

Colon (D. Fernando) La HiStoria 
del Almirante D. Christoval Colon. 
Exst. Barcia Higt. Prim. I. 1. 

Columbus (Christ.) Navigatio qua 
multas Regiones hactenus incognitas 
mvenit. Exst. Nov. Orb. Grynoei, p. 90. 

(Ferd.) Life and Actions "of 

his Father Admiral Christoph. Colum- 
bus. Exst. Churchill's Voyages, ii. 479. 

Compagnia Real de Commercio para 
las Islas de S'o Domingo Puerto-rico, 
y la Margarita. 12mo. 

Compendio General de las Contri- 
buciones y gattos que occasionan todos 
los effectos, frutos, caudales, &c. que tra- 
fican entre los reynos de Castilla y 
America. 4to. 

ConciUos Provinciales Primero y Se 
gundo celebrados en la muy Noble y 
muy Leal Ciudad de Mexico en los Ag- 
nes de 1535 y 1365. fol. Mexico, 1769. 

Concilium Mexicanum Provinciale 
tertium celebratum Mexici, anno 1585. 
fol. Mexici, 1770. 

Continente Americano, Argonauta 
de las costas de Nueva Espagna y 
Tierra Firm^. 12mo. 

Cordeyro (Antonio) Historia Insula- 
na das Ilhas a Portugas sugeytas no 
Oceano Occidental, fol. Lisb. 1717. 

Corita (Dr. Alonzo) Breve y suma- 
ria Relacion de los Segnores, Manera, 
y Differencia de ellos, que havia en la 
Nueva Espagna, y otras Provincias sus 
Comarcanas, y de sus Leyes, Usos, y 
Costumbres, y de la Forma que tenian 
en Tributar sus Vasallos en Tiempo de 
KU Gentilidad, &c. MS. 4to. pp. 307. 

Coronada (Fr. Vasq. de) Sommario 
di due sue Lettere del Viaggio falto del 
Fra. Marco da Nizza al sette Citta de 
Cevola. Exst. Ramusio iii. 354. 

(Fr. Vasq. de) Relacion 

Viaggio alle sette Citta. Ramus, iii. 3.'>9. 

Cortes (Hern.) Quattro Cartas diri- 
gidas al Emperador Carlos V. en que 
ha Relacion de sus Conquistas en la 
Nueva Espagna. Exst. Barcia Hist. 
Prim. torn. i. 

Cortessii (Ferd.) De Insulis nuper in- 
rentjs Narrationes ad Car. V. fol. 1532. 



Cortese (Fern.) Relacioni, &c. Exst. 
Ramusio ii. 225. 

Cubero (D. Pedro) Peregrinacion 
del Mayor Parte del Mundo. Zaragoss. 
4to. 1688. 

Cumana, Govierno y Noticia de. fol. 
MS. 

Davila Padilla (F. Aug.) Historia ds 
la Fundacion y Discurso de Provincia de 
St. Jago de Mexico, fol. Bruss. 1625. 

(Gil Gonzalez) Teatro 

Ecclesiastico de la Primitiva Iglesia de 
los Indias Occidentales. fol. 2 vols. 1649. 
Documentos tocantes a la Persecucion, 
que los Regulares de la Compagnia sus- 
citaron contra Don B. de Cardenas 
Obispo de Paraguay. 4to. Mad. 1768. 

Echaveri (D. Bernardo Ibagnez de) 
El Reyno Jesuitico del Par.yguay. 
Exst. torn. iv. Colleccion de Documen- 
tos. 4to. Mad. 1770. 

Echave y Assu (D.Francisco de) La 
Estrellade Limacovertida en Sol sobre 
sur tres Coronas, fol. Amberes, 1688. 

Eguiara El Egueren (D. J. Jos.) Bib- 
liotheca Mexicana, sive Eruditorum 
Historia Virorum in America Boreali 
natorum, &c. tom. prim. fol.Mex. 1775. 
N. B. No more than one volume of thia 
work has been published. 

Ercilla y Zuniga (D. Alonzo de) La 
Araucana: Poema Eroico. fol. Mad. 
1733. 

2 vols. 8vo. Mad. 1777. 

Escalona (D. Gaspar de) Gazophy- 
lacium Regium Peruvicum. fol. Mad. 
1775. 

Faria y Sousa (Manuel de) Historia 
del Reyno de Portugal, fol. Amber. 1730. 

Faria y Sousa, History of Portugal 
from tlie first Ages to the Revolution 
under John IV. 8vo. Lond. 1698. 

Fernandez (Diego) Prima y secunda 
Parte de la Historia del Peru. fol. Se- 
vill. 1571. 

(P. Juan Patr.) Relacion 

Historial de las Missioncs de los Indias 
que claman Chiquitos. 4to. Mad. 1726. 

Feyjoo (Benit. Geron.) Espagnoles 
Americanos — Discurso VI. del. tom. iv. 
del Teatro Critico. Mad. 1769. 

Solucion del gran Pro- 

blema Historico sobre la Poblacion de 
la America — Discurso XV. del tom, 
V. do Teatro Critico. 

(D. Miguel) Relacion De- 

scriptiva de la Ciudad y Provincia 
Truxillo del Peru. fol. Mad. 1763. 



lil 



A CATALOGUE OF 



Freyre (Ant.) Piratas de la America. 
4 to. 

Frasso (D. Petro) De Regio Patronatu 
Indiarum. fol.2 vols. Matriti, 1775. 

Galvao (Antonio) Tratado dos Des- 
cobrimcntos Antigos y Modernos. fol. 
Lisboa, 1731. 

Galvano (Ant.) the Discoveries of 
the World from the first Original unto 
the Year 1555. Osborne's Collect, ii. 
364. 

Gamboa (D. Fran. Xavier de) Co- 
mentarios a los ordinanzas de Minas. 
fol. Mad. 1761. 

Garcia (Gregorio) Historia Ecclesi- 
astica y Seglar de la India Oriental y 
Occidental, y Predicacion de la Santa 
Evangelia en ella. 12mo. Baeca, 1620. 

(Fr. Gregorio) Origen de los 

ludios del Nuevo Mundo. fol. Mad. 1729. 
Gastelu (Ant. Velasquez) Arte de 
Lengua Mexicana. 4to. Puibla de los 
Angeles. 1716. 

Gazeta de Mexico por los Annos 
1728, 1729, 1730. 4to. 

Girava (Hieronymo) Dos Libros de 
Cosmographia. Milan, 1556. 

Godoy (Diego de) Relacion al H. 
Cortes, qua trata del Descubrimiento 
di diversas Ciudades, y Provincias, y 
Guerras que tuio con los Indios. Exst. 
Barcia Hist. Prim. torn. i. 

Lettera a Cortose, &c. Exst. 

Ramusio iii. 300. 

Gomara (Fr. Lopez de) La Historia 
general de las Indias. 12aio. Anv.lo54. 

Historia general de las Indias. 

Exst. Barcia Hist. Prim. tom. ii. 

(Fr. Lopez de) Chronica de 

laNuevaEspagnao Couquistado Mex- 
ico. Exst. Barcia Hist. Prim. tom. ii. 

Guatemala — Razon puntual de los 
Successes mas meinorabiles, y de los 
Estragos y dannos quo ha padecido la 
Ciudad de Guatemala, fol. 1774. 

Gumilla (P.Jos.) El Orinoco illustra- 
doydefendido; Historia Natural, Civil, 
y Geographica de este Gran Rio, &:c. 
4to.2tom. Mad. 1745. 

Histoire Naturelle, Civile, et 

G^ographiquede TOrenoque. Traduite 
par M. Eidous. 12mo. tom. iii. Avig. 
1758. 

Gusman (Nugno de) Relacion scritta 
in Omitlan Provincia de Mechuacan 
della maggior Spagna nell 1530. Exst. 
Ramusio iii. 331. 

Henis (P. Thadeus) Ephemerides 
Belli Guiaranici, ab Anno 1754. Exsi. 



CoUeccion general de Docura, tom. 
iv. 

Hernandes (Fran.) Plantarum Ani- 
malium, et Mineralium Mexicanorum 
Historia. fol. Rom. 1651. 

Herrera (Anton, de) Historia gene- 
ral de los Hechos de los Castellanos en 
las Islas y Tierra Firma de Mar Ocea- 
no. fol. 4 vols. Mad. 16U1. 

Historia General, &c. 4 vols. 

Mad. 1730. 

General History, &c. Trans- 
lated by Stephens 8vo. 6 vol Lond. 1740. 

Descriptio Indiag Occidenta- 

lis. fol. Amst. 1622. 

Huemez y Horca itas (D. .^uan 
Francisco de) Extracto de los Autos 
de Diligencias y reconocimientos de loB 
rios, lagunas, vertientes, y dcsaguas de 
Mexico y su valle, &c. fol. Mex. 1748. 

Jesuitas — CoUeccion de las applica- 
ciones quese van haciendo de Jos Clo- 
nes, Casas y Coligios que fueron de la 
Compagnia de Jesus, expatriados de 
estos Reales dominios. 4to. 2 vols. 
Lima, 1772 y 1773. 

CoUeccion General de Pro- 

videncias hasta aqui tomadas por el 
Gobierno sobre el Estrannamiento y 
Occupacion de temporalidades, de los 
Regulares do la Compagnia de Espag- 
na, Indias, e Islas Filipmas. 4to. Mad. 
1767. 

Retrato de los Jesuitas for- 

mado al natural. 4to. 2 vols. Mad. 1768. 

Relacion Abbreviada da Re- 

publica que os Religiosos Jesuitas esta- 
beleceraon. 12mo. 

Idea del Origen, Gobierno, 

&c. de la Compagnia de Jesus. 8vo. 
Mad. 1768. 

LsBvinius (Apollonius) Libri V. do 
PeruvisB Invention, et rebus in eadem 
gestis. 12mo. Ant. 1567. 

Leon (Fr. Ruiz de) Hernandia, Poe- 
ma Heroyco de Conquista de Mexico. 
4to. Mad. 1755. 

(Ant. de) Epitome de la Biblio- 

theca Oriental y Occidental, Nautica 
y Geografica. fol. Mad. 1737. 

Lima : A true Account of the Earth- 
quake which happened there 28th of 
October, 1746. Translated from the 
Spanish. 8vo. London, 1748. 

Lima Gozosa, Description de las fes- 
tibas Demonstraciones, con que esta 
Ciudad celebr6 la real Proclamacion 
de el Nombre Augusto del Catolico 
Monarch© D. Carlos III. Lim.4to. 1760. 



SPANISH BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS. 



Llano Zapata (D. Jos. Euseb.) Pre- 
liminar al Tomo 1. de las Memorias 
Historico-Physicas, Critico-Apologeti- 
cas de la America Meridional, 8vo. 
Cadiz, 1759. 

Lopez (D. Juan Luis) Discureo His- 
torico Politico en defense de la Juris- 
dicion Real. fol. 1685. 

(Thom.) Atlas Geographico de 

la America Septentrional y Meridional. 
12mo. Par. 1758. 

Lorenzana (D. Fr. Ant.) Arzobispo 
de Mexico, ahora de Toledo, Historia 
de Nueva Espagna, escrita por su Es- 
clarecido Conquistador Hernan. Cor- 
tes, Aumentada con otros Docuraentos 
y Notas. fol. Mex. 1770. 

Lozano (P. Pedro) Description Cho- 
rographica, del Terretorios, Arboles, 
Animales del Gran Chaco, y de los Ri- 
tos y Costumbres de las innumerabiles 
Naciones que la habitan. 4to. Cordov. 
1733. 

Historia de la Compagnia de 

Jesus en la Provincia del Paraguay. 
fol. 2 vols. Mad. 1753, 

Madriga (Pedro de) Description du 
Gouverneinent du Perou. Exst. Voy- 
ages qui ont servi k TEtablissement de 
la Comp. des Indes, torn. ix. 105. 

Mariana (P. Juan de) Discurso de 
les Enfermedades de la Compagnia de 
Jesus. 4to. Mad. 1658. 

Martinez de la Puente (D. Jos.) 
Compendio de las Historiasde los Des- 
cubrimientos, Conquistas, y Guerras 
de la India Oriental, y sus Islas, desde 
loB Tiempos del Infante Don Enrique 
de Portugal su Inventor. 4to. Mad. 
1681. 

Martyr ab Angleria (Petr.) De Re- 
bus Oceanicis et Novo Orbe Decades 
tree. 12mo. Colon. 1574. 

De Insulis nuper inventis, 

et de Moribus Incolarum. Ibid. p. 329. 

Opus Epistolarum, fol. 

Amst. 1670. 

II Sommario cavato della 

sua Historia del Nuevo Mundo. Ra- 
musio iii. i. 

Mata (D. Geron. Fern, de) Ideas po- 
liticas y morales. 12mo. Toledo, 1640. 

Mechuacan — Relacion de las Cere- 
monias, Ritos, y Poblacion de los In- 
dies de Mechuacan hecha al I. S. D. 
Ant. de Mendoza Vi-rey de Nueva 
Espagna. fol. MS. 

Melendez (Fr. Juan) Tesoros Vcr- 
daderos de las Indias Historia de la 
Provincia de S. Juan Baptista del Peru. 



del Orden de Predicadorcs. fol. 3 vols. 
Rom. 1681. 

Memorial Adjustado por D, A, 
Fern, de Heredia Gobemador de Ni- 
caragua y Honduras, fol. 1753. 

■ Memorial Adjustado contra los Offi- 
ciales de Casa de Moneda a Mexico de 
el anno 1729. fol. 

Mendoza (D. Ant. de) Lettera al 
Imperatore del Descoprimento della 
Terra Firma della N. Spagna verso 
Tramontano. Exst. Ramusio iii. 355. 

(Juan Gonz. de) Historia del 

gran Reyno de China, con un Itinera- 
rio del Nuevo Mundo. 8vo. Rom. 1585. 

Miguel (Vic. Jos.) Tablas de los Su- 
cesos Ecclesiasticos en Africa, Indias 
Orientales y Occidentales. 4to, Val. 
1689. 

Miscellanea Economico-Politico, &c. 
fol. Pampl. 1749. 

Molina (P. F. Anton.) Vocabulario 
Castellano y Mexicano. fol. 1571. 

Monardes (El Dottor) Primera y Se- 
gunda y Tercera Parte de la Historia 
Medicinal, de las Cosas que se traen de 
nuestras Indias Occidentales, que sir- 
ven en Medicina. 4to. Sevilla, 1754. 

Moncada (Sancho de) Restauracion 
Politica de Espagna, y de seos Publi- 
cos. 4to. Mad. 1746. 

Morales (Ambrosio de) Coronica 
General de Espagna. fol. 4 vols. Alca- 
la, 1574. 

Moreno y Escaudon (D. Fran. Ant.) 
Descripcion y Estado del Virreynato 
de Santa F^, Nuevo Reyno de Grana- 
da, &c. fol. MS. 

Munoz (D. Antonio) Discurso sobre 
Economia politica. 8vo. Mad. 1769. 

Nizza (F. Marco) Relatione del Viag- 
gio fatta per Terra al Cevole, Regno di 
cette Citt^. Exst. Ramus, iii. 356. 

Nodal — Relacion del Viage que hicie- 
ron los Capitanes Earth, y Gonz. de 
Nodal al descubrimiento del Estrecho 
que hoy es nombrado de Maire, y re- 
conocimiento del de Magellanes, 4to. 
Mad. 

Noticia Individual de los derechos 
segun lo reglado en ultimo proyccto de 
1720. 4to. Barcelona, 1732. 

Neuva Espagna — Historia de los In- 
dies de Nueva Espagna dibidida en tres 
Partes. En la primera trata de los Ri- 
tos, Sacrificios y Idolatrias del Tiempo 
de su Gcntilidad. En la segunda do su 
maravillosa Conversion a la F6, y mo- 
do de celebrar las Fiestas de Neustra. 
Santa Iglesia, En la tercera del Ge- 



It 



A CATALOGUE UF 



nio y Carictcr dc aquella Gente ; y 
Figuras con que notaban sus Aconte- 
ciiiiiento8,con otras particularidades ; y 
Noticias de las principalee Ciudades an 
aquel Reyno. Escrita en el Agno 1341 
por uno de los doce Religiosos Francis- 
cos que primero passaron a entender en 
su Conversion. MS. fol. pp. 618. 

Ogna (Pedro de) Arauco Domado. 
Poema. 12rno. Mad. 1605. 

Ordenanzas del Consejo real de las 
Indias. fol. Mad. 1681. 

Ortega (D. Casimiro de) Refumen 
Historico del primer Viage hecho al 
rededor del Mundo. 4to. Mad. 1769. 

Ossorio (Jerome) History of the 
Portuguese during the Reign of Em- 
manuel. 8vo. 2 vols. Lond. 1732. 

Ossorius (Hieron.) De Rebus Ema- 
iwielis Lusitaniae Regis. Bvo. Col. 
Agr. 1752. 

Ovalle (Alonso) Historica Relacion 
del Reyno de Chili, fol. Rom. 1646. 

An Historical Relation of the 

Kingdom of Chih. Exst. Churchiirs 
Collect, iii. 1. 

Oviedo y Bagnos (D. Jos.) Historia 
de la Conquista y Publicacion de Vene- 
zuela, fol. Mad. 1723. 

Sommaria, &c. Exst. Ra- 

musio iii. 44. 

(Gonz. Fern, de) Relacion 

Sommaria de la Historia Natural de los 
Indias. Exst. Barcia Hist. Prim. tom. i. 

Historia Generale et Natu- 

rale dell Indie Occidentale. Exst. 
Ramusio iii. 74. 

Relatione della Navigatione 

per la grandissima Fiume Maragnon, 
Exst. Ramus, iii. 415. 

Palacio (D. Raim. Mig.) Discurso 
Economico Politico. 4to. Mad. 1778. 

Palafox y Mcndoza (D. Juan) Vir- 
tudes del Indies, o Naturaliza y Cos- 
tumbres de los Indios de N.Espagna. 4to 

Vie de Venerable Dom. Jean 

Palafox Eveque del'Angelopolis. 12mo 
Cologne, 1772. 

Pegna (Juan Nugnez dc la) Conquista 
y Antiguedades de las Islas de Gran 
Canaria. 4to. Mad. 1676. 

Pegna Montenegro (D. Alonso de la) 
Itinerario para Parochos de Indios, en 
que tratan les materias mas particu- 
lares, tocantes a ellos para se buen ad- 
ministracion. 4to. Amberes, 1754. 

Penalosa y Mondragon (Fr. Benito 
de) Cinco Excellencias del Espagnol 
que des peublan a Espagna. 4to. 
Pampl. 1629 



Peralta Barnuevo (D. Pedro de) 
Lima fundada, o Conquista del Peru,- 
Poema Eroyco. 4to. Lima, 1732. 

Calderon (D. Mathias de) El 

Apostol dc las Indias y nueves gentes 
San Francisco Xavier de la Compagnia 
de Jesus Epitome de sus Apostolicos 
Hechos. 4to. Pampl. 1665. 

Pereira de Berrido (Bernard.) An- 
nates Historicos do Estado do Maran- 
chao. fol. Lisboa, 1749. 

Peru ■^- Relatione d'un Capitano 
Spagnuolo del Descoprimento y Con- 
quista del Peru. Exst. Ramus, iii. 371. 

Relatione d'un Secretario de 

Franc. Pizarro della Conquista del 
Peru, Exst. Ramusio iii. 371. 

Relacion del Peru. MS. 

Pesquisa de los Oydores de Panama 
contra D. Jayme Mugnos, &;c. por ha- 
verlos Commerciado illicitamente en 
tiempo de Guerra. fol. 1755. 

Philipinas — Carta que escribe iin 
Religioso antiguo de Philipinas, a un 
Amigo suyo en Espagna, que le pre- 
gunta el Naturel y Genio de los Indios 
Naturales de estas Islas. MS. 4to. 

Piedrahita (Luc. Fern.) Historia 
general de las Conquistas del Nuevo 
Reyno de Granada, fol. Ambres. 

Pinelo (Ant. de Leon) Epitome de 
la Bibliotiieca Oriental y Occidental 
en que se continen los Escritores de 
las Indias Orientales y Occidentales. 
fol. 2 vols. Mad. 1737. 

Pinzonius socius AdmirantisColumbi 
— Navigatio et Res per eum repert8B. 
Exst. Nov. Orb. Grynaei, p. 119. 

Pizarro y Ore liana (D.Fern.) Varones 
illustres del N. Mundo. fol. Mad. 1639. 

Planctus Judorum Christianorum in 
America Peruntina. 12mo. 

Puente (D. Jos. Martinez de la) 
Compendio de las Historias de los Des- 
cubrimientos de la India Oriental y sus 
Islas. 4to. Mad. 1681. 

Quir (Ferd de) Terra Australis in- 
cognita ; or a new Southern Discovery, 
containing a fifth part of the World, 
lately found out. 4to. Lond. 1617. 

j Ramusio (Giov. Battista) Racolto 
delle Navigation! e Viaggi. fol. 3 vols. 
Venet. 1588. 

Real Compagnia Guipuzcoana de 
Caracas, Noticias historiales Practicas, 
de los Sucpsos y Adelantamientos de 
esta Compagnia desde su Fundacion 
en 1728 hasta 1764. 4to. 1765. 

Rcfopilacion de Lcyes de los Reynop 
de las Indias. fol. 4 vols. Mad. 1756- 



SPANISH BOOKS AND .M A N U S C R I i"i' S, 



Reglaraento y Aranccles Rcales para 
el Commercio de Espagna a Indias. 

Relatione d'un Gentilhuoino del Sig. 
Fern. Cortese della gran Citta Temis- 
tatan, Mexico, et della altre cose delle 
Nova Spagna. Exst. Ramus, iii. 304. 

Remcsal(Fr.Ant.)Historia general de 
las Indias Occidentales y particular de 
la Grovernacion de Cliiapa a Guatimala. 

Ribadeneyra (De Diego Portichuelo) 
de Relacion del Viage desde qui salio 
de Lima, hasta que lllego a Espagna. 

Ribadeneyra y Barrientos (D. Ant. 
Joach.) Manuel Compcndio de el Rcgio 
Patronato Indiano. fol. Mad. 1735. 

Ribas (Andr. Perez de) Historia de 
los Triumphos de Nuestra Sta Fe,entre 
Gentes la mas Barbaras, en las Mis- 
siones de Nueva Espagna. Mad. 1645. 

Riol (D. Santiago) Representacion 
a Philipe V. sobre el Estado actual de 
los Papeles univeraales de la Monar- 
chia. MS. 

Ripia (Juan de la) Practica de la 
Administracion y Cobranza de las ren- 
tas reales. fol. Mad. 1768. 

Rocha Pitta (Sebastiano de) Historia 
de America Portougueza desde o Anno 
de 1500 du su Descobrimento ate o de 
1724. fol. Lisboa, 1730. 

Rodriguez (Manuel) Explicacion de 
la Bulla de la Santa Cruzada. 1589. 

(P. Man.) El Maragnou y 

Amozonas Historia de los Descubrimi- 
entos,Entradas yRedacion deNaciones. 

Roman (Hieron.) Republicas del 
Mundo. fol. 3 vols. Mad. 1595. 

Roma y Rosell (De Franc.) Las seg- 
nales de la felicidad de Espagna y me- 
dios de hacerlas efficaces. Mad. 1768. 

Rosende (P. Ant. Gonz. de) Vida del 
Juan de Palafox Arzobispo de Mexico. 

Rubaclava (Don Jos. Gutierrez de) 
Tratado Historico-Politico y Legal de 
cl Commercio de las IndiasOccidentalea. 

Ruiz (P. Ant.) Conquista Espiritual 
hecha por los Religiosos de la Com- 
pagnia de Jesus, en las Provincias de la 
Paraguay, Uraguay, Parana y Tape. 

Salazar de Me" doza (D. Pedro) Mo- 
narquia de Espagna, torn. i. ii. iii. 

y Olarte (D. Ignacio) His- 
toria de la Conquista de Mejtico — 
Segunda parte. Cordov. 1743. 

Salazar de Mendoza y Zevallos (D. 
Alonz. Ed. de) Constituciones y Orde- 
nanzas antiguas Agnadidas y Modernas 
de la Real Universidad y estudio gene- 
ral ste San Marcos de la Ciudad de los 
Reyes del Peru. fol. En la Ciudad 
de los Rcyea, 1735. 



Sanchez (Ant. Ribero) Dissertation 
sur rOrigine de la Maladie Venerienne, 
dans laquelle on prouve qu'eUe n'a 
point 6t6 port6e de TAmerique. 1765. 

Sarmiento de Gamboa (Pedro de) 
Viage el Estrecho de Magellanes. 1768. 

Santa Cruz (El Marq.) Commercio 
Suelto y en Companias General. 1732. 

Sta. Domingo, Puerto Rico, y Marga- 
rita, Real Compagnia de Commercio. 

Schemidel (Hulderico) Historia y 
Discubrimiento del Rio de la Plata y 
Paraguay. Exst. Barcia Hist. Prim, 
torn. iii. 

Sebara da Sjdva (Jos. de) Recueil 
Chronologique et Analytique de tout 
ce qu'a fait en Portugal la Soci6t6 dite 
de J6su8, depuis son Entree dans ce 
Royaume en 1540 jusqu'^ son Expul- 
sion 1759. 12mo. 3 vols. Lisb. 1769. 

Segni (D. Diego Raymundo) Anti- 
quario Noticiosa General de Espagna 
y sus Indios. 12mo. 1769. 

Sepulveda (Genesius) Dialogus de 
justis Belli Causis, prsesertim in Indoa 
Novi Orbis. MS. 

(Jo. Genesius) Epist. Lib. VII. 

Sepulveda de Regno, Libri III. 1570. 

Seyxas y Lovero, (D. Fr.) Thcatro 
Naval Hydrographico. 4to. 1648. 

Descripcion Geographica y 

Derrotera de la Religion Austral Ma- 
gellanica. 4to. Mad. 1690. 

Simon (Pedro) Noticias Historiales 
de las Conquistas de Tierra Firmc en 
las Indias Occidentales. Cuen^a, 1627. 

Solis (D. Ant. de) Historias de laa 
Conquistas de Mexico. Mad. 1684. 

History of the Conquest of Mex- 
ico. — Translated by Townshend. 1724, 

Solarzono y Pereyrra (Joan) Politica 
Indiana, fol. 2 vols. Mad. 1776. 

De Indiarum Jure, sive do justa 

IiidiarumOccidentaliumGubernationc. 

Obras Varias posthumas. 1776. 

Soto y Marne (P. Franc, de) Copia do 
la Relacion deViage qui desde la Ciudad 
de Cadiz a la Cartagena de Indias hizo. 

Spilbergen et Le Maire SpeculumOri- 
entalis Occidentalisque Navigationuni, 

Suarez de Figueroa (Chris.) Heches 
de D. Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza. 

Tanco (Luis Bezerra) Felicidad de 
Mexico en la admirable Aparicion deN. 
Signora di Guadalupe. Mad. 1745. 

Tarragones (Hieron. Gir.) Dos Librofi 
de Cosmographia. 4to. Milan, 1556. 

Techo (F. Nichol. de). The History 
of the Provinces Paraguay, Tucuman, 
Rio de la Plata, &c. Exst. Churchill's 
Coll. vi. ??. 



w 



A CATALOGUE OF SrANISH JiOOKS, ice. 



Torquemada (Juan de) Monarquia 
Indiana, fol. 3 vols. Mad. 172.J. 

Torres (Sim. Per. de) Viage del 
Mundo. Exst. Barcia Hist. Prim. iii. 

(Franc. Caro de) Historia de 

las Ordenes Militares de Santiago, Ca- 
latrava y Alcantara, desde su Funda- 
cion hasta el Rey D. Felipe II. Ad- 
ministrador perpetuo dellas. 1629. 

Torribio (P. F. Jos.) Aparato para 
la Historia Natural Espagnala. fol. 
Mad. 1754. 

Dissertacion Historico-Politica 

y en mucha parte Geographica de las 
Islas Philipinas. 12mo. Mad. 1753. 

Totanes (F. Sebastian de) Manual 
Tagalog para auxilio de Provincia de 
las Philipinas. 4to. Samplai en las 
Philipinas. 1745. 

Ulloa (D. Ant. do) Voyage Historique 
de rAmerique Meridionale. 4to. 2 tom. 
Paris, 1752. 

(D. Ant. de) Noticias Ameri- 

canas, Entretenimientos Physicos-His- 
toricos, sobre la America Meridional y 
la Septentrional Oriental. Mad. 1772. 

(D. Bern, de) Restablecimiento 

de las Fabricas, Trafico, y Commercio 
maritimo de Espagna. Mad. 1740. 

(Franc.) Navigatione per scop- 

rire I'Isole delle Specierie fino all Mare 
detto Vermejo nel 1539. Exst. Ramus, 
iii. 339. 

(D. Bernardo) Retablisseraent 

des Manufactures et du Commerce 
d'Espagne. 12mo. Amst. 1753. 

Uztariz (D. Geron.) Theoria y Prac- 
tlca de Commercio y de Marina, fol. 
Mad. 1757. 

The Theory and Practice of 

Commerce, and Maritime AflFairs. 8vo. 
2 vols. Lond. 1751. 

Verages (D. Thorn. Tamaio de) Re- 
stauracion de la Ciudad del Salvador y 
Baia de Todos Sanctos en la Provincia 
del Brasil. 4to. Mad. 1628. 

Vargas Machuca (D. Bern. de)Milicia 
y Descripcion de las Indias. Mad. 1699. 

Vega (Garcilasso de la) Histoire de 
la Conqu^te de la Floride. Traduite 
parRichelet. 12mo. 2tom. Leyd. 1731. 

Royal Commentaries of Peru, 

by Rycaut. fol. Lond. 1688. 

Vega (L'Ynca Garcilasso de la) His- 
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Declamacion Oratoria en 

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Till: 



HISTORY OF AMERICA. 



BOOK I. 



The progress of menj in discovering and peopling the various parts of thn 
fearth, has been extremely slow. Several ages elapsed before they removed 
far from those mild and fertile regions in which they were originally placed 
by their Creator. The occasion of their first general dispersion is known ; 
but we are unacquainted with the course of their migrations, or the time 
when they took possession of the different countries which they now inhabit. 
Neither history nor tradition furnishes such information concerning these 
remote events, as enables us to trace, with any certainty, the operations ol 
the human race in the infancy of society. 

We may conclude, however, that all the early migrations of mankind 
Avere made by land. The ocean which surrounds the habitable earth, as 
well as the various arms of the sea which separate one region from another, 
though destined to facilitate the communication between distant countries, 
seem, at first view, to be Ibrmed to check the progress of man, and to mark 
the bounds of that portion of the globe to which nature had confined him. 
It was long, we may believe, before men attempted to pass these formidable 
barriers, and became so skilful and adventurous as to commit themselves 
to the mercy of the winds and waves, or to quit their native shores in quest 
of remote and unknown regions. 

Navigation and shipbuilding are arts so nice and complicated, that they 
require the ingenuity, as well as experience, of many successive ages to 
bring them to any degree of perfection. From the raft or canoe, which 
first served to carry a savage over the river that obstructed him in the chase, 
to the construction of a vessel capable of conveying a numerous crew with 
safety to a distant coast, the progress in improvement is immense. Many 
efforts would be made, many experiments would be tried, and much labour 
as well as invention would be employed, before men could accomplish this 
arduous and important undertaking. The rude and imperfect state in which 
navigation is still found among allnations which are not considerably civil- 
ized, corresponds with this account of its progress, and demonstrates that 
in early times the art was not so far improved as to enal)le men to undertake 
distant voyages, or to attempt remote discoveries. 

As soon, however, as the art of navigation became known, a new species 
of correspondence among men took place. It is from this era that we 
must date the commencement of such an intercourse between nations as 
deserves the appellation of commerce. Men are, indeed, far advanced in 
improvement before commerce becomes an object of great importance to 
them. They must even have made some considerable progress towards 
civilization, before thev acquire the idea of property, and asceilain it so 

Vol.. }.—?. 



18 in.STORV OF [Book I. 

perfectly as lo be acquaintnl with the most simple of all contracts, that of 
exchanging by barter one rude commodity for another. But as soon as this 
important riji^ht is established, and every individual feels that he has an 
exclusive title to possess or to alienate whatever he has acquired by his 
own labour and dexterity, the wants and ingenuity of his nature suggest 
to him a new method of increasing his acquisitions and enjoyments, by 
disposing of what is superfluous in his own stores, in order to procure 
what is necessary or desirable in those of other men. Thus a commercial 
intercourse begins, and is carried on among the members of the same com- 
munity. By degrees, they discover that neighbouring tribes possess what 
they themselves want, and enjoy comforts of which they w ish to partake. 
In the same mode, and upon the same principles, that domestic traffic is 
carried on within the society, an external commerce is established witli 
other tribes or nations. Their mutual interest and mutual wants render this 
intercourse desirable, and imperceptibly introduce the maxims and laws 
which facilitate its progress and render it secure. But no very extensive 
commerce* can take place between contiguous provinces, whose soil and 
climate being nearly the same yield similar productions. Remote countries 
cannot coiwey their commodities, by land, to those places where on 
account of their rarity they are desired, and become valuable. It is to navi- 
gation that men are indebted for the power of transporting the superfluous 
stock of one part of the earth to supply the wants of another. The luxu- 
ries and blessings of a particular climate are no longer confined to itself 
alone, but the enjoyment of them is communicated to the most distant 
regions. 

In proportion as the knowledge of the advantages derived from naviga- 
tion and commerce continued to spread, the intercourse among nations ex- 
tended. The ambition of conquest, or the nece^ssity of procuring new set- 
tlements, were no longer the sole motives of visiting distant lands. The 
desire of gain became a new incentive to activity, roused adventurers, and 
sent them forth upon long voyages, in search of countries whose products 
or wants might increase that circulation which nourishes and gives vigour 
to commerce. Trade proved a great source of discoveiy : it opened un- 
known seas, it penetrated into new regions, and contributed more than any 
other cause to bring men acquainted Avith the situation, the nature, and com- 
modities of the ditterent parts of the globe. But even after a regular com- 
merce was established in the world, after nations were considerably civil- 
ized, and the sciences and arts were cultivated with ardour and success, 
navigation continued to be so imperfect, that it can hardly "be said to have 
advanced beyond the infancy of its improvement in the ancient world. 

Among all the nations of antiquit}^ the structure of their vessels was ex- 
tremely rude, and their method of working them verj' defective. They 
were unacquainted with several principles and operations in navigation, 
which are now considered as the first elements on which that science is 
founded. Though that property of the magnet by which it attracts iron 
was well known to the ancients, its more important and amazing virtue of 
pointing to the poles had entirely escaped their observation. Destitute of 
this faithful guide, which now conducts the pilot with so much certainty in 
the unbounded ocean, during the darkness of night, or when the heavens are 
covered with clouds, the ancients had no other method of regulating their 
course than by observing the sun and stars. Their navigation was of con- 
sequence uncertain and timid. They durst seldom quit sight of land, but 
crept along the coast, exposed to all the dangers, and retarded by all the ob- 
structions, unavoidable in holding such an awkward course. An incredible 
length of time was requisite for performing voyages which are now 
finished in a short space. Even in the mildest climates, and in seas the 
least tempestuous, it was only during the sununer months that the ancients 
ventured out cjf their harbours. The remainder of the year was lost in in- 



AMERICA. l» 

activitj'. It would have bean dermed most iiiconsiderale rashness to have 
bravea the fiiry- of the winds and Ava\(s diirina; Avinlor.* 

While both the science and practice of navii^atiori continued to be so de- 
fective, it was an undertaking^ ol no small difficulty and danger to visit any 
remote region of the earth. Under every disadvantage, however, the 
active spirit of commerce exerted itself. The Eg}'ptians, soon after the 
establishment of their monarchy, are said to have opened a trade between the 
Arabian Gulf, or Ked Sea, and the western coast of the great Indian cojiti- 
nent. The commodities which they imported from the East, were carried 
by land from the Arabian Gulf to the banks of the Nile, and conveyed down 
that river to the Mediterranean. But if the Egyptians in early times ap- 
plied themselves to commerce, their attention to it was of short duration. 
The fertile soil and mild climate of Egypt produced the necessaries and 
comforts of life with such jjrofusion, as rendered its inhabitants so inde- 
pendent of other countries, tbat it became an established maxim among that 
people, whose ideas and institutions differed in almost every point from 
those of other nations, fo renounce all intercourse with foreigiwrs. In con- 
sequence of this, they never went out of their own country ; they held all 
.seafaring persons in detestation, as impious and profane ; and fortifying 
their own harbours, they denied strangei-s admittance into tliem.t It was in 
the decline of their power, and when their veneration for ancient maxims 
had greatly abated, that they again opened their ports, and resumed any 
communication with foreigners. 

The character and situation of the Phenicians were as favourable to the 
spirit of commerce and discovery as those of the Egyptians were adverse 
to it. They had no distinguishing pecruliarity in their manners and iristitu- 
tioas ; they were not addicted to any singular and unsocial form of super- 
stition ; they could mingle with other nations without scruple or reluctance. 
The territory which they possessed was neither large nor fertiJe. Com- 
merce was the only source from which they could derive opulence or 
power. Accordingly, the trade carried on by the Phenicians of Sidon and 
Tyre, was more extensive and enterprising than tbat of any state in the an- 
cient world. The genius of the Phenicians, as well as the object of their 
policy and the spirit of their laws, were entirely commercial. They were 
a people of merchants, who aimed at the empire of the sea, and actually 
possessed it. Their ships not only frequented all the ports in the Medi- 
terranean, but they were the first who ventured beyond the ancient boun- 
daries of navigation, and, passing the Straits of Gades, visited the western 
coasts of Spain and Africa. In many of the places to which they resorted, 
tliey planted colonies, and communicated to the rude inhabitants some 
knowledge of their arts and improvements. While they extended their dis- 
coveries towards the north and the west, they did not neglect to penetrate 
into the more opulent and fertile regions of the south and east. Having 
rendered themselves masters of several commodious harbours towards the 
bottom of the Arabian Gulf, they, after the example of the Egyptians, esta- 
blished a regular intercourse with Arabia and the continent of India on the 
one hand, and with the eastern coast of Africa on the other. From these 
countries they imported many valuable commodities unknown to the rest 
of the world, and during a long period engrossed that lucrative branch of 
commerce without a rival, [l] •. • 

The vast wealth which the Phenicians acquired ])y monopolizing the 
trade carried on in the Ked Sea, incited their neighbours the Jews, under 
the prosperous reigns of David and Solomon, to aim at being admitted to 
some share of it. This they obtained, partly by their conquest of Idumea, 
which stretches aloi>g the lied Sea, and partly by their alliance with Hi- 

* VppiijiiB deRe milit. lib. iv. ♦ Dioci. Hicnl lib. i. p. 78. ed. VVesseliiigii. Anist. 1Tj6. Slra- 
bo, lib. xvii. p. U'iS. ed. Amst. VO:. 



?0 II 1 ST OK k OF (Book I. 

ram, king of Tyre. Solomon fitted out fleets, which, under the direction oC 
i'hcnician pilots, sailed from tli<; llt.d Sea to Tarshish and Ophir. These, 
it is probable, were ports in India and Africa, which their conductors were 
accustomed to frequent, and from them the Jewish ships returned with such 
valuable cargoes as suddenly diffused wealth and splendour through the 
Kingdom of Israel.* But the singular institutions of the Jews, the ob- 
servance of which was enjoined by their divine Legislator, with an inten- 
tion of preserving them a separate people, uninfected by idolatry, formed 
a national character, incapable of that open and liberal intercourse with 
strangers which commerce requires. Accordingly, this unsocial genius of 
the people, together with the disasters which betell the kingdom of Israel, 
prevented the commercial spirit ivhich their monarchs laboured to introduce 
and to cherish, from spreading among them. The Jews cannot be num- 
bered among the nations whicn contributed to improve navigation, or to ex- 
tend discovery. 

But though the instructions and example of the Phenicians were unable 
to mould the manners and temper of the Jews, in opposition to the tendency 
of their laws, they transmitted the commercial spirit with facility, and 
in full vigour, to their own descendants the Carthaginians. The common- 
wealth of Carthage applied to trade and naval affairs, with no less ardour, 
ingenuity, and success, than its parent state. Carthage early rivalled and 
soon surpassed Tyre in opulence and power, but seems not to have aimed 
at obtainmg any share in the commerce with India. The Phenicians had 
engrossed this, and had such a command of the Red Sea as secured to them 
the exclusive possession of that lucrative branch of trade. The commercial 
activity of the Cartl)aginiaas was exerted in another direction. Without 
contending for the trade of the East with their mother country, they extend- 
ed their navigation chiefly towards the west and north. Following the 
course which the Phenicians had opened, they passed the Straits of Gades, 
and pushing their discoveries far beyond those of the parent state, visited 
not only all the coasts of Spain, but those of Gaul, and penetrated at last 
into Britain. At the same time that they acquired knowledge of new coun- 
tries in this part of the globe, they gradually caiTied their researches towards 
the south. They made considerable progress by land into tlie interior pro- 
vinces of Africa, traded with some of^ them, and subjected others to their 
empire. They sailed along the western coast of that great continent almost 
to the tropic of Cancer, and planted several colonies, in order to civilize the 
natives and accustom them to commerce. They discovered the Fortunate 
Islands, now known by the name of the Canaries, the utmost boundary of 
ancient navigation in the western ocean, j 

Nor was the progress of the Phenicians and Carthaginians in their 
knowledge of the globe, owing entirely to the desire of extending their 
trade from one country to another. Commerce was followed by its usual 
effects among both these people. It awakened curiosity, enlarged the ideas 
and desires of men, and incited them to bold enterprises. Voyages were 
undertaken, the sole object of which was to discover new countries, and to 
explore unknown seas. Such, during the prosperous age of the Cartha- 
ginian republic, were the famous navigations of Hanno and Himlico. Both 
their fleets were equipped by authority of the senate, and at public ex- 
pense. Hanno was directed to steer towards the south, along the coast of 
Africa, and he seems to have advanced much nearer the equinoctial line 
than any former navigator.j Himlico had it in chaise to proceed toward* 
the north, and to examine the western coasts of the European continent.§ 
01 the same nature was the extraordinary navigation ol the Phenicians 

♦ M*moir(> sur le Pavs rt'Opliir, par M. d'Anville, Mem. do I'Academ. des liiscript. &r. torn. 
XXX. 83. t Plinii Nat. Hist. lib. vi. c. 37. edit, in umim Delpli. 4to. 16S.5. * Plinii Nat. Hist, lih.v. 
e. 1. Hannonis PwipUif< up. fiiograpli. niiiiores, edit. Hudsoiii, vol. i. p. 1. § PliiiM Nat. Hist. lili. 
ii. c. 67. i'estus AvienuB apud Bochart. Geogr. Sacer. lib. i. c. CO. p. G3'2. OptT. vol. iii. L. Hat. 1707 



AMERICA. 21 

round Africa. A Phenician fleet, we are told, fitted out by Nocho king of 
Egypt, took its departure about six hundred and four j-ears before the 
Christian era, from a port in the Red Sea, doubled the soutliern promontory 
of Africa, and after a voyage of three years returned by the Straits of 
<Tades to the mouth of the Nik.* Eudoxus of Cyzicus is said to have held 
the same course, and to have accomplished the same arduous undertaking.! 

These voyages, if performed in the manner which I have related, may 
justly be reckoned the greatest effort of navigation in the ancient world ; 
:ind if we attend to the imperfect state of the art at that time, it is diificult 
to determine whether we should most admire the courage and sagacity 
Avidi which the design was formed, or the conduct and good fortune witn 
which it was executed. But unfortunately all the original and authentic 
accounts of the Phenician and Carthaginian voyages, whether undertaken 
by public authority or in prosecution of their private trade, have perished. 
The information which we receive concerning them from the Greek and 
Roman authors is not only obscure and inaccurate, but if we except a short 
narrative of Hanno's expedition, is of suspicious authority. [2] Whatever 
acquaintance with the remote regions of the earth tlie Phenicians or, Cartha- 
ginians may have acquired, was concealed from the rest of mankind witJi a 
mercantile jealousy. Every thing relative to the coui'sc of their navigation 
was not only a mystery of trade, but a secret of state. Extraordinary facts 
are related concerning their solicitude to prevent other nations from pene- 
trating into what they wished should remain undivulged.J Many of their 
discoveries seem, accordingly, to have been scarcely known beyond the 
precincts of their own states. The navigation round Africa, in particular, is 
recorded by the Greek and Roman writers rather as a strange amusing tale, 
which they did not comprehend or did rwt believe, than as a real transac- 
tion which enlarged their knowledge and influenced tlieir opinions.[3] As 
neither the progress of the Phenician or Carthaginian discoveries, nor the 
extent of their navigation, were communicated to the rest of mankind, all 
memorials of their extraordinary skill in naval affairs seem, in a great mea- 
sure, to have perished, when the maritime power of the former was anni- 
hilated by Alexander's conquest of Tyre, and the empire of the latter was 
overturned by the Roman arms. 

Leaving, then, the obscure and pompous accounts of the Phenician and 
Carthaginian voyages to the curiosity and conjectures of antiquaries, history 
must rest satisfied with relating the progress of navigation and discoveiy 
among the Greeks and Romans, which, though less splendid, is better as- 
certained. It is evident that the Phenicians, who instructed the Greeks in 
many other useful sciences and arts, did not communicate to them that ex- 
tensive knowledge of navigation which they tliemselves possessed ; nor did 
the Romans imbibe that commercial spirit and ardour for discoveiy which 
distinguished their rivals the Carthaginians. Though Greece be almost 
encompassed by the sea, which formed many spacious bays and commo- 
dious harbours ; though it be surrounded by a great number of fertile islands, 
yet, notwithstanding such a favourable situation, which seemed to invite 
that ingenious people to apply themselves to navigation, it was long before 
this art attained any degree of perfection among them. Their early voy- 
ages, the object of which was piracy rather than commerce, were so incon- 
siderable that the expedition of the Argonauts from the coast of Thessaly 
to the Euxine Sea, appeared such an amazing effort of skill and courage, 
as entided the conductors of it to be ranked among the demigods, and ex- 
alted the vessel in which they sailed to a place among the heavenly con- 
stellations. Even at a later period, when the Greeks engaged in the taroous 
enterprise a^^ainst Troy, their knowledge in naval affairs seems not to have 
been much improved. According to the account of Homer, the only poet 

• Herodot. lib. iv. c. 42. t Pl'nii Nat. Hist. lib. U c. 67. t f trab. Ceogr. lib. iii. p. 965. lib. XTiii. 
1154. 



22 H I S T O R Y O F [Book I. 

to whom history ventures to appeal, and who, by his scrupulous accuracy 
in describing the manners and arts of early ages, merits this distinction, t}ie 
science of navigation at that time had hardly advanced beyond its rudest 
state. The Greeiis in the heroic age seem to have been unacquainted with 
the use of iron, the most serviceable of all the metals, without which no 
considerable progress was ever made in the mechanical arts. Their ves- 
sels were of inconsiderable burden, and mostly without decks. They had 
only one mast, which was erected or taken down at pleasure. They were 
strangers to the use of anchors. All their operations in sailing were clumsy 
and unskilful. They turned their observations towards stars, which were 
improper for regulating their course, and tlieir mode of observing them was 
inaccurate and fallacious. When they had finished a voyage they drew 
their paltry barks asliore, as savages do their canoes, and these remained on 
diy land until the season of returning to sea approached. It is not then in 
the early heroic ages of Greece that we can expect to observe the science 
of navigation, and the spirit of discovery, making any considerable progress. 
During that period of disorder and ignorance, a thousand causes concurred 
in restraining curiosity and enterprise within very narrow bounds. 

But the Greeks advanced with rapidity to a state of greater civilization 
and refinement. Government, in its most liberal and perifect form, began to 
be established in their different communities ; equal laws and regular po- 
lice were gradually introduced ; tlie sciences and arts which are useful or 
ornamental in life were caiTied to a high pitch of improvement ; and seve- 
ral of the Grecian commonwealths applied to commerce with such ardour 
and success, that they were considered, in the ancient world, as maritime 
powers of the first rank. Even then, however, the naval victories of the 
Greeks must be ascribed rather to the native spirit of the people, and to 
that courage which the enjoyment of liberty inspires, than to any extraordi- 
nary progress in the science of navigation. In the Persian war, those ex- 
ploits, which the genius of the Greek historians has rendered so famous, were 
performed by fleets composed chiefly of small vessels without decks ;* 
the crews of which rushed forward with impetuous valour, but little art, to 
board those of the enemy. In the war of Peloponnesus, their ships seem 
still to have been of inconsiderable burden and force. The extent of their 
trade, how highly soever it may have been estimated in ancient times, was 
in proportion to this low condition of their marine. The maritime states 
of Greece hardly carried on any commerce beyond the limits of the Medi- 
terranean sea. Their chief intercourse was with the colonies of their country- 
men planted in the Lesser Asia, in Italy, and Sicily. They sometimes vi- 
sited the ports of Egypt, of the southern provinces of Gaul, and of Thrace ; 
or, pawning through the Hellespont, they traded with the countries situated 
around the Euxine sea. Amazinsi- instances occur of their ignorance, even 
of those countries which lay within the narrow precincts to which their 
navigation was confined. When the Greeks had assembled their combined 
fleet against Xerxes at Egina, they thought it unadvisable to sail to Samos, 
because they believed the distance between that island and Egina to be as 
great as the distance between Egina and the Pillars of Hercules.t They 
were either utterly unacquainted with all the parts of the globe beyond the 
I\Iediterranean sea, or what knowledge they had of them was founded on 
conjecture, or derived from the information of a few persons whom curiosity 
and the love of science had prompted to travel by land into the Upper 
Asia, or by sea into Egypt, the ancient seats of wisdom and arts. After all 
that the Greeks learned from them, they appear to have been ignorant of 
the most important facts on which an accurate and scientific knowledge of 
the globe is founded. 

The expedition of Alexander the Great into the East considerably en- 

♦ Thucyd. lilj. i. c. 14. t Herodot. lib. vin. c. 135. 



AMERICA. 23 

lathed the sphere of navia^ation and of oeoi^raplucal knowleda;e among the 
Greeks. That extraordinary man, iiotwithstandins^ the violent passions 
which incited him at some tinnes to the wildest actions and the most extra- 
vae^ant enterprises, possessed talents which fitted him, not only to conquer, 
hut to govern the world. He was capable of framina: those bold and ori- 
ginal schemes of policy, which gav^e a new form to human affairs. The 
revolution in commerce, brought about by the force of his genius, is hardly 
inferior to that revolution in empire occasioned by the success of his arms. 
It is probable that the opposition and efforts of the republic of Tyre, which 
checked him so long in the career of his victories, gave Alexander an op- 
portunity of observing the vast resources of a maritime power, and convey- 
od to him some idea of the im.mense wealth which the Tyrians derived 
from their commerce, especially that with the East Indies. As soon as he 
had accomplished the destruction of Tyre, and reduced Egypt to subjection, 
he formed the plan of rendering the empire ^vhich he proposed to establish, 
the centre of commerce as well as the seat of dominion. With this view 
he founded a great city, which he honoured with his owii name, near one 
of the mouths of the river Nile, that by the Mediterranean sea, and the 
neighbourhood of the Arabian Gulf, it might command the trade both of the 
East and West.* This situation was chosen with such discernment, that 
Alexandria soon became the chief commercial city in the world. Not only 
during the subsistence of the Grecian empire in Egypt and in the East, but 
amidst all the successive revolutions in those countries from the time of the 
Ptolemies to the discovery of the navigation by the Cape of Good Hope, 
commerce, particularly that of the East Indies, continued to flow in the 
channel which the sagacity and foresight of Alexander had marked out 
for it. 

His ambition was not satisfied with having opened to the Greeks a com- 
munication with India by sea ; he aspired to the sovereignty of those regions 
which furnished the rest of mankind with so many precious commodities, 
and conducted his army thither by land. Enterprising, however, as he was, 
he may be said rather to have viewed than to have conquered that country. 
He did not, in his progress towards the East, advance beyond the banks of 
the rivers that tall into the Indus, which is now the western boundaiy of the 
vast continent of India. Amidst the wild exploits which distinguish this 
part of his history, he pursued measures that mark the superiority of his ge- 
nius as well as the extent of his views. He had penetrated as far into India 
as to confirm his opinion of its commercial importance, and to perceive that 
immense wealth might be derived from intercourse with a country where 
the arts of elegance, having been more early cultivated, were arrived at 
greater perfection than in any other part of the earth. t Full of this idea, he 
resolved to examine the course of navigation from the mouth of the Indus 
to the bottom of the Persian Gulf; and, if it should be found practicable, to 
establish a regular communication between them. In order to etfect this, 
he proposed to remove the cataracts, with which the jealousy of the Per- 
sians, and their aversion to correspondence with foreigners, had obstructed 
the entrance into the Euphrates ;J to carry the commodities of the East up 
that river, and the Tigris, which unites with it, into the interior parts of bis 
Asiatic dominions; while, by the way of the Arabian Gulf and the river 
Nile, they might be conveyed to Alexandria, and distributed to the rest of 
the world. Nearchus, an officer of eminent abilities, was intrusted with the 
command of the fleet fitted out for this expedition. He performed this 
voyage, which was deemed an enterprise so arduous and important, that 
Alexander reckoned it one of the most extraordinary events which distin- 
guished his reign. Inconsiderable as it may now appear, it was at that 

* Strab. Geogr. lib. ivii. p 1143. 1149. t f'trab, Gfopr, lib. xv. p. 1036. Q. Ciirliiis, lib. r\'iii. 
c. 6. i Strab. Geogr. lib. xvi. p. 1075. 



24 HISTORY OF [Book 1. 

time an undertaking of no little merit and difficulty. In the prosecution of 
it, striking instances occur of the small progress which the Greeks had made 
in naval knowledge. [4] Having never sailed beyond the bounds of the 
Mediterranean, where the ebb and ilow of the sea are hardly perceptible, 
when they first observed this phenomenon at the mouth of the Indus, it ap^ 
peared to them a prodigy, l)y which the gods testified the displeasure of 
heaven against their enterprise. [5] During their whole course, they seem 
never to have lost sight of land, Ijut followed the bearings of the coast so 
servilely, that they could not avail themselves of those periodical winds 
which tacilitate navigation in the Indian ocean. Accordingly they spent 
no less than ten months in performing this voj^age,* which, trom the mouth 
of the Indus to that of the Persian Gulf, does not exceed twenty degrees. 
It is probable, that amidst the convulsions and frequent revolutions in the 
Kast, occasioned by the contests junong the successors of Alexander, the 
navigation to India by the course which Nearchus had opened was discon» 
tinned. The Indian trade carried on at Alexandria, not only subsisted, but 
was so much extended, under the Grecian monarchs of Egj'pt, that it proved 
a great source of the wealth which distinguished their kingdom. 

The progress which the Romans made in navigation and discovery, was 
still more inconsiderable tljaii that cf the Greeks. The genius of the Ro- 
man people, their militaiy education, and the spirit of their laws, concuiTed 
in estranging thorn from commerce and naval aflairs. It was the necessity 
of opposing a formidable rival, not the desire of extending trade, which 
first prompted them to aim at maritime power. Though they soon per- 
ceived, that in order to acquire the universal dominion after which they as- 
pired, it was necessary to render themselves masters of the sea, they still 
considered the naval service as a subordinate station, and resers'ed for it 
fiuch citizens as were not of a rank to be admitted into the legions.j In 
the history of the Roman republic, hardly one event occurs, that marks 
attention to navigation any further than it was instrumental towards conquest. 
When the Roman valour and discipline had subdued all the maritime states 
known in the ancient world ; when Carthage, Greece, and Egypt had sub- 
mitted to their power, the Romans did not imbibe the commercial spirit of 
the conquered nations. Among that people of goldiers, to have applied to 
trade would have been deemed a degradation to a Roman citizen. They 
abandoned the mechanical arts, commerce, and navigation, to slaves, to 
freedraen, to provincials, and to citizens of the lowest ckss. Even alter the 
subversion of liberty, when the severity and haughtiness of ancient manners 
began to abate, commerce did not rise into high estimation among the 
Romans! lilie trade of Greece, Egjpt, and the other conquered countries, 
continued to be carried on in its usual channels, after they were reduced 
into the form of Roman provinces. As Rome was the capital of the world, 
and the seat of government, all the wealth and valuable productions of the 
provinces Howed naturally thither. The Romans, satisfied with this, seem 
to have suffered commerce to remain almost entirely in the hands of the 
natives of the respective counti ies. The extent, however, of the Roman 
power, which reached over the greatest part of the known world, the vigi- 
lant inspection of the Roman magistrates, and the spirit of the Roman 
government, no less intelligent than active, gave such additional security to 
commerce as animated it with new vigoiu'. The union among nations was 
never so entire, nor the intercoui-se so perfect, as within the bounds of this 
vast empire. Commerce, under the Roman dominion, was not obstructed 
by the jealousy of rival slates, interrupted by frequent hostilities, or limited 
by partial restrictions. One superintending power moved and regulated 
the industry of mankind, and enjoyed the fruits of their joint efforts. 

Navigation felt its influeiice, and improved under it. As soon as the 

♦ Plm. Hist. Nat. lib. vi. c. 23. t Po!yb. li)). v. 



AMERICA. 26 

Romans acquired a taste for the luxuries of the East, the trade ■with India 
through Egypt was pushed with new vigour, and carried on to greater 
extent. By trequenting the Indian continent, navigators became acquainted 
with the periodical course of the winds, which, ill the ocean that separates 
Africa from India, blow with little variation during one half of the year from 
the east, and during the other half blow with equal steadiness from the west. 
Encouraged by observing this, the pilots wlio sailed from Egypt to India 
abandoned their ancient slow and dangerous course along the coast, and, as 
soon as the western monsoon set in, took their departure irom Ocelis, at the 
mouth of the Arabian Gull, and stretched boldly across the ocean.* The uni- 
form direction of the wind, supplying the place of the compass, and rendering 
the guidance of the stars less necessaiy, conducted them to the port of Mu^i- 
ris, on the western shore of the Indian continent. There they took on board 
their cargo, and, returning with the eastern monsoon, finished their voyage 
to the Arabian Gulf within the year. This part of India, now known by 
the name of the Malabar coast, seems to have been the utmost limit of 
ancient navigation in tnal quarter of the globe. What imperfect knowledge 
the ancients had of the immense countries which stretch beyond this towards 
the East, they received from a few adventurers who had visited them by 
land. Such excursions were neither frequent nor extensive, and it is proba- 
ble that, while the Roman intercourse with India subsisted, no traveller 
ever penetrated further than to the banks of the Ganges.t[6] The fleets from 
Egypt which traded at Musiris were loaded it is true, with the spices and 
other rich commodities of the continent and islands of the further India ; but 
these were brought to that port, which became the staple of the commerce 
between the east and west, by the Indians themselves in canoes hollowed 
crut of one tree.J The Egyptian and Roman merchants, satisfied with 
acquiring those commodities in this manner, did not think it necessary to 
explore unknown seas, and venture upon a dangerous navigation, in quest of 
the countries which produced them. But though the discoveries of the Romaas 
in India were so limited, their commerce there was such as will appear 
considerable, even to the present age, in which the Indian trade has been 
extended far beyond the practice or conception of any preceding period. 
We are informed by one author of credit,§ that the commerce with India 
drained the Roman empire every year of more than four hundred thousand 
pounds ; and by another, that one hundred and twenty ships sailed annually 
from the Arabian Gulf to that country.!! 

The discovery of this new method of sailing to India, is the most con- 
siderable improvement in navigation made during the continuance of the 
Roman power. But in ancient times, the knowledge of remote countries 
was acquired more frequently by land than by sea :[7] and the Romans, from 
their peculiar disinclination to naval affairs, may be said to have neglected 
totally the latter, though a more easy and expeditious method of discovery. 
The progress, however, of their victorious armies through a considerable 
portion ot Europe, Asia, and Africa, contributed greatly to extend discovery 
by land, and gradually opened the navigation of new and unknown seas. 
Previous to the Roman conquests, the civilized nations of antiquity had 
little communication with those countries in Europe which now form its 
most opulent and powerful kingdoms. The interior parts of Spain and 
Gaul were imperfectly known. Britain, separated from the rest of the 
world, had never been visited, except by its neighbours the Gauls, and by a 
few Carthaginian merchants. The name of Germany had scarcely been 
beard of. Into all these countries the arms of the Romans penetrated. 
They entirely subdued Spain and Gaul ; they conquered the greatest and 
most fertile part of Britain ; they advanced into Gennany, as far as the 

• PIlii. Nat. Hist. Ub. vi. c. 23. t Slrab. Geogr. Ifb. xv, p, 1006— 1010. J Plln. Nat. Hist 
lib. VI. c. 26. i Ibrd. II Strab. Geogr. lib. ii. p. 179. 

Vol. I. — 4 



28 HISTORY OF [Book I. 

banks of the river Elbe. In Africa, they acquired a considerable know- 
ledge of the provinces, which stretched along the Mediterranean Sea, from 
Egypt westward to the Straits of Gades. In Asia, they not only subjected 
to their power most of the provinces which composed the Persian and 
the Macedonian enipirts, but after their victories over Mithridates and 
Tigranes, they seem to have made a more accurate survey of the countries 
contiguous to the Euxine and Caspian seas, and to have carried on a more 
extensive trade than that of the Greeks with the opulent and commercial 
nations then seated round the Euxine sea. 

From this succinct survey of discovery and navigation, which I have 
traced from the earliest dawn of historical knowledge, to the full esta- 
])lishment of the Roman dominion, the progress of both appears to 
have been wonderfully slow. It seenis neither adequate to what we 
might have expected from the activity and enterprise of the human mind, 
nor to what might have been performed by the power of the great empires 
which successively governed' the world. If we reject accounts that are 
fabulous and obscure ; if we adhere steadily to the light and infomiation 
of authentic history, without substituting in its place the conjectures of 
fancy or the dreams of etymologists, we must conclude, that the knowledge 
which the ancients had acquired of the habitable globe was extremely 
confined. In Europe, the extensive provinces in the eastern part of Ger- 
many were little known to them. They were almost totally unacquainted 
with the vast countries which are now subject to the kings of Denmark, 
Sweden, Prussia, Poland, and the Russian empire. The more barren 
regions that stretch within the arctic circle, were quite unexplored. In 
Africa, their researches did not extend far beyond the provinces which 
border on the Mediterranean, and those situated on the western shore of 
the Arabian Gulf. In Asia, they were unacquainted, as I formerly observed, 
with all the fertile and opulent countries beyond the Ganges, which furnish 
the most valuable commodities that in modern times have been the great 
object of the European commerce with India ; nor do they seem to have 
ever penetrated into those immense regions occupied by the wandering 
tribes, which they called by the general name of Sarmatians or Scythians, 
and which are now possessed by Tartars of various denominations, and by 
the Asiatic subjects of Russia. 

But there is one opinion, that universally prevailed amon? the ancients, 
which conveys a more striking idea of the small progress they had made 
in the knowledge of the habitable globe than can be derived from any 
detail of their discoveries. They supposed the earth to be divided into 
five regions, which they distinguished by the name of Zones. Two of 
these, which were nearest the poles, they termed Frigid zones, and believed 
that the extreme cold which reigned perpetually there rendered them unin- 
habitable. Another, seated under the line, and extending on either side 
towards the tropics, the;^ called the Torrid zone, and imagined it to be so 
burned up with unremitting heat, as to be equally destitute of inhabitants. 
On the two other zones, which occupied the remainder of the earth, they 
bestowed the appellation of Temperate, and taught that these, being the 
only regions in which life could subsist, were allotted to man for his habita- 
tion. This wild opinion was not a conceit of the uninformed vulgar, or a 
fanciful fiction of the poets, but a system adopted by the most enlightened 
philosophers, the most accurate historians and geographers in Greece and 
Rome. According to this theoiy, a vast portion of the habitable earth was 
pronounced to be unfit for sustaining the human species. Those fertile and 
populous regions within the torrid zone, which are now known not only to 
yield their own inhabitants the necessaries and comforts of lite with most 
luxuriant profusion, but to communicate their superfluous stores to the rest of 
the world, were supposed to be the mansion of perpetual sterility and 
desolation. As all the parts of the globe Avith which the ancients were 



AMERICA. 27 

acquainted lay wilhin the northern temperate zone, their opinion that the 
other temperate zone was filled with inhabitants, was foundedon reasoning 
and conjecture, not on discovery. They even believed that, by the intole- 
rable heat ot the torrid zone such an insuperable barrier was placed 
between the two temperate regions of the earth as would prevent for ever 
any intercourse between their respective inhabitants. Thus, this extrava- 
gjant theory not only proves that the ancients were unacquainted with the 
true state of the globe, but it tended to render their ignorance perpetual, bj' 
representing" all attempts towards opening a communication with the remote 
regions ot tlie eaith, as utterly impracticable. [8] 

But, however imperfect or inaccurate the geographical knowledge which 
the Greeks and Romans had acquired may appear, in respect of the 
present improved state of that science, their progress in discovery will seem 
considerable, and the extent to which they carried navigation ana commerce 
must be reckoned great, when compared with the ignorance of early times. 
As long as die Roman Empire retained such vigour as to preserve its authority 
over the conquered nations, and to keep them united, it was an object of 
public policy, as well as of private curiosity, to examine and describe the 
countries which composed this great body. Even when the other sciences 
began to decline, geography, enriched with new observations, and receiving 
some accession from the experience of eveiy age, and the reports of eveiy 
traveller, continued to improve. ' It attained to the highest point of perfec- 
tion and accuracy to which it ever arrived in the ancient world, by the 
industry" and genius of Ptolemy the philosopher. He flourished in the 
second century of the Christian eera, and published a description of the ter- 
restrial globe, more ample and exact than that of any of his predecessors. 

But, soon after, violent convulsions began to shake the Roman state ; the 
fatal ambition or caprice of Constantine, by changing the seat of govern- 
ment, divided and weakened its force ; the barbarous nations, which Pro- 
vidence prepared as instruments to overturn the mighty fabric of the 
Roman power, began to assemble and to muster their armies on its frontier : 
the empire tottered to its fall. During this decline and old age of the 
Roman state, it was impossible that the sciences should go on improving. 
The efforts of genius w ere, at that period, as languid and feeble as those of 

fovemment. From the time of Ptolemj^, no considerable addition seems to 
ave been made to gecejaphical knowledge, nor did any important revo- 
lution happen in trade, excepting that Constantinople, by its advantageous 
situation, and the encouragement of the eastern emperors, became a com- 
mercial city of the first note. 

At length, the clouds which had been so long gathering round the Roman 
empire burst into a storm. Barbarous nations rushed in from several quar- 
ters with irresistible impetuosity, and in the general wreck, occasioned by 
the inundation which overwhelmed Europe, the arts, sciences, inventions, 
and discoveries of the Romans perished in a great measure, and disap- 
peared.* All the various tribes which settled in the different provinces of 
the Roman empire were uncivilized, strangers to letters, destitute of arts, 
unacquainted with regular goveminent, subordination, or laws. The man- 
ners and institutions of some of them were so rude as to be hardly compati- 
ble with a state of social union. Europe, when occupied by such inliabit- 
ants, may be said to have returned to a second infancy, and had to begin 
anew its career in improvement, science, and civility. The first effect of 
the settlement of those barbarous invaders was to dissolve the union by which 
the Roman power had cemented mankind together. They parcelled out 
Europe into many small and independent states, differing from each other 
in language and customs. No intercourse subsisted between the members 
of those divided and hostile communities. Accustomed to a simple mode 

• His', pf rhirlo-; V. vol. i. 



28 HISTORY OF [Book I. 

of life, and avei-se to industry, they had few wants to supply, and few super- 
fluities to dispose of. The names of stranger and enemy became once 
more words of the same import. Customs every where prevailed, anci 
even laws were established, which rendered it disagreeable and dangerous 
to visit any foreign countij.* Cities, in which alone an extensive commerce 
can be carried on, were few, inconsiderable, and destitute of those immuni- 
ties which produce security or excite enterprise. The sciences, on which 
geography and navigation are founded, were little cultivated. The accounts 
of ancient improvements and discoveries, contained in the Greek and 
Roman authors, were neglected or misunderstood. The knowledge of 
remote regions was lost, their situation, their commodities, and almost their 
names, were unknown. 

One circumstance prevented commercial intercourse with distant nations 
from ceasing altogether. Constantinople, though often threatened by the 
fierce invaders who spread desolation over the rest of Europe, was so for- 
tunate as to escape their destructive rage. In that city the knowledge of 
ancient arts and discoveries was preserved ; a taste for splendour and ele- 
gance subsisted ; the productions and luxuries of fbreigJi countries were in 
request ; and commerce continued to flourish there when it was almost 
extinct in every other part of Europe. The citizens of Constantinople did 
not confine their trade to the islands of thq Archipelago, or to the adjacent 
coasts of Asia ; they took a wider range, and, following the course which 
the ancients had marked out, imported the commodities of the East Indies 
from Alexandria. When Egypt was torn from the Roman empire by the 
Arabians, the industry of the Greeks discovered a new channel by which 
the productions of India might be conveyed to Constantinople. They were 
carried up the Indus as far as that great river is navigable ; thence they 
were transported by land to the banks of the river Oxus, and proceeded 
down its stream to the Caspian sea. There they entered the Volga, and, 
sailing up it, were carried by land to the Tanais, which conducted them 
into the Euxine sea, where vessels from Constantinople waited their arrival.! 
This extraordinary and tedious mode of conveyance merits attention, not 
only as a proof of the violent passion which the inhabitants of Constantinople 
had conceived for the luxuries of the East, and as a specimen of the ardour 
and ingenuity with which they carried on commerce ; but because it 
demonstrates that, during the ignorance which reigned in the rest of Europe, 
an extensive knowledge of remote countries was still preserved in the capi- 
tal of the Greek empire. 

At the same time a gleam of light and knowledge broke in upon tJie 
East. The Arabians having contracted some relish for the sciences of the 
people whose empire they had contributed to overturn, translated the 
ijooks of several of the Greek philosophers into their own language. One 
of the first was that valuable work of Ptolemy which I have already men- 
tioned. I'he study of geog^-aphy became, of coasequence, an earl}- object of 
attention to the Arabians. But that acute and ingenious people cultivated 
chiefly the speculative and scientific parts of geography. In order to ascer- 
tain the figure and dimensions of the terrestrial globe, they applied the 
principles of geometry, they had recourse to astronomical observations, they 
employed experiments and operations, which Europe in more enlightened 
limes has been proud to adopt and to imitate. At that period, however, 
the fame of the improvements made by the Arabians did not reach Europe. 
The knowledge of their discoveries was reserved for ages capable of com- 
prehending and of perfecting them. 

By degrees the calamities and desolation brought upon the western pro- 
vinces of the Roman empire by its barbarous conquerors were forgotten, 
and in some measure repaired. The rude tribes which settled there 

* Hist, of CharleR V. t Ramusio, vol. i. p. 372. F. 



AMERICA. 29 

acquiring insensibly some idea of re^lar government, and scnip relish for 
the functions and comforts of civil life, Europe began to awake from its 
torpid and inactive state. The first symptoms of revival were discerned 
in Italy. The northern tribes which took possession of this country, made 
pnjgress in improvement with greater rapidity than the people settled in 
other parts of Europe. Various causes, which it is not the object of this 
work to enumerate or explain, concurred in restoring liberty and independ- 
ence to the cities of Italy.* The acquisition of these roused industry, and 
fave motion and vigour to all the active powers of the human mind, 
'oreign commerce revived, navigation was attended to and improved. 
Constantinople became the chief mart to which the Italians resorted. There 
they not only met with a tavourable reception, but obtained such mercan- 
tile privileges as enabled them to cany on trade with gi-eat advantage. 
They were supplied both with the precious commodities of the East, and 
with many curious manutactures, the product of ancient arts and ingenuity 
which still subsisted among the Greeks. As the labour and expense of con- 
veying the productions of India to Constantinople by that long and indirect 
course which I have described, rendered them extremely rare, and of an 
exorbitant price, the industry of the Italians discovered other methods of 
procuring them in greater abundance and at an easier rate. They some- 
times purchased them in Aleppo, Tripoli, and other ports on the coast of 
Syria, to which they were brought by a route not unknown to the ancients. 
They were conveyed from India by sea up the Persian Gulf, and, ascending 
the Euphrates and Tigris as far as Bagdat, were carried by land across the 
desert of Palmyra, and from thence to the towns on the Mediterranean. 
But, trom the length of the journey, and the dangers to which the caravans 
were exposed, this proved always a tedious and often a precarious mode of 
conveyance. At length the Soldans of Egypt, having revived the commerce 
with India in its ancient channel, by the Arabian Gulf, the Italian merchants, 
notwithstanding the violent antipathy to each other with which Christians 
and the followers of Mahomet were then possessed, repaired to Alexandria, and 
enduring, from the love of gain, the insolence and exactions of the Mahometans, 
established a lucrative trade in that port. From that period the commer- 
cial spirit of Italy became active and enterprising. Venice, Genoa, Pisa, 
rose from inconsiderable towns to be populous and wealthy cities. Their 
naval power increased ; their vessels frequented not only alf the ports in the 
Mediterranean, but venturing sometimes beyond the Straits, visited the 
maritime towns of Spain, France, the Low Countries, and England ; and, 
by distributing their commodities over Europe, began to conamunicate to its 
various nations some taste tor the valuable productions of the East, as well 
as some ideas of manufactures and arts, which were then unknown beyond 
the precincts of Italy. 

\Vhile the cities of Italy were thus advancing in their career of improve- 
ment, an event happened, the most extraordinary, perhaps, in the history of 
mankind, which, instead of retarding the commercial progress of the Italians, 
rendered it more rapid. The martial spirit of the Europeans, heightened 
and inflamed by religious zeal, prompted them to attempt the deliverance 
of the Holy Land from the dominion of Infidels. Vast armies, composed of 
all the nations in Europe, marched towards Asia upon this wild enterprise. 
The Genoese, the Pisans, and Venetians, t'urnished the transports which 
carried them thither. They supplied them with provisions and military 
stores. Besides the immense sums which they received on this account, 
they obtained commercial privileges and establishments of great conse- 
quence in the settlements which the Crusaders made in Palestine, and in 
other provinces of Asia. From those sources prodigious wealth flowed into 
the cities which I have mentioned. This was accompanied with a propor- 

• Hi«t. of Char'fs V 



21) HISTORY OF [Book I. 

tional iiicitase oi power ; and, by the end ol the Holy War, Venice in 
particular became a great maritime state, possessing an extensive commerce 
and ample territories.* Italy was not the only country in which the Cru- 
sades contributed to revive and diffuse such a spirit as prepared Europe for 
future discoveries. By their expeditions into Asia, the other European 
nations became well acquainted with remote regions, which formerly they 
knew only by name, or by the reports of ignorant and credulous pilgrims. 
They had an opportunity of observing the manners, the a rts, and the accommo- 
dations of people more polished than themselves. This intercourse between 
the East and West subsisted almost two centuries. The adventurers who 
returned from Asia communicated to their countrymen the ideas which they 
had acquired, and the habits of life they had contracted by visiting more 
refined nations. The Europeans began to be sensible of wants with which 
they were formerly unacquainted : new desires were excited ; and such a 
taste for the commodities and arts of other countries gradually spread among 
them, that they not only encouraged the resort of foreigners to their harbours, 
but began to perceive the advantage and necessity of applying to commerce 
themselves.t 

This communication, which was opened between Europe and the western 
provinces of Asia, encouraged several persons to advance far beyond the 
countries in which the Crusaders carried on their operations, and to travel by 
land into the more remote and opulent regions of the East. The wild fanati- 
cism, which seems at that period to have mingled in all the schemes of 
individuals, no less than in all the counsels of nations, first incited men to 
enter upon those long and dangerous peregrinations. They Avere aftenvards 
undertaken from prospects of commercial advantage, or from motives of 
mere curiosity. Benjamin, a Jew of Tudela, in the kingdom of Navarre, 
possessed with a superstitious veneration for the law of Moses, and solicitous 
to visit his countrymen in the East, whom he hoped to find in such a state 
of power and opulence as might redound to the honour of his sect, set out 
from Spain, in the year 1160, and, travelling by land to Constantinople, pro- 
ceeded through the countries to the north of the Euxine and Caspian seas, 
as far as Chinese Tartary. From thence he took his route towards the 
south, and after traversing various provinces of the further India, he em- 
barked on the Indian Ocean, visited several of its islands, and returned at 
the end of thirteen years, by the way of Egypt, to Europe, with much 
information concerning a lai^e district of the globe altogether unknown at 
that time to the western world. J The zeal of tlie head of the Christian 
church co-operated with the superstition of Benjamin the Jew in discovering 
the interior and remote provinces of Asia. All Christendom having been 
alarmed with the accounts of the rapid progress of the Tartar arms under 
Zengis Khan [1246], Innocent IV., who entertained most exalted ideas 
concerning the plenitude of his own power, and the submission due to his . 
injunctions, sent Father John de Piano Carpini, at the head of a mission of 
Franciscan monks, and Father Ascolino, at the head of another of Domini- 
cans, to enjoin Kayuk Khan, the grandson of Zengis, who was then at the 
Jiead of the Tartar empire, to embrace the Christian faith, and to desist 
from desolating the earth by his arms. The haughty descendant of the 
greatest conqueror Asia had ever beheld, astonished at this strange mandate 
from an Italian priest, whose name and jurisdiction were alike unknown to 
him, received it with the contempt which it merited, though he dismissed 
the mendicants who delivered it with impunity. But, as they had pene- 
trated into the country by different routes, and followed for some time the 
Tartar camps, which were always in motion, they had opportunity of visit- 
ing a great part of Asia. Carpini, Avho proceeded by the way of Poland 

• Eaeai dc I'HiBtoire du Commerce de Venise, p. 52, &.c. t Hist of Charles v. 

1 Bergeron, Recueil des Voyages, &c. toni i. p. 1- 



AMERICA. 31 

and Russia, travelled through its northern provinces aslar as tiie extremities 
of Thibet. Ascohno, who seems to have landed somewhere in Syria, 
advanced through its southern provinces into the interior parts of Persia.* 

Is^ot long after [l25;5], St. Louis of France contributed further towards 
extending the knowledge which the Europeans had begun to acquire of those 
distant regions. Some designing impostor, who took advantage of the 
slender acquaintance of Christendom with the state and character of the Asiatic 
nations, having informed him that a powerful Khan of the Tartars had 
embraced the Christian faith, the monarch listened to the tale with pious 
credulity, and instantly resolved to send ambassadors to this illustrious 
convert, with a view of enticing him to attack their common enemy the 
Saracens in one quarter, while he fell upon them in another. As monks 
were the only persons in that age who possessed such a degree of know- 
ledge as qualified them for a service of this kind, he employed in it 
Fatner Andrew, a Jacobine, who was followed by Father William de 
Rubruquis, a Franciscan. With respect to the progress of the former, 
there is no memorial extant. The journal of the latter has been published 
He was admitted into the presence of Mangu, the third Khan in succession 
from Zengis, and made a circuit through the interior parts of Asia, more 
extensive than that of any European who had hitherto explored them.t 

To those travellers whom religious zeal sent forth to visit Asia, succeeded 
others who ventured into remote countries from the prospect of commercial 
advantage, or from motives of mere curiosity. The first and most eminent 
of these was Marco Polo, a Venetian of a noble family. Having engaged 
early in trade [1265], according to the custom of his country, his aspiring 
inind wished for a sphere of activity more extensive than was afforded to it 
Ijy the established traffic carried on in those ports of Europe and Asia which 
the Venetians frequented. This prompted him to travel into unknown 
countries, in expectation of opening a commercial intercourse with them 
more suited to the sanguine ideas and hopes of a young adventurer. 

As his father had already carried some European commodities to the court 
of the great Khan of the Tartars, and had disposed of them to advantage, 
he resorted thither. Under the protection of Kublay Khan, the most 
powerful of all the successors of Zengis, he continued his mercantile pere- 
grinations in Asia upwards of twenty-six years ; and during that time ad- 
vanced towards the east, far beyond the utmost boundaries to which any 
European traveller had ever proceeded. Instead of following the course 
of Carpini and Rubruquis, along the vast unpeopled plains of Tartary, he 
passed through the chief trading cities in the more cultivated parts of Asia, 
and penetrated to Cambalu, or Peking, the capital of the great kingdom of 
Cathay, or China, subject at that tiinc to the successors of Zengis. He 
made more than one voyage on the Indian ocean ; he traded in many of 
the islands from which fiurope had long received spiceiies and other com- 
modKies which it held in high estimation, though unacquainted with the 
particular countries to which it was indebted tor those precious productions : 
and he obtained information concerning several countries which he did not 
visit in person, particularly the island Zipangri, probably the same now- 
known by the name of Japan.l On his return, he astonished his contempo- 
raries with his descriptions of^vast regions whose names had never been 
heard of in Europe, and with such pompous accounts of their fertilit}-, their 
populousness, their opulence, the variety of their manufactures, and the 
extent of their trade, as rose far above the conception of an uninformed age. 
^ About half a century after Marco Polo [l32'i], Sir .John Mandeville, an 
Englishman, encouraged by his example, visited most of the countries in 
the East which he had described, and, like him, published an account of 

* IlaHuyt, i. 21. Bergeron, torn. i. f Flakl. i. 71. Recueil dcs Voyages par KergoroD. torn. I. 
; V iaggi (li Marco Poio. Kamus. ii. ?. Bergeron. I'.'in. ii. 



32 HISTORY OF [Book J. 

them.* The narrations of those early travellers abound with many wild 
incoherent tales, concerning giants, enchanters, and monsters. But they 
were not from that circumstance less acceptable to an ignorant age, which 
delighted in what was marvellous. The wonders which they told, mostly 
on hearsay, filled the multitude with admiration. The facts which they 
related from their own observation attracted the attention of the more dis- 
cerning. The former, which may be considered as the popular traditions 
and fables of the countries through which they had passed, were gradually 
disregarded as Europe advanced in knowledge. The latter, however 
incredible some of them may have appeared in their own time, have been 
confirmed by the observations of modern travellers. By means of both, 
however, the curiosity of mankind was excited with respect to the remote 
parts of the earth ; their ideas were enlai^ed ; and they were not only 
insensibly disposed to attempt new discoveries, but received such informa- 
tion as dfirected to that particular course in which these were afterwards 
carried on. 

While this spirit was gradually forming in Europe, a fortunate discovery 
was made, which contributed more than all the efforts and ingenuity of 
preceding ages to improve and to extend navigation. That wonderful pro- 
perty of the magnet, by which it communicates such virtue to a needle 
or slender rod of iron as to point towards the poles of the earth, was 
observed. The use which might be made of this in directing navigation 
was immediately perceived. That valuable, but now familiar instrument, 
the mariner's compass, was constructed. When by means of it navigators 
found that, at all seasons and in every place, they could discover the north 
and south with so much ease and accuracy, it became no longer necessary 
to depend merely on the light of the stars and the observation of the sea- 
coast. They gradually abandoned their ancient timid and lingering course 
along the shore, ventured boldly into the ocean, and, relying on this new 
guide, could steer in the darkest night, and under the most cloudy sky, 
with a security and precision hitherto unknown. The compass may be 
said to have opened to man the dominion of the sea, and to have put him 
in full possession of the earth by enabling him to visit every part of it. 
Flavio Gioia, a citizen of Amalfi, a to^vvn of considerable trade in the king- 
dom of Naples, was the author of this great discovery, about the year one 
thousand three hundred and two. It hath been often the fate of those illus- 
trious benefactors of mankind who have enriched science and improved 
the arts by their inventions, to derive more reputation than benefit from the 
happy efforts of their genius. But the lot of Gioia has been still more 
cruel ; through the inattention or ignorance of contemporary historians, he 
has been delrauded even of the fame to which he had such a just title. 
We receive from them no information with respect to his profession, his 
character, the precise time when he made this important discovery, or the 
accidents and inquiries which led to it. The knowledge of this event, 
though productive of greater effects than any recorded in the annals of the 
human race, is transmitted to us without any of those circumstances which 
can gratify the curiosity that it naturally awakens. t But though the use 
of tlie compass might enable the Italians to perforrri the short voyages to 
which tliey were accustomed with greater security and expedition, its in- 
fluence was not so sudden or extensive as immediately to render navigation 
adventurous, and to excite a spirit of discovery. Many causes combined 
in preventing this beneficial invention from producing its full effect instanta- 
neously. IVfen relinquish ancient habits slowly and with reluctance. They 
are averse to new experiments, and venture upon them with timidity. The 
commercial jealousy of the Italians, it is probable, laboured to conceal the 

* VoyaRos and Travels, by Sir John Mandeville. f CollinaB et T?ombellus de Acu» Nauticrp 
Inventore, Inetit. Arad. Bonon tom. ii. part iii. p. 372. 



AMERICA. sj 

happy discovery of their countrymen from other nations. The art of 
steering by the compass with such skill and accuracy as to inspire a full 
confidence in its direction, was acquired e^radually. Sailors unaccustomed 
to quit the sight of land, durst not launch out at once and commit themselves 
to unknown seas. Accordingly, near half a century elapsed from the time 
of Gioia's discovery, before navigators ventured into any seas which they 
had not been accustomed to frequent. 

The first appearance of a bolder spirit may be dated from the voyages 
of the Spaniards to the Canaiy or Fortunate Islands. By what accident 
tbey were led to the discovery of those small isles, which lie near five hun- 
dred miles from the Spanish coast, and above a hundred and fifty miles 
from the coast of Africa, contemporary writers have not explained. But, 
about the middle of the fourteenth century, the people ot all the different 
kingdoms into which Spain was then divided, were accustomed to make 
piratical excursions thither, in order to plunder the inhabitants, or to carry 
them off as slaves. Clement VI. in virtue of the right claimed by the Holy 
See to dispose of all countries possessed by infidels, erected those isles 
into a kingdom in the year one thousand three hundred and forty -four, and^ 
conferred it on Lewis de la Cerda descended from the royal family of 
Castile. But that unfortunate prince, destitute of power to assert his 
nominal title, having never visited the Canaries, John de Bethencourt, a 
Norman baron, obtained a grant of them from Henry III. of Castile.* 
Bethencourt, with the valour and good fortune which distinguished the 
adventurers of his country, attempted and effected the conquest ; and 
the possession of the Canaries remained for some time in his family, as a 
fief held of the crown of Castile. Previous to this expedition of Bethen- 
court, his countrymen settled in Normandy are said to have visited the 
coast of Africa, and to have proceeded far to the south of the Canary 
Islands [1365], But their voyages thither seem not to have been under- 
taken in consequence of any public or regular plan for extending navigation 
and attempting new discoveries. They were either excursions suggested 
by that roving piratical spirit which descended to the Normans from their 
ancestors, or the commercial enterprises of private merchants, which attracted 
so little notice that hardly any memorial of them is to be found in contem- 
porary authors. In a general survey of the progress of discovery, it is 
sufficient to have mentioned this event ; and leaving it among those of 
dubious existence, or of small importance, we may conclude, that though 
much additional information concerning the remote regions of the East had 
been received by travellers who visited them by land, navigation at the be- 
ginning of the fifteenth century had not advanced beyond the state to which 
It had attained before the downfal of the Roman empire. 

At length the period arrived, when Providence decreed that men were 
to pass the limits within which they had been so long confined, and open 
to themselves a more anijple field wherein to display their talents, their 
enterprise, and courage. The first considerable efforts towards this were 
not made by any of the more powerful states of Europe, or by those who 
had applied to navigation with the greatest assiduity and success. The 
glory of leading the way in this new career was reserved for Portugal, one 
of the smallest and least powerful of the European kingdoms. As the 
attempts of the Portuguese to acquire the knowledge of those parts of the 
globe with which mankind were then unacquainted, not only improved and 
extended the art of navigation, but roused such a spirit of curiosity and 
enterprise as led to the discovery of the New World, of which I propose to 
write the history, it is necessary to take a full view of the rise, the progress, 
and success of their various naval operations. It was in this school that the 
discoverer of America was trained ; and unless we trace the steps by which 

* Viera y Clavijo Nmic. <le la Hiitor. dc Canriria, i. 2G8, &,c. Slas. Hiat. c. I. 

Vol. 1.~5 



34 HISTORY OF [liooK I. 

his instructors and i;juides advanced, it will be impossible to comprehend 
the circunistariccs vvliich suggested tlie idea, or facilitated the execution, of 
tiis CTeat design. 

Various circumstances prompted the Portuguese to exert their activity in 
this new direction, and enabled them to accomplish undertakings apparently 
superior to the natural force oi their monarchy. The kings ol Portugal, 
having driven the Moors out ot their dominions, had acquired power as 
well as glory, by the success of their arms against the infidels. By their 
victories over them, they had extended the royal auihorily beyond the nar- 
row limits within which it was originally circumscribed in Portugal, as well 
as in other tieudal kingdoms. They had the command of the national force, 
could rouse it to act with united vigour, and, after the expulsion of the 
Moors, could employ it without dread ol interruption from any domestic 
enemy. By the perpetual hostilities carried on lor several centuries against 
the Mahometans, the martial and adventurous spirit which distinguished all 
the European nations during the middle ages, was improved and heightened 
among the Portuguese. A tierce civil war towards the close of trie four- 
teenth century, occasioned by a disputed succession, augmented the miiitaiy 
ardour of the nation, and formed or called forth men of such active and 
daring genius as are fit for bold undertakings. The situation of the 
kingdom, bounded on every side by the dominions of a more powerful 
neighbour, did not afford free scope to the activity of the Portuguese by 
land, as the strength of their monarchy was no match for that of Castile. 
But Portugal was a maritime state, in which there were many commodious 
harbours ; the people had begun to make some progress in the knowledge 
and practice of navigation, and the sea was open to them, presenting the 
only field of enterprise in which they could distinguish themselves. 

ISuch was the slate of Portugal, and such the disposition of the people, 
ivhen John I. suniamed the Bastard, obtained secure possession of the 
crown by the peace concluded with Castile, in the year one thousand four hun- 
dred and eleven. He was a prince of great merit, who, by superior courage 
and abilities, had opened his way to a throne which of right did not belong 
to him. He instantly perceived that it would be impossible to preserve 
public order, or domestic tranquillity, without finding some employment for 
the restless spirit of his subjects. With tliis view he assembled a numerous 
fleet at Lisbon, composed of all the ships which he could fit out in his own 
kingdom, and of many hired from foreigners. This great annament was 
destined to attack the Moors settled on the coast of Baibaiy [1412.] While 
it was equipping, a few vessels were appouited to sail along the western 
shore of Atrica bounded by the Atlantic ocean, and to discover the unknown 
countries situated there. From tliis inconsiderable attempt, we may date 
the commencement of that spirit of discovery which opened the baniers 
that had so long shut out mankind from the knowledge of one half of the 
terrestrial globe. 

At the time when John sent forth these ships on this new voyage, the art 
of navigation was still very imperfect. Though Africa lay so near to Por- 
tug;d, and the fertility of the countries already known on that continent 
invited men to explore it more fully, the Portuguese had never ventured to 
sail beyond Cape JVon. That promonloiy, as its name imports, was 
hitherto considered as a boundaiy which could not be passed. But the nations 
of Europe had now acquired as much knowledge as emboldened them to 
disregard the prejudices and to correct the errors of their ancestors. 1"he 
long reign of ignt)rance, the constant enemy of e\eiy curious inquiiy and^ 
of every new undertaking, was approaching to its period. I'he light ot 
science began to dawn. The works of the ancient Greeks and Romans 
began to be read with admiration and profit. The sciences cultivated by 
the Arabians were introduced into Europe by the Moors settled in Spain 
and Portugal, and- by the Jews, who were very numerous in both these 



AMERICA. 3a 

king;doni<. Geometry, astronomy, and geography, the sciences on wliich 
the art of navig-ation is founded, became objects of studious attention. 
The memoiy of the discoveries made by the ancients was revived, and the 
progress of their navigation and commerce began to be traced. Some of 
the causes vviiich have obstructed the cultivation of science in Portugal, 
during this century and the last, did not exist, or did not operate in the samf. 
manner, in the fitteenth century ; [9] and the Portuguese at that period 
5<eem to have kept pace with other nations on this side of the Alps in lite- 
ran'' pursuits. 

As the genius of the age favoured the execution of tliat new undertaking, 
to which the peculiar state of the country invited the Portuguese ; it proved 
successtul. The vessels sent on the discovery doubled that formidable 
Cape, which had terminated the progress of tormer navigators, and pro- 
ceeded a hundred and sixty miles beyond it, to Cape Bojador. As its 
rocky cliffs, which stretched a considerable way into the Atlantic^ appeared 
iiiore dreadful than the promontory which they had passed, the Portuguese 
commanders durst not attempt to sail round it, but returned to Lisbon, more 
f^atisfied with having advanced so far, than ashamed of having ventured no 
further. 

Inconsiderable as this voyage was, it increased the passion for discovers' 
■which began to arise in Portugal. The tbrtunate issue of the king's expe- 
dition against the Moors of Barbary added strength to that spirit in the 
nation, and pushed it on to new undeitakings. In order to render these suc- 
cessful, it was necessary that they should be conducted by a person wlio 
possessed abilities capable of discerning what was attainable, who enjoyed 
leisure to form a regular system for prosecuting discovery, and who was 
animated with ardour that would persevere in spite of obstacles and re- 
pulses. Happily for Portugal, she found all those qualities in Heniy Duke 
of Viseo, the tburth son of King John, by Philippa of Lancaster, sister of 
Henry IV. king of England. That prince, in his early youth, having ac- 
companied his father in his expedition to Barbary, distinguished himself 
by many deeds of valour. To the martial spirit, which was the charac- 
teristic of every man of noble birth at that time, he added all the accom- 
plishments of a more enlightened and polished age. He cultivated the 
arts and sciences, which were then unknown and despised by persons of 
his rank. He applied with peculiar fondness to the stud)' of geography ; 
and by the instruction of able masters, as well as by the accounts ot tra- 
vellers, he early acquired such knowledge of the habitable globe, as dis- 
covered the great probability of finding new and opulent countries, by sail- 
ing along the coast of Africa. Such an object was formed to awaken the 
enthusiasm and ardour of a youthful mind, and he espoused with the utmost 
zeal the patronage of a design which might prove as beneficial as it ap- 
peared to be splendid and honourable. In order that he might pursue this 
great scheme without interruption, he retired from court immediately after 
his return from Africa, and fixed his residence at Sagres, nearCai)e St. Vin- 
cent, where the prospect of the Atlantic ocean invited his tiioughts con- 
tinually towards his favourite project, and encouraged him to execute it. 
In this retreat he was attended by some of the most learned men in his 
country, ^vho aided him in his researches. He applied for information to 
the Mk)ors of Barbaiy, who were accustomed to travel by land into the 
interior provinces ot Africa in quest of ivory, gold dust, and other rich 
commodities. He consulted the Jews settlea in Portugal. By promises, 
rewards, and marks of respect, he allured into his service several persons, 
foreigners as well as Portuguese, who were eminent tor their skill in navi- 
gation. In taking those preparatory steps, the great abilities of the prince 
were seconded by his private virtues. His integrity, his aflabilily, his 
respect for religion, his 2Uial for the honour of his countiy, engaged persons 
of all ranks to applaud his design, r;nd to favour the execution of it. His 



.36 HISTORY- OF [Book I 

schemes were allowed, by the greater part of his countiymen, to proceed 
neither from ambition nor the desire of weahh, but to flow trom the warm be- 
nevolence of a heart eager to promote tlie happiness of mankind, and which 
justly entitled him to aasume a motto for his device, that described the 
quality by which he wished to be distinguished, the talent of doing good. 
His first effort, as is usual at the commencement of any new undertaking, 
was extremely inconsiderable. He fitted out a single ship [1418], and 
giving the command of it to John Gonzales Zarco and Tristan Vaz, two 
gentlemen of his household, who voluntarily offered to conduct the enter- 
prise, he instructed them to use their utmost efforts to double Cape Bojador, 
and thence to steer towards the south. They, according to the mode of 
navigation which still prevailed, held their course along the shore ; and by 
following that direction, they must have encountered almost insuperable 
difficulties in attempting to pass Cape Bojador. But fortune came in aid 
to their want of skill, and prevented the voyage from being altogether 
fruitless. A sudden squall of wind arose, drove them out to sea, and when 
they expected every moment to perish, landed them on an unknown island, 
which Irorn their happy escape they named Porto Santo. In the infancy 
of navigation, the discoveiy of tliis small island appeared a matter of such 
moment, that they instantly returned to Portugal with the good tidings, and 
Avere received by Henry with the applause and honour due to fortunate 
adventurers. This faint dawn of success filled a mind ardent in the pursuit 
ot a favourite object, with such sanguine hopes as were sufficient incite- 
ments to proceed. Next year [l419j Henry sent out three ships under the 
same commanders, to whom he joined Bartholomew Perestrellow, in order 
to take possession of the island which they had discovered. When they 
began to settle in Porto Santo, they observed towards the south a fixed 
spot in the horizon like a small black cloud. By degrees, they were led 
to conjecture that it might be land ; and steering towards it, they arrived 
at a considerable island, uninhabited and covered with wood, which on 
that account they called Madeira* As it was Henry's chief object to 
render his discoveries useful to his country, he immediately equipped a fleet 
to carry a colony of Portuguese to these islands [1420]. By his provident 
care, they were furnished not only with the seeds, plants, and domestic 
animals common in Europe ; but, as he foresaw that the warmth of the 
climate and fertility of the soil would prove favourable to the rearing of 
other productions, he procured slips of the vine from the island of Cyprus, 
the rich wines of which were then in great request, and plants of the sugar- 
cane from Sicily, into which it had been lately introduced. These throve 
so prosperously in this new country, that the benefit of cultivating them was 
imniediately perceived, and the sugar and wine of Madeira quickly became 
articles of some consequence in the commerce of Portugal. t 

As soon as the advantages derived from this first settlement to the west 
of the European continent began to be felt, the spirit of discovery appeared 
less chimerical, and became more adventurous. By their voyages to Ma- 
deira, the Portuguese were gradually accustomed to a bolder navigation, 
and, instead of creeping servilely along the coast, ventured into the open 
sea. In consequence of taking this course, GiJianez, who commanded one 
ot prince Heniy's ships, doubled Cape Bojador [1433], the boundary of 
the Portuguese navigation upwards of twenty years, and which had hitherto 
been deemed unpassable. This successful voyage, which the igno- 
rance of the age placed on a level with the most famous exploits recorded 
HI histoiy, opened a new sphere to navigation, as it discovered the vast 
continent of Africa, still washed bv the Atlantic ocean, and stretching to- 
wards the south. Part of this w'as soon explored ; the Portuguese ad- 

* n'lstorical Kelation ol" (lie first Discovery of Madi'ira, translated from the Portuguese of Frnn- 
Alcat'arano, p. 15. kc. t I-ud. Guiccianrmi Dwcritl. cie I'ai-si Bassi, p. 1):0. ISi. 



AMERICA. 37 

vanced within (he tropics, and in the space of a iow years they discovered 
the river Senegal, and all the coast extending from Cape Blanco to Cape 
de Verd. 

Hitherto the Portuguese had been guided in their discoveries, or en- 
couraged to attempt them, by the light and information which they received 
from the works of the ancient mathematicians and geographers. But when 
they began to enter the torrid zone, the notion which prevailed among the 
ancients, that the heat which reigned perpetually there was so excessive as 
to render it uninhabitable, deterred them, for some time, from proceeding. 
Their own observations, when they first ventured into this unknown and 
formidable region, tended to confirm the opinion of antiquity concerning the 
violent operation of the direct rays of the sun. As far as the river Senegal, 
the Portuguese had found the coast of Africa inhabited by people nearly 
resembling the Moors of Barbary. When they advanced to the south of 
that river, the human form seemed to put on a new appearance. They 
beheld men with skins black as ebony, with short curled hair, flat noses, thick 
lips, and all the peculiar features which are now known to distinguish the 
race of negroes. This surprising alteration they naturally attributed to the 
influence of heat, and if they should advance nearer to the line, they began 
to dread that its effects would be still more violent. Those dangers were 
exaggerated ; and many other objections against attempting further disco- 
veries were proposed by some of the grandees, who, from ignorance, from 
envy, or from that cold timid prudence which rejects whatever has the air 
of novelty or enterprise, had hitherto condemned all prince Henry's schemes. 
They represented, that it was altogether chimerical to expect any advantage 
from countries situated in that region which the wisdom and experience of 
antiquity had pronounced to be unfit for the habitation of men ; that their 
forefathers, satisfied with cultivating the territory which Providence had 
allotted them, did not waste the strength of the kingdom by fruitless pro- 
jects in quest of new settlements ; that Portugal was already exhausted by 
the expense of attempts to discover lands which either did not exist, or 
which nature destined to remain unknown ; and was drained of men, who 
might have been employed in undertakings attended with more certain suc- 
cess, and productive of greater benefit. But neither their appeal to the 
authority of the ancients, nor their reasonings concerning the interests of 
Portugal, made any impression upon the determined philosophic mind of 
prince Henry. The discoveries which he had already made, convinced him 
that the ancients had little more than a conjectural knowledge of the torrid 
zone. He was no less satisfied that the political arguments of his opponents, 
with respect to the interest of Portugal, were malevolent and ill founded. 
In those sentiments he was strenuously supported by his brother Pedro, 
who governed the kingdom as guardian of their nephew Alphonso V. who 
had succeeded to the throne during his minority [1438] ; and, instead of 
slackening his eflforts, Henry continued to pursue liis discoveries with fresh 
ardour. 

But in order to silence all the murmurs of opposition, he endeavoured to 
obtain the sanction of the highest authority in favour of his operations. 
With this view he applied to the Pope, and represented, in pompous terms, 
the pious and unwearied zeal witli which he had exerted himself during 
twenty years, in discovering unknown countries, the wretched inhabitants 
of which were utter strangers to true religion, wandering in heathen dark- 
ness, or led astray by the delusions of Mahomet. He oesought the holy 
father, to whom, as the vicar of Christ, all the kingdoms of the earth were 
subject, to confer on the crown of Portugal a right to all the countries pos- 
sessed by infidels, which should be discovered by the industry of its sub- 
jects, and subdued by the force of its arms. He entreated him to enjoin 
all Christian powers, under the highest penalties, not to molest Portugal 
while engaged in this laudable enterprise, and to prohibit them from settling 



38 lllSTOU V OF [Book L 

in any of the countries which the Portujjuese sliould discover. He pro- 
mised that, in all th»;ir expeditions, it sliould be the chief object of his 
countrymen to spread the knowledge of the Christian religion, to establish 
the authority of the Holy See, and to increase the flock of the universal 
pastor. As it was by improving with dexterity every favourable conjunc- 
ture for acquiring new powers, that the court of Rome had gradually 
extended its usurpations, Eugene IV., the Pontiff to whom this application 
was made, eagerly seized the opportunity which now presented itself. He 
instantly perceived that, by complying with prince Henry's request, he 
might exercise a prerogative no less flattering in its own nature than likely 
to prove beneficial in its consequences. A bull was accordingly issued, in 
which, after applauding in the strongest terms the past efforts oi the Portu- 
guese, and exhorting them to proceed in that laudable career on which they 
had entered, he granted them an exclusive right to all the countries which 
they should discover, from Cape Non to the continent of India. 

Extravagant as this donation, comprehending such a large portion of the 
habitable globe, would now appear, even in Catholic countries, no person in 
the fifteenth century doubted that the Pope in the plentitude of his apos- 
tolic power, had a right to confer it. Prince Henry was soon sensible of 
the advantages which he derived from this transaction. His schemes were 
authorized and sanctified by the bull approving of them. The spirit of 
discovery was connected with zeal for religion, which in that age was a 
principle of such activity and vigour as to influence the conduct of nations. 
All Christian princes were deterred from intruding into those countries 
which the Portuguese had discovered, or from interrupting the progress of 
their navigation and conquests. [lO] 

The fame of the Portuguese voyages soon spread over Europe. Men 
long accustomed to circumscribe the activity and knowledge of the human 
mind within the limits to which they had been hitherto confined, were 
astonished to behold the sphere of navigation so suddenly enlarged, and a 
prospect opened of visiting regions of the globe the existence of which 
was unknown in former times. The learned and speculative reasoned and 
Ibrmed theories concerning those unexpected discoveries. The vulgar 
inquired and wondered ; while enterprising adventurers crowded from every 
part of Europe, soliciting prince Henry to employ them in this honourable 
service. Many Venetians and Genoese, in particular, who were at that 
time superior to all other nations in the science of naval affairs, entered 
aboard the Portuguese ships, and acquired a more perfect and extensive 
knowledge of their profession in that new school of navigation. In emu- 
lation of these foreigners, the Portuguese exerted their own talents. The 
nation seconded the designs of the prince. Private merchants formed com- 
panies [1446], with a view to search for unknown countries. The Capo 
de Verd Islands, which lie off the promontory of that name, were discovered 
f 1449], and soon after the isles called Azores. As the former of these are 
above three hundred miles from the African coast, and the latter nine hundred 
miles from any continent, it is evident by their venturing so boldly into the 
open seas, that the Portuguese had by this time improved greatly in the art 
of navigation. 

While the passion for engaging in new undertakings was thus warm and 
active, it received an unfortunate check by the death of prince Henry 
[1463], whose superior knowledge had hitherto directed all the operations 
<>t the discoverers, and whose patronage had encouraged and protected 
them. But notwithstanding all the advantages which they derived from 
these, the Portuguese during his life did not advance in their utmost progress 
towards the south, within five degrees of the equinoctial line ; and after 
their continued exertions for halt' a century [from 1412 to 146;>]. hardly 
fifteen hundred miles of the coast of Africa were discovered. To an ago 
acquainted with the efforts of navigation in its state of maturity and iiu- 



AMERICA. 39 

provement, those essays of its early years must necessarily appear feeble 
and unskiliul. But inconsiderable as they may be deemed, ihey were suffi- 
cient to turn the curiosity of the European nations into a new channel, to 
excite an enterprising spirit, and to point the way to future discoveries. 

Alphonso, who possessed the throne of Portugal at the lime ©f prince 
Henry's death, was so much engaged in supporting his own pretensions to the 
crown of Castile, or in carrying on his expeditions against the Moors in 
Barbary, that, the force of his kingdom being exerted in other operations, 
he could not prosecute the discoveries in Africa with ardour. He committetl 
the conduct of them to Fernando Gomez, a merchant in Lisbon, to whom 
he granted an exclusive right of commerce with all the countries of which 
prince Henry had taken possession. Under the restraint and oppression of 
a monopoly, the spirit of discovery languished. It ceased to be a national 
object, and became the concern of a private man more attentive to his own 
gain than to the glory of his country. Some progress, however, was made. 
The Portuguese ventured at lei^th [1471], to cross the line, and, to their 
astonishment, found that region ot the torrid zone, which was supposed to 
be scorched with intolerable heat, to be not only habitable, but populous 
and fertile. 

John II. who succeeded his father Alphonso [1481], possessed talents 
capable both of forming and executing great designs. As part of his reve- 
nues, while prince, had arisen from duties on the trade with the newly 
discovered countries, this naturally turned his attention towards them, and 
satisfied him with respect to their utility and importance. In proportion as 
his knowledge of these countries extended, the possession of them appeared 
to be of greater consequence. While the Portuguese proceeded along the 
coast of Africa, from Cape Non to the river of Senegal, they found all that 
extensive tract to be sandy, barren, and thinly inhabited by a wretched 
people professing the Mahometan religion, and subject to the vast empire 
of i\Iorocco. But to the south of that river, the power and religion of the, 
Mahometans were unknown. The country was divided into small inde- 
pendent principalities, the population was considerable, the soil fertile,* and 
the Portuguese soon discovered that it produced ivory, rich gums, gold, and 
other valuable commodities. By the acquisition of these, commerce was 
enlarged, and became more adventurous. Men, animated and rendered 
active by the certain prospect of gain, pursued discovery with greater 
eagerness than when they were excited only by curiosity and hope. 

This spirit derived no small reinforcement of vigour from the countenance 
of such a monarch as John. Declaring himself the patron of every attempt 
towards discovery, he promoted it with all the ardour of his grand-uncle 
prince Henry, and with superior power. The effects of this were imme- 
diately felt. A powerful fleet was fitted out [1484], which after discovering 
the kingdoms of Benin and Congo, advanced above fifteen hundred miiejj 
beyond the line, and the Portuguese, for the first time, beheld a new heaven, 
and observed the stars of another hemisphere. John was not only solicitous 
to discover, but attentive to secure the possession of those countries. He 
built torts on the coast of Guinea ; he sent out colonics to settle there ; he 
established a commercial intercourse with the more powerful kingdoms ; 
he endeavoured to render such as were feeble or divided tributaiy to IIh'; 
crown of Portugal. Some of the petty princes voluntarily acknowledged 
themselves his vassals. Othei"s were compelled to do so by force of arms. 
A regular and well digested system was* formed with respect to this new 
object of policy, and, by firmly adhering to it, the Portuguese power and 
commerce in Africa were established upon a solid foundation. 

By their constant intercourse with the people of Africa, the Portuguese 
gradually acquired some knowledge of tliose parts of that countiy which 

* Navigatio Aloysii Cailainumi apud Noviini Orhcrii dryriTi. p. ^. IS. Navipat. all Isola dl San 
ToniP per un Pilotto Portiis;. Kamiisio. i. ll'i. 



41) HISTORY OF [Book I. 

rhey had not visited. The information which they received from the native?, 
added to what they had observed in theii" own voyages, began to open 
prospects more extensive, and to suggest the idea of schemes more impor- 
tant than those which had hitherto allured and occupied them. They had 
detected the error of the ancients concerning the nature of the torrid zone. 
They found as they proceeded southwards, that the continent of Africa, 
instead of extending in breadth, according to the doctrine of Ptolemy,* at 
that time the oracle and guide oi the learned in the science of geography, 
appeared sensibly to contract itself, and to bend towards the east. '1 his 
induced them to give credit to the accounts of the ancient Phenician voyages 
round Africa, which had long been deemed fabulous, and led them to 
conceive hopes that, by following the same route, they might arrive at the • 
East Indies, and engross that commerce which has been the source of wealth 
and power to every nation possessed of it. The comprehensive genius of 
prince Henry, as we may conjecture from the words of the Pope's bull; had 
early formed some idea of this navigation. But though his countrymen, at 
that period, were incapable of conceiving the extent of his views and 
schemes, all the Portuguese mathematicians and pilots now concurred in 
representing them as well founded and practicable. The king entered 
with warmth into tlieir sentiments, and began to concert measures for this 
arduous and important voyage. 

Before his preparations for this expedition were finished, accounts were 
traasraitted from Africa, that various nations along tiie coast had mentioned 
a mighty kingdom situated on their continent, at a great distance towards 
the east, the king of which, according to their description, professed the 
Christian religion. The Portuguese monarch immediately concluded, that 
this must be the emperor of Abyssinia, to whom the Europeans, seduced by 
a mistake of Rubruquis, Marco Polo, and other travellers to the East, 
absurdly gave the name of Prester or Presbyter John ; and, as he hoped to 
receive information and assistance from a Christian prince, in prosecuting a 
scheme that tended to propagate their common faith, he resolved to open, 
if possible, some intercourse with his coui't. With this view, he made 
choice of Pedro de Covillam and Alphonso de Payva, who were perfect 
masters of tlie Arabic language, and sent them into the East to search for 
the residence of this unknown potentate, and to make him proffers of 
friendship. They had in charge likewise to procure whatever intelligence 
the nations which they visited could supply, with respect to the trade of 
India, and the course of navigation to that continent.! 

While John made this new attempt by land, to obtain some knowledge 
of the country which he wished so ardently to discover, he did not neglect 
the prosecution of this great design by sea. The conduct of a voyage for 
this purpose, the most arduous and important which the Portuguese had 
ever projected, was committed to Baitholomew Diaz [i486], an officer 
whose sagacity, experience, and fortitude rendered him equal to the under- 
taking. He stretched boldly towards the south, and proceeding beyond the 
utmost limits to which his countrymen had hitherto advanced, discovered 
near a thousand miles of new countrj-. Neither the danger to which he 
was exposed, by a succession of violent tempests in unknown seas, and by 
the frequent mutinies of his crew, nor the calamities of famine which he 
suffered from losing his storeship, could deter him from prosecuting his 
enterprise. In recompense of his labours and perseverance, he at last 
descried that lofty promontoiy which bounds Africa to the south. But to 
desciy it was all that he had in his power to accomplish. The violence of 
the winds, the shattered condition of his ships, and the turbulent spirit of 
the sailors, compelled him to return after a voyage of sixteen months, in 
which he discovered a far greater extent of country than any former navigator. 
Diaz had called the promontoiy which terminated his voyage Cabo Tor- 

* Villi' Nov. Orbis Tiihiil. Cio'^'iaph. seciind. rtolem. Amst. 1730. t Faria v Snnsa Port 

Asia vol, i. •!. W. J.atiwu Dwouv. i\t: Port. i. 4fi 



AMERICA. 41 

mentoso, or the Stormy Cape ; but the king, his master, as he now entertained 
no doubt of having tound the long-desired route to India, gave it a name 
more inviting, and of better omen, The Cape of Good Hope* 

Those sanguine expectations of success were confirmed by the intelli- 
gence which John received over land, in consequence of his embassy to 
Abyssinia. Covillam and Payva, in obedience to their master's instructions, 
had repaired to Grand Cairo. From that city they travelled along with a 
caravan of Egyptian merchants, and, embarking on the Red Sea, arrived at 
Aden, in Aral)ia. There they separated : Payva sailed directly towards 
Abyssinia ; Covillam embarked lor the East Indies, and, having visited 
Calecut, Goa, and other cities on the Malabar coast, returned to Soiala, on 
the east side of Atrica, and thence to Grand Cairo, which Payva and he 
had tixed upon as their place of rendezvous. Unfortunately the Ibrmer was 
cruelly murdered in Abyssinia ; but Covillam found at Cairo two Portuguese 
Jews, whom John, whose provident sagacity attended to every circumstance 
that could facilitate the execution of his schemes, had despatched after 
them, in order to receive a detail of their proceedings, and to communicate 
to them new instructions. By one ot these Jews, Covillam transmitted to 
Portugal a journal of his travels by sea and land, his remarks upon the 
trade of India, together with exact maps of the coasts on which he had 
touched ; and from what he himself had observed, as well as from the infor- 
mation of skilful seamen in different countries, he concluded, that, by sailing 
round AiVica, a passage might be found to the East Indies.! 

The happy coincidence of Covillam's opinion and report with the disco- 
veries which Diaz had lately made, left hardly any shadow of doubt with 
respect to the possibility of sailing from Europe to India. But the vast 
length of the voyage, and the turious storms which Diaz had encountered 
near the Cape of Good Hope, alarmed and intimidated the Portuguese to 
such a degree, although by long experience they were now become adven- 
turous and skilful mariners, that some time was requisite to prepare their 
minds tor this dangerous and extraordinary voyage. The courage, how- 
ever, and authority of the monarch gradually dispelled the vain fears of 
his subjects, or made it necessary to conceal them. As John thought himself 
now upon the eve of accomplishing that great design which had been the 
principal object of his reign, his earnestness in prosecuting it became so 
vehement, that it occupied his thoughts by day, and bereaved him of sleep 
thiough the night. While he was taking every precaution that his wisdom 
and experience could suggest, in order to ensure the success of the expedition, 
which was to decide concerning the tate of his favourite project, the fame 
of ttie vast discoveries which the Ponuguese had already made, the reports 
concerning the extraordinary intelligence which they had received from the 
East, and the prospect of the voyage which they now meditated, drew the 
attention of all the European nations, and held them in suspense and 
expectation. By some, the maritime skill and navigations of the Portuguese 
were compared with those ot the Phenicians and Carthaginians, and exalted 
above them. Others formed conjectures concerning the revolutions which 
the success of the Portuguese schemes might occasion in the course of trade, 
and the political state of Europe. The Venetians began to be disquieted 
with the apprehension of losing their Indian commerce, the monopoly of 
which was the chief source of their power as well as opulence, and the 
Portuguese already enjoyed in fancy the wealth of the East. But during 
this interval, which gave such scope to the various workings of curiosity, of 
hope, and of fear, an account was brought to Europe of an event no less 
extraordinary than unexpected, the discovery of a New World situated on 
the West ; and the eyes and admiration ol mankind turned immediately 
towards that great object. . 

* Fatia y Souea Port. Apia vol. i. p. S^. 1 Ibid. p. 27. Lafitau Deooiiv. i. p. 4P, 

Vor.. I.— S 



4S HISTORY OF [Book II. 



BOOK II. 

Among the foreigners whom the fame of the discoveries made by the 
Portuguese had allured into their service, was Christopher Colon, or 
Columbus, a subject of the republic of Genoa. Neither the time nor place 
of his birth is known with certainty [ll] ; but he was descended of an 
honourable family, though reduced to indigence by various misfortunes. 
His ancestors having betaken themselves for subsistence to a seafaring life, 
Columbus discovered in his early youth . the peculiar character and talents 
which mark out a man for that protession. His parents, instead of thwarting 
this original propensity of his mind, seem to have encouraged and confirmed 
it by the education which they gave him. After acquiring some knowledge 
of the Latin tongue, the only language in which science was taught at that 
time, he was instructed in geometry, cosmography, astronomy, and the art 
of drawing. To these he applied with such ardour and predilection, on 
account of their connexion with navigation, his favourite object, that he 
advanced with rapid proficiency in the study of them. Thus qualified, he 
went to sea at the age of tburteen [l46lj, and be^an his career on that 
element which conducted him to so much gloiy. His early voyages were 
to those ports in the Mediterranean which his countrynien the Genoese 
frequented. This being a sphere too narrow for his active mind, he made 
an excursion to the northern seas [1467], and visited the coast of Iceland, 
to which the English and other nations had begun to resort on account of 
its fishery. As navigation, in every direction, was now become enterprising, 
he proceeded beyond that island, the Thule of the ancients, and advanced 
several degrees within the polar circle. Having satisfied his curiosity, by a 
voyage which tended more to enlaig;e his knowledge of naval affairs than 
to improve his fortune, he entered into the service of a famous sea-captain 
of his own name and family. This man commanded a small squadjon 
fitted out at his own expense, and by cruising sometimes against the 
Mahometans, sometimes against the Venetians, the rivals of his country in 
trade, had acquired both wealth and reputation. With him Columbus 
continued for several years, no less distinguished for his courage than for 
his experience as a sailor. At length, in an obstinate engagement off the 
coast of Portugal, with some Venetian caravals returning richly laden from 
the Low Countries, the vessel on board which he served took fire, together 
with one of the enemy's ships to which it was fast grappled. In this 
dreadful extremity his intrepidity and presence of mind did not forsake him. 
He threw himself into the sea, laid hold of a floating oar ; and by the support 
of it, and his dexterity in swimming, he reached the shore, though above 
two leagues distant, and saved a life reserved for great undertakings.* 

As soon as he recovered strengtli for the journey, he repaired to Lisbon, 
where many of his countiynien were settled. They soon conceived such a 
favourable opinion of his merit, as well as talents, that they wannly solicited 
him to remain in that kingdom, where his naval skill and experience could 
not fail of rendering him conspicuous. To every adventurer animated either 
with curiosity to visit new countries, or with ambition to distinguish himself, 
the Portuguese service was at that time extremely inviting. Columbus 
listened with a favourable ear to the advice of his friends, and, having gained 
(he esteem of a Portuguese lady, whom he married, fixed his residence in 
Lisbon. This alliance, instead of detaching him from a seafaring life, 
contributed (o enlarge the sphere of his naval knowledge, and to excite a 

* I<ife of Columbiin, r. r. 



AMERICA. 43 

desire of extending; it still further. His wife was a daughter of Bartholomew 
Perestrello, one of the captains employed by prince Henry in his early 
navigations, and who, under his protection, had discovered and planted the 
islands of Porto Santo and Madeira. Columbus got possession of the journals 
and charts of this experienced navigator ; and from them he learned the course 
which the Portuguese had held in making their discoveries, as well as the 
various circumstances which guided or encouraged them in their attempts. 
The study of these soothed and inflamed his favourite passion ; and while he 
contemplated the maps, and read the descriptions of the new countries 
which Perestrello had seen, his impatience to visit them became irresistible. 
In order to indulge it, he made a voyage to Madeira, and continued during 
several years to trade with that island, with the Canaries, the Azores, the 
settlements in Guinea, and all tlie other places which the Portuguese had 
discovered on the continent of Africa.* 

By the experience which Columbus acquired, during such a variety of 
voyages to almost every part of the globe widi which at that time any 
intercourse was carried on by sea, he was now become one of the most 
skilful navigators in Europe. But, not satisfied with that praise, his ambition 
aimed at something more. The successful progress of the Portuguese 
navigators had awakened a spu'it of cuiiosity and emulation, which set every 
man of science upon examining all the circumstances that led to the 
discoveries which they had made, or that afforded a prospect of succeeding 
in any new and bolder undertaking. The mind of Columbus, naturally 
inquisitive, capable of deep reflection, and turned to speculations of this 
kind, was so often employed in revolving the principles upon which the 
Portuguese had founded their schemes of discoveiy, and the mode on which 
they had carried them on, that he gradually began to form an idea of 
improving upon their plan, and of accomplishing discoveries which hitherto 
they had attempted in vain. 

To find out a passage by sea to the East Indies, was the important 
object in view at that period. From the time that the Portuguese doubted 
Cape de Verd, this was the point at which they aimed in all their navigations, 
and in comparison with it all their discoveries in Africa appeared incon- 
siderable. The fertility and riches of India had been known for many ages : 
its spices and other valuable commodities were in high request throughout 
Europe, and the vast wealth of the Venetians, arising from their having 
engrossed this trade, had raised the envy of all nations. But how intent 
soever the Portuguese were upon discovering a new route to those desirable 
regions, they searched for it only by steering towards the south, in hopes of 
arriving at India by turning to the east after they had sailed round the further 
extremity of Africa. This course was still unknown, and even if discovered, 
was of such immense length, that a voyage from Europe to India must have 
appeared at that period an undertaking extremely arduous, and of very 
uncertain issue. More than half a century had been employed in advancing 
from Cape Non to the equator ; a much longer space of time might elapse 
before the more extensive navigation from that to India could be accomplished. 
These reflections upon the uncertainty, the danger, and tediousness of the 
course which the Portuguese were pursuing, naturally led Columbus to 
consider whether a shorter and more direct passage to the East Indies might 
not be found out. After revolving long and seriously every circumstance 
suggested by his superior knowledge in tlie theory as well as the practice 
of navigation ; after comparing attentively the observations of modem pilots 
with the hints and conjectures of ancient authors, he at last concluded, that 
by sailing directly towards the west, across the Atlantic ocean, new countries, 
which probably ibrmed a part of the great continent of India, must infallibly 
be discovered. 

* Life of Columbus, r. Iv. v. 



41 HISTORY OF LBooK 11. 

Principles and arguments of various kinds, and derived from different 
sources, induced him to adopt this opinion, seemingly as chimerical as it 
%vas new and extraordinary. The spherical figure of the earth was known, 
and its magnitude ascertained with some degree of accuracy. From this 
it was evident, that the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, as far as 
tliey were known at that time, lormed but a small portion oi tlie terraqueous 
globe. It was suitable to our ideas concerning the wisdom and beiieticence 
of the Author of Nature, to believe that the vast space still unexplored was not 
covered entirely by a waste unprohtable ocean, but occupied by countries 
fit for the habitation of man. it appeared likewise extremely probable that 
the continent on this side of the globe was balanced by a proportional quantity 
of land in tlie other hemisphere. These conclusions concerning the existence 
of another continent, drawn from the rigure and structure oi the globe, were 
confirmed by the observations and conjectures of modern navigators. A 
Portuguese pilot, having stretched iurther to the west than was usual at that 
time, took up a piece of timber artihcially ca^^'ed floating upon the sea ; 
and as it was driven towards him by a westerly wind, he concluded that it 
came from some unknown land situated in that quarter. Columbus's brother- 
in-law had Ibund to the west of the Madeira isles, a piece of timber fashioned 
in the same manner, and brought by the same wind ; and had seen likewise 
canes of an enormous size tloating upon the waves, which resembled those 
described by Ptolemy as productions peculiar to the East Indies.* After 
a course of westerly winds, trees torn up by the roots were often driven upon 
the coasts of the Azores ; and at one time, the dead bodies of two men 
with singular features, resembling neither the inhabitants ol Europe nor of 
Africa, were cast ashore there. 

As the force of this united evidence, arising from theoretical principles 
and practical observations, led Columbus to expect the discovery ot new 
countries in the western ocean, other reasons induced him to believe that 
these must be connected with the continent of India. Though the ancients 
had hardly ever penetrated into India Iurther than the banks of the Ganges, 
yet some Greek authors had ventured to describe the provinces beyond that 
liver. As men are prone, and at liberty, to magnily what is remote or 
unknown, they represented them as regions of an immense extent. Ctesias 
affirmed that India was as large as all the rest of Asia. Onesicritus, whom 
Pliny the naturalist follows,! contended that it was equal to a third part 
ot the habitable eartli. Nearchus asserted, that it would take ibur months 
to march in a straight line from one extremity of India to the other. J 1 he 
journal of Marco Polo, who had proceeded towards the East far beyond the 
limits to which any European had ever advanced, seemed to conrirm these 
exaggerated accounts of the ancients. By his magnificent descriptions of 
the kingdoms of Cathay and Cipango, and of many other countries the 
names of which were unknown in Europe, India appeared to be a region 
of vast extent. From these accounts, which, however defective, were the 
most accurate that the people of Europe had received at that period with 
respect to the remote parts of the East, Columbus drew a just conclusion. 
He contended that, in proportion as the continent of India stretched out 
towards the East, it must, in consequence of the spherical figure of the earth, 
approach near to the islands which had lately been discovered to the west 
of Africa; that the distance from the one to the other was probably not 
very considerable ; and that the most direct as well as shortest course to the 
remote regions of the East was to be found by sailing due west. [12] This 
notion concerning the vicinity of India to the western parts of our continent, 
was countenanced by some eminent writers among the ancients, the sanction 
of whose authority was necessary, in that age, to procure a favourable^ 
reception to any tenet. Aristotle thought it probable that the Columns of 

» Lib. ». r. 17. t Nat. Hist. lib. vi. c. J7. 1 Strab. Geopr. lib. tv. p. lOn. 



AiMERICA. 45 

Hercules, or Straits of Gibraltar, were not far removed from the East Indies, 
and that there might be a communication by sea between them.* Seneca, 
in terms still more explicit, affirms, that with a fair wind one might sail 
from Spain to India in a few days.t The famous Atlantic island described 
by Plato, and supposed by many to be a real country, beyond which an 
unknown continent was situated, is represented by him as lying at no great 
distance from Spain. After weighing all these particulars, Columbus, in 
whose character the modesty and diffidence of true genius were united with 
the ardent enthusiasm of a projector, did not rest with such absolute 
assurance either upon his own arguments, or upon the authority ol the 
ancients, as not to consult such of his contemporaries as were capable of 
comprehending the nature of the evidence which he produced in support 
of his opinion. As early as the year one thousand four hundred and seventy- 
four, he communicated his ideas concerning the probability of discovering new 
countries, by sailing westward, to Paul, a physician of Florence, eminent 
for his kno\vledge of cosmography, and who, from the learning as well as 
candour which he discovers in his reply, appears to have been well entitled 
to the confidence which Columbus placed in him. He warmly approved 
of the plan, suggested several facts in confirmation of it, and encouraged 
Columbus to persevere in an undertaking so laudable, and which must 
redound so much to the honour of his country and the benefit of Europe.| 

To a mind less capable of forming and of executing great designs than 
that of Columbus, all those reasonings and observations and authorities 
would have served only as the foundation of some plausible and fruitless 
theory, which might have furnished matter for ingenious discourse or fanciful 
conjecture. But with his sanguine and enterprising temper speculation led 
directly to action. Fully satisfied himself with respect to the truth of his 
system, he was impatient to bring it to the test of experiment, and to set out 
upon a voyage of discovery. The first step towards this was to secure the 
patronage of some of the considerable powers in Europe capable of under- 
taking such an enterprise. As long absence had not extinguished the affection 
■which he bore to his native country, he wished that it should reap the fruits 
of his labours and invention. With this view, he laid his scheme before the 
senate of Genoa, and, making his country the first tender of his service, 
offered to sail under the banners of the republic in quest of the new regions 
which he expected to discover. But Columbus had resided for so many 
years in foreign parts, that his countrymen were unacquainted with his 
abilities and character ; and, though a maritime people, were so little accus- 
tomed to distant voyages, that they could form no just idea of the principles 
on which he founded his hopes ot success. They inconsiderately rejected 
his proposal, as the dream of a chimerical projector, and lost for ever the 
opportunity of restoring their commonwealth to its ancient splendour.§ 

Having performed what was due to his country, Columbus was so little 
discouraged by the repulse which he had received, that instead of relin- 
quishing his undertaking he pursued it with fresh ardour. He made his 
next overture to John II. king of Portugal, in whose dominions he had been 
long established, and whom he considered on that account, as having the 
second claim to his service. Here every circumstance seemed to promise 
him a more favourable reception : he applied to a monarch of an enterprising 
genius, no incompetent judge in naval affairs, and proud of patronising every 
attempt to discover new countries. His subjects were the most experienced 
navigators in Europe, and the least apt to be intimidated either by the 
novelty or boldness of any maritime expedition. In Portugal, the professional 
skill of Columbus, as well as his personal good qualities, were thoroughly 
known : and as the former rendered it probable that his scheme was not 

• Aristot. de Coelo, lib. ii. c. 14. edit. Du Val. Par. 1629. vol. i. p. 472. f Scnec. aueest. Natur. 
lib. i. in proem. t LiTe of Colutnbuii. c. viii. ^ Herrera liiBt. de las Indias Occid. dec. i. 

lib. i. c. vii. 



46 IllSTOK \ Oh' [Book If. 

altogether visionaiy, the latter exempted him from tlie suspicion of any 
sinister intention in proposing it. Accordingly, the king listened to him in 
the most gracious manner, and referred the consideration of his plan to 
Diego Ortiz, bishop of Ceuta, and two Jewish physicians, eminent cos- 
mograpliers, whom he was accustomed to consult in matters of this kind. 
As in Genoa, ignorance had opposed and disappointed Columbus ; in Lisbon, 
he had to combat with prejudice, an enemy no less formidable. The persons 
according to whose decision his scheme was to be adopted, or rejected, had 
been the chief directors of the Portuguese navigations, and had advised to 
search tor a passage to India by steering a course directly opposite to that 
which Columbus recommended as shorter and more certain. They could 
not, therefore, approve of his proposal without submitting to the double 
mortification of condemning their own theory, and acknowledging his 
superior sagacity. After teasing him with captious questions, and starting 
innumerable objections, with a view of betraying him into such a particular 
explanation of his system as might draw from him a full discovery of its 
nature, they deferred passing a final judgment with respect to it. In the 
mean time they conspired to rob him of the honour and advantages which 
he expected from the success of his scheme, advising the king to despatch 
a vessel secretly, in order to attempt the proposed discovery by following 
exactly the course which Columbus seemed to point out. John, forgetting 
on this occasion the sentiments becoming a monarch, meanly adopted this 
perfidious counsel. But the pilot chosen to execute Columbus's plan had 
neither the genius nor the fortitude of its author. Contraiy winds arose, 
no sight of approaching land appeared, his courage failed, and he returned 
to Lisbon, execrating the project as equally extravagant and dangerous.* 

Upon discovering this dishonourable transaction, Columbus felt the 
indignation natural to an ingenuous mind, and in the warmth of his resent- 
ment determined to break off all intercourse with a nation capable of such 
flagrant treachery. He instantly quitted the kingdom, and landed in Spain 
towards the close of the year one thousand four hundred and eighty-lour. 
As he was now at liberty to court the protection of any patron whom he 
could engage to approve of his plan, and to carry it into execution, he 
resolved to propose it in person to Ferdinand and Isabella, who at that time 
governed the united kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. But as he had 
already experienced the uncertain issue of application to kings and ministers, 
he took the precaution of sending into England his brother Bartholomew, 
to whom he had fully communicated his ideas, in order that he might 
negociate at the same time with Henry VII., who was reputed one of the 
mo.4 sagacious as well as opulent princes in Europe. 

It was not without reason that Columbus entertained doubts and fears 
with respect to the reception of his proposals in the Spanish court. Spain 
was at that juncture engaged in a dangerous war with Granada, the last of 
the Moorish kingdoms m that countiy. The wary and suspicious temper 
of Ferdinand was not formed to relish bold or uncommon designs. Isabella, 
though more generous and enterprising, was under the influence of her 
iiusband in all her actions. The Spaniards had hitherto made no efforts to 
extend navigation beyond its ancient limits, and had beheld the amazing 
progress of discovery among their neighbours the Portuguese without one 
attempt to imitate or to rival them. The war with the Infidels afforded an 
ample field to the national activity and love of glory. Under circumstances 
so unfavourable, it was impossible for Columbus to make rapid progress with 
a nation naturally slow and dilatory in forming all its resolutions. His 
character, however, was admirably adapted to that of the people whose 
confidence and protection he solicited. He was grave, though courteous in 
his deportment ; circumspect in his words and actions, irreproachable in his 

* Life of Columbtw, c. xi. Hcrrera, dec. i. lib. i. c. T. 



A iM E R 1 C A. 47 

morals, and exemplary in his attention to all tlie duties and tunctions of 
religion. By qualities so respectable, he not only gained many private 
friends, but acquired such general esteem, that, notwithstanding the plaiiuiess 
of his appearance, suitable to the mediocrity of his fortune, he was not 
considered as a mere adventurer, to whom indigence had suggested a 
visionary project, but was received as a person to whose propositions serious 
attention was due. 

Ferdinand and Isabella, though fully occupied by their operations against 
the Moors, paid so much regard to Columbus, as to remit the consideration 
of his plan to the queen's contessor, Ferdinand de Talavera. He consulted 
such ot his countrymen as were supposed best qualified to decide with respect 
to a subject of this kind. But true science had hitherto made so little 
progress in Spain, that the pretended philosophers, selected to judge in a 
matter of such moment, did not comprehend the first principles upon which 
Columbus founded his conjectures and hopes. Some of them, Irom mistaken 
notions concerning the dimensions of the globe, contended that a voyage to 
those remote parts of the east which Columbus expected to discover, could 
not be performed in less than three years. Others concluded, that either he 
would find the ocean to be of infinite extent, according to the opinion of 
some ancient philosophers ; or, it" he should persist in steering towards the 
west beyond a certain point, that the convex figure of the globe would 
prevent his return, and that he must inevitably perish in the vain attempt to 
open a communication between the two opposite, hemispheres which nature 
liad for ever disjoined. Even without deigning to enter into any particular 
discussion, many rejected the scheme in general, upon the credit of a maxim, 
under which the ignorant and unenterprising shelter themselves in eveiy 
age, " That it is presumptuous in any person, to suppose that he alone 
possesses knowledge superior to all the rest of mankind united." They 
maintained, that if there were really any such countries as Columbus pre- 
tended, they could not have remained so long concealed, nor would the 
■wisdom and sagacity of former ages have left the glory of this invention to 
an obscure Genoese pilot. 

It required all Columbus's patience and address to negotiate with men 
capable of advancing such strange propositions. He had to contend not 
only with the obstinacy of ignorance, but with what is still more intractable, 
the pride of false knowledge. After innumerable conferences, and wasting 
five years in fruitless endeavours to inform and to satisfy judges so little 
capable of deciding with propriety, Talavera at last made such an unfa- 
vourable report to Ferdinand and Isabella, as induced them to acquaint 
Columbus, that until the war with the Moors should be brought to a period 
it would be imprudent to engage in any new and extensive enterprise. 

Whatever care was taken to soften the harshness of this declaration, 
Columbus considered it as a final rejection of his proposals. But, happily 
for mankind, that superiority of genius, which is capable of forming great 
and uncommon designs, is usually accompanied with an ardent enthusiasm, 
which can neither be cooled by delays nor damped by disappointment. 
Columbus was of this sanguine temper. Though he felt deeply the cruel 
blow given to his hopes, and retired immediately from a court where he 
had been amused so long with vain expectations, his confidence in the just 
ness of his own system did not diminish, and his impatience to demonstrate 
the truth of it by an actual experiment became greater than ever. Having 
courted the protection of sovereign states without success, he applied next 
to persons of inferior rank, and addressed successively the Dukes of Medina 
Sidonia and Medina Cell, who, though subjects, were possessed of power 
and opulence more than equal to the enterprise which he projected. His 
negotiations with them proved as fruitless as those in which ho had b(!«^ii 
hitnertoengaged ; for these noblemen were either as little convinced by Colum- 
bus's arguments as their superiors, or they were afraid of alarming the jealousy 



48 HISTORY OF [Book II. 

and offending the pride of Ferdinand, by countenancing a scheme which he 
had rejected.* 

Amid the painful sensations occasioned by such a succession of disap* 
pointments, Columbus had to sustain the additional distress of having 
received no accounts of his brother whom he had sent to the court of England. 
In his voyage to that countiy, Bartholomew had been so unfortunate as to 
fall into the hands of pirates, who having stripped him of every thing 
detained him a prisoner for several years. At length he made his escape, 
and arrived in London, but in such extreme indigence, that he was obliged 
to employ himself, during a considerable time in drawing and selling maps, 
in order to pick up as Tiiuch money as would purchase a decent dress in 
which he might venture to appear at court. He then laid beibre the king 
the proposals with which he had been intrusted by his brother ; and not- 
withstanding Henry's excessive caution and parsimony, which rendered 
him averse to new or extensive undertakings, he received Columbus's 
overtures with more approbation than any monarch to whom they had 
hitherto been presented. 

Meanwhile, Columbus being unacquainted with his brother's fate, and 
having now no prospect of encouragement in Spain, resolved to visit the 
court of England in person, in hopes of meeting with a more favourable 
reception there. He had already made preparations for this purpose, and 
taken measures for the disposal of his children during his absence, when 
Juan Perez, the guardian of the monastery of Rabida, near Palos, in which 
they had been educated, earnestly solicited him to defer his journey for a 
short time. Perez was a man of considerable learning, and of some credit 
with queen Isabella, to whom he was known personally. He was warmly 
attached to Columbus, with whose abilities as well as integrity he had 
many opportunities of being acquainted. Prompted by curiosity or 
by friendship, he entered upon an accurate examination of his system, in 
conjunction with a physician setded in the neighbourhood, who was a con- 
siderable proficient in mathematical knowledge. This investigation satisfied 
them so thoroughly, with respect to the solidity of the principles on which 
Columbus foundedi his opinion, and the probability of success in executing 
the plan which he proposed, that Perez, in order to prevent his country 
from being deprived of the glory and benefit which must accrue to the 
patrons of such a grand enterprise, ventured to write to Isabella, conjuring 
her to consider the matter anew with the attention which it merited. 

Moved by the representations of a person whom she respected, Isabella 
desired Perez to repair immediately to the village of Santa Fe, in which, 
on account of the siege of Granada, the court resided at that time, that she 
might confer with him upon this important subject. The first effect of 
their interview was a gracious invitation of Columbus back to court, accom- 
panied with the present of a small sum to equip him for the journey. As 
there was now a certain prospect that the war with the Moors would 
speedily be brought to a happy issue by the reduction of Granada, vvhich 
would leave the nation at liberty to engage in new undertakings ; this, as 
well as the mark of royal favour, with which Columbus had been lately 
honoured, encouraged his friends to appear with greater confidence than 
formerly in support of his scheme. The chief of these, Alonso de Quinta- 
nilla, comptroller of the finances in Castile, and Luis de Santangel, receiver 
of the ecclesiastical revenues in Aragon, whose meritorious zeal in promoting 
this great design entides their names to an honourable place in history, 
introduced Columbus to many persons of high rank, and interested them 
warmly in his behalf. 

But it was not an easy matter to inspire Ferdinand with favourable sen- 
timents. He still regarded Columbus's project as extravagant and chime- 

* Life of Columb. c. 13. Hcrrcra, dec. 1. lib. i. c. 7. 



AMERICA. 49 

rical ; and in order to render the efforts of his partisans ineffectual, he had 
the address to employ, in this new negotiation with him, some of the persons 
who had formerly pronounced his scheme to be impracticable. To their 
astonishment, Columbus appeared before them with the same confident 
hopes of success as formerly, and insisted upon the same high recompense. 
He proposed that a small fleet should be fitted out, under his command, to 
attempt the discovery, and demanded to be appointed hereditary admiral 
and viceroy of all the seas and lands which he should discover, and to have^ 
the tenths c. the profits arising from them settled irrevocably upon himself 
and his descendants. At the same tiirie, he offered to advance tiie eighth 
part of the sum necessary for accomplishing his design, on condition that he 
should be entitled to a proportional share of benefit from the adventure. 
If the enterprise should totally miscarry, he made no stipulation for any re- 
ward or emolument whatever. Instead of viewing this conduct as the 
clearest evidence of his full persuasion with respect to the truth of his own 
system, or -being struck with that magnanimity which, after so many delays 
and repulses, would stoop to nothing inferior to its original claims, the per- 
sons with whom Columbus treated began meanly to calculate the expense 
of the expedition, and the value of the reward which he demanded. The 
expense, moderate as it was, they represented to be too great for Spain in 
the present exhausted state of its finances. They contended that the honours 
and emoluments claimed by Columbus were exorbitant, even if he should 
perform the utmost of what he had promised ; and if all his sanguine hopes 
should prove illusive, such vast concessions to an adventurer would be 
deemed not only inconsiderate, but ridiculous. In this imposing garb of 
caution and prudence, their opinion appeared so plausible, and was so 
warmly supported by Ferdinand, that Isabella declined giving any coun- 
tenance to Columbus, and abruptly broke off the negotiation with him which 
she had begun. 

This was more mortifying to Columbus than all the disappointments 
which he had hitherto met with. The invitation to court from Isabella, like 
an unexpected ray of light, had opened such prospects of success as en- 
couraged him to hope that his labours were at an end ; but now darkness 
and uncertainty returned, and his mind, firm as it was, could hardly support 
the shock of such an unforeseen reverse. He withdrew in deep angu'sh 
from court, with an intention of prosecuting his voyage to England as his 
last resource. 

About that time Granada surrendered, and Ferdinand and Isabella, in 
triumphal pomp, took possession of a city [Jan. 2, 1492], the reduction of 
which extirpated a foreign power from the heart of their dominions, and 
rendered them masters of all the provinces extending from the bottom of 
the Pyrenees to the frontiers of Portugal. As the flow of spirits which ac- 
companies success elevates the mind, and renders it enterprising, Quintanilla 
an i Santangel, the vigilant and discerning patrons of Columbus, took ad- 
vantage of this favourable situation, in order to make one effort more in 
behalt of their friend. They addressed themselves to Isabella ; and after 
expressing some surprise, that she, who had always been the munificent pa- 
troness of generous undertakings, should hesitate so long to countenance the 
most splendid scheme that had ever been proposed to any monarch ; they 
represented to her, that Columbus was a man of a sound understanding and 
virtuous character, well qualified, by his experience in navigation, as well 
as his knowledge of geometry, to form just ideas with respect to the struc- 
ture of the globe ana the situation of its vaiious regions ; that, by offering 
to risk his own life and fortune in the execution of his scheme, he gave the 
most satisfying evidence both of his integrity and hope of success ; that the 
sum requisite for equipping such an armament as he demanded was incon- 
siderable, and the advantages which might accrue from liis undertaking were 
immense ; that he demanded no recompense for his invention and labour, 

Vol. ].— 7 



so HISTORV OF [Book If. 

but what was to arise from the countries which he should discover ; that, 
as it was worthy of her magnanimity to make this noble attempt to extend 
the sphere of human knowledge, and to open an intercourse with regions 
hitherto unknown, so it would afiford the highest satisfaction to her piety 
and zeal, after re-establishing the Christian faith in those provinces of Spain 
from which it had been long banished, to discover a new world, to which 
she might communicate the light and blessings of divine truth ; that if now 
she did not decide instantly, the opportunity would be irretrievably lost , 
that Columbus was on his way to foreign countries, where some prince, 
more fortunate or adventurous, would close with his proposals, and Spain 
would for ever bewail that fcilal timidity which had excluded her from the 
glory and advantages that she had once in her power to have enjoyed. 

These forcible arguments, ui^ed by persons of such authority, and at a 
juncture so well chosen, produced the desired effect. They dispelled all 
Isabella's doubts and fears ; she ordered Columbus to be instantly recalled, 
declared her resolution of employing him on his own terms, and, regretting 
the low estate of her finances, generously offered to pledge her own jewels 
in order to raise as much money as might be needed in making preparations 
for the voyage. Santangel, in a transport of gratitude, kissed the Queen's 
hand, and, in order to save her from having recourse to such a mortifying 
expedient for procuring money, engaged to advance immediately the sum 
that was requisite.* 

Columbus had proceeded some leagues on his journey, when the messenger 
from Isabella overtook him. Upon receiving an account of the unexpected 
resolution in his favour, he returned directly to Santa Fe, though some 
remainder of diffidence still mingled itself with his joy. But the cordial 
reception which he met with from Isabella, together with the near prospect 
of setting out upon that voyage which had so long been the object of his 
thoughts and wishes, soon effaced the remembrance of all that he had suf- 
fered in Spain during eight tedious years of solicitation and suspense. The 
negotiation now went forward with facility and despatch, and a treaty or 
capitulation with Columbus was signed on the seventeenth of April, one 
thousand four hundred and ninety-two. The chief articles of it were : — 

1. Ferdinand and Isabella, as sovereigns of the ocean, constituted Columbus 
their high admiral in all the seas, islands, and continents, which should be 
discovered by his industry j and stipulated that he and his heirs for ever 
should enjoy this office, with the same powers and prerogatives which 
belonged to the high admiral of Castile within the limits of his jurisdiction 

2. They appointed Columbus their viceroy in all the islands and continents 
v/hich he should discover ; but if, for the better administration of affairs, it 
should hereafter be necessary to establish a separate governor in any of 
those countries, they authorized Columbus to name three persons of whom 
they would choose one for that office ; and the dignity of viceroy, with all 
its immunities, was likewise to be hereditary in the family of Columbus. 

3. They granted to Columbus and his heirs for ever, the tenth of the free 
profits accruing from the productions and commerce of the countries which 
he should discover. 4. They declared, that if any controversy or lawsuit 
shall arise with respect to any mercantile transaction in the countries which 
should be discovered, it should be determined by the sole authority of 
Columbus, or of judges to be appointed by him. 5. They permitted 
Columbus to advance one-eighth part of what should be expended in 
preparing for the expedition, and in carrying on commerce with the countries 
which he should discover, and entitled him, in return, to an eighth part of 
the profit.! 

Though the name of Ferdinand appears conjoined with that of Isabella 
in this transaction, his distrust of Columbus was still so violent that he 

• Herrcra, dec. 1. lib. i. c. 8. t I'ilc of Columbus, c. 15. Heirera, dec. 1. lib. i. c. 9. 



AMERICA. .^1 

refused to take any part in the enterprise as kin^ of Aragon. As the wliole 
expense of the expedition was to be defrayed by the crown of Castile, 
Isabella reserved for her subjects of that kingdom an exclusive right to all 
the benefits which might redound from its success. 

As soon as the treaty was signed, Isabella, by her attention and activity 
in forwarding the preparations for the voyage, endeavoured to make some 
reparation to Columbus for the time which he had lost in fruitless solicitation. 
By the twellth of May, all that depended upon her was adjusted; and 
Columbus waited on the king and queen in order to receive their final 
instructions. Every thing respecting the destination and conduct of the 
voyage they committed implicitly to the disposal of his pi-udence. But 
that mej might avoidgiving any just cause of offtjnce to the king of Portugal, 
they strictly enjoined him not to approach near to the Portuguese settlements 
on the coast of Guinea, or in any of the other countries to which the 
Portuguese claimed right as discoverers. Isabella had ordered the shii)s^ 
of which Columbus was to take the command to be fitted out in the port of 
Palos,a small maritime town in the province of Andalusia. As the guardian 
Juan Perez, to whom Columbus had already been so much indebted, 
resided in the neighbourhood of this place, he, by the influence of that 
good ecclesiastic, as well as by his own connection with the inhabitants, not 
only raised among them what he wanted of the sum that he was bound by 
treaty to advance, but engaged several of them to accompany him in the 
voyage. The chief of these associates were three brothers of the name 
of Pinzon, of considerable wealth, and of great experience in naval affairs, 
who were willing to hazard their lives and fortunes in the expedition. 

But after all the efforts of Isabella and Columbus, the armament was not 
suitable either to the dignity of the nation by v/hich it was equipped, or 
to the importance of the service for which it was destined. It consisted of 
three vessels. The largest, a ship of no considerable burden, was com- 
manded by Columbus, as admiral, who gave it the name of Sanla Maria, 
out of respect for the Blessed Virgin, whom he honoured with singular 
devotion. Of the second, called the Pinta, Martoii Pinzon was captain, and 
his brother Francis pilot. The third, named the JVignn, was under the 
command of Vincent Yanez Pinzon. These two were light vessels hardly 
superior in burden or force to large boats. The squadron, if it merits that 
name, was victualled for twelve months, and had on board ninety men, 
mostly sailors, together with a few adventurer's who followed the fortune of 
Columbus, and some gentlemen of Isabella's court, whom she appointed (o 
accompany him. Though the expense of the undertaking was one of the 
circumstances which chiefly alarmed the court of Spain, and retarded so 
long the negotiation with Columbus, the sum employed in fitting out this 
squadron did not exceed four thousand pounds. 

As the art of ship-building in the fifteenth centuiy was extremely rude, 
and the bulk of vessels was accommodated to the short and easy voyages 
along the coast which they were accustomed to perform, it is a proof of 
the courage, as well as enterprising genius of Columbus, that he ventured, 
with a fleet so unfit for a distant navigation, to explore unknown seas, where 
he had no chart to guide him, no knowledge of the tides and currents, and 
no experience of the dangers to which he might be exposed. His eagerness 
to accomplish the great design which had so long engrossed his thoughts, 
made him overlook or disregard every circumstance that would have 
intimidated a mind less adventurous. He pushed forward the preparations 
with such ardour, and was seconded so elTectunlly by the persons to whom 
Isabella committed the superintendence of this business, that every thing 
Was scK>n in readiness lor the voyage. But as Columhus was deeply 
, impressed with sentiments of religion, he would not set out upon an expc- 
' dition so arduous, and of which one great object was to extend the know- 
ledge of the Christian faith, -without imploring publicly the guidance an'* 



o2 HISTORY OF . [liooK U. 

protection of Heaven. With this view, he, together with all the persons 
under his command, marched in solemn procession to the monastery of 
Rabida. After confessing their sins, and obtaining absolution, they received 
the holy sacrament from the hands of the guardian, who joined his 
prayers to theirs for the success of an enterprise which he had so zealously 
patronized. 

Next morning, being Friday the third day of August, in the year one 
thousand ibur hundred and ninety-two, Columbus set sail, a little before 
sunrise, in presence of a vast crowd of spectators, who sent up their sup- 
plications to Heaven for the prosperous issue of the voyage, which they 
wished rather than expected. Columbus steered directly for the Canaiy 
Islands, and arrived there [Aug. 13] without any occurrence that would 
have deserved notice on any other occasion. But, in a voyage of such 
expectation and importance, every circumstance was the object of attention. 
The rudder of the Pinta broke loose the day after she left the harbour ; and 
that accident alarmed the crew, no less superstitious than unskilful, as a 
certain omen of the unfortunate destiny of the expedition. Even in the 
short run to the Canaries, the ships were found to be so crazy and ill 
appointed, as to be very improper tor a navigation which was expected to 
be both long and dangerous. Columbus refitted them, however, to the 
best of his power ; and having supplied himself with fresh provisions, he 
took his departure from Gomera, one of the most westerly of the Canaiy 
Islands, on the sixth day of September. 

Here the voyage of discovery may properly be said to begin ; for 
Columbus, holaing his course due west, left immediately the usual track of 
navigation, and stretched into unfrequented and unknown seas. The first 
day, as it was very calm, he made but little way ; but on the second he 
lost sight of the Canaries ; and many of the sailors, dejected already, and 
dismayed, when they contemplated the boldness of the undertaking, began 
to beat their breasts, and to shed tears, as if they were never more to 
behold land. Columbus comforted them with assurances of success, and 
the prospect of vast wealth in those opulent regions whither he was con- 
ducting them. This early discovery of the spirit of his followers taught 
Columbus that he must prepare to struggle not only with the unavoidable 
difficulties which might be expected from the nature of his undertaking, 
but with such as were likely to arise from the ignorance and timidity of 
the people under his coihmand ; and he perceived that the art of 
governing the minds of men would be no less requisite for accomplishing 
the discoveries which he had in view, than naval skill and undaunted 
courage. Happily for himself, and for the country by which he was 
employed, he joined to the ardent temper and inventive genius of a pro- 
lector, virtues of another species, which are rarely united with them. He 
possessed a thorough knowledge of mankind, an insinuating address, a 
patient perseverance in executing any plan, the perfect government of his , 
own passions, and the talent of acq^uiring an ascendant over those of other 
men. All these qualities, which formed him for command, were accom- 
panied with that superior knowledge of his profession, which begets 
confidence in times of difficulty and danger. To unskilful Spanish 
sailors, accustomed only to coasting voyages in the Mediterranean, the 
maritime science of Columbus, the fruit of thirty years' experience, im- 
proved by an acquaintance with all the inventions of the Portuguese, 
appeared immense. As soon as they put to sea, he regulated every thing 
by his sole authority ; he superintended the execution of every order ; and 
allowing himself only a few hours for sleep, he was at all other times 
upon deck. As his course lay through seas which had not formerly been 
visited, the sounding line, or instruments for observation, were continually 
in his hands. After the example of the Portuguese discoverers, he attended 
to the motion of tides and cunents, watched the flight of birds, the appear- 



AMERICA. 53 

ance of fishes, of seaweeds, and of every thing that floated on the waves, and 
entered every occurrence, with a minute exactness, in the journal which he 
kept. As the length of the voyage could not fail of alarming sailors habitu- 
ated only to short excursions, Columbus endeavoured to conceal from them 
the real progress which they made. With this view, though they run 
eighteen leagues on the second day after they left Gomera, he gave out that 
they had advanced only fifteen, and he uniformly employed the same artifice 
of reckoning short during the whole voyage. By the fourteenth of Septem- 
ber the fleet was above two hundred leagues to the west of the Canary Isles, 
at a greater distance from land than any Spaniard had been before tliat time. 
Theie they were struck with an appearance no less astonishing than new 
They observed that the magnetic needle, in their compasses, did not point 
exactly to the polar star, but varied towards the west ; and as they proceeded, 
this variation increased. This appearance, which is now familiar, though 
it still remains one of the mysteries of nature, into the cause of which the 
sagacity of man hath not been able to penetrate, filled the companions of 
Columbus with terror. They were now in a boundless and unknown ocean, 
far from the usual course of navigation ; nature itself seemed to be altered, 
and the only guide which they had left was about to fail them. Columbus, 
with no less quickness than ingenuity, invented a reason for this appearance, 
which, (hough it did not satisfy himself, seemed so plausible to them, that 
it dispelled their fears, or silenced their murmurs. 

He still continued to steer due west, nearly in the same latitude with the 
Canary Islands. In this course he came within the sphere of the trade 
wind, which blows invariably from east to west, between the tropics and a 
few degrees beyond them. He advanced before this steady gale with such 
uniform rapidity that it was seldom necessary- to shift a sail. When about 
four hundred leagues to the west of the Canaries, he found the sea so 
covered with weeds, that it resembled a meadow of vast extent, and in 
some places they were so thick as to retard the motion of the vessels. This 
strange appearance occasioned new alarm and disquiet. The sailors ima- 
gined that they were now arrived at the utmost boundary of the navigable 
ocean ; that these floating weeds would obstruct their further progress, 
and concealed dangerous rocks, or some large track of land, which had 
sunk, they kn»!W not how, in that place. Columbus endeavoured to per- 
suade them, that what had alarmed ought rather to have encouraged them, 
and was to be considered as a sign of approaching land. At the same time, 
a brisk gale arose, and carried them forward. Several birds were seen 
hovering about the ship [13], and directing their flight towards the west. 
The desponding crew resumed some degree of spirit, and began to entertain 
fresh hopes. 

Upon the first of October they were, according to the admiral's reckon- 
ing, seven hundred and seventy leagues to the west of the Canaries ; but 
Jest his men should be intimidated by the prodigious length of the naviga- 
tion, he gave out that they had proceeded only five hundred and eighty- 
four leagues, and fortunately, for Columbus, neither his own pilot, nor those 
of the other ships, had skill sufficient to correct this error, and discover the 
deceit. They had now been above three weeks at sea ; they had pro- 
ceeded far beyond what former navigators had attempted or deemed possi- 
ble ; all their prognostics of discovery, drawn from the flight of birds and 
other circumstances, had proved fallacious ; the appearances of land, with 
which their own credulity or the artifice of their commander had from time to 
time flattered and amused them, had been altogether illusive, and their prospect 
of success seemed now to be as distant as ever. These reflectioas occurred 
often to men who had no other object or occupation than to reason and 
discourse concerning the intention and circumstances of their expedition. 
They made impression at first upon the ignorant and timid, and, extending 
bv degrees to such as were better informed or more resolute, the contagion 



54 HISTORY OF [Book II. 

spread at length from ship to ship. From secret whispers or mmrourii^, 
they proceeded to open cabals and public complaints. They taxed their 
sovereiirn with inconsiderate credulity, in paying such regard to the vain 

{)romises and rash conjectures of an indigent ioreigner, as to hazard the 
ives of so many of her own subjects in prosecuting a chimerical scheme. 
They affirmed that they had tully performed their duty, by venturing so far 
in an unknown and hopeless course, and could incur no blame for refusing 
to follow any longer a desperate adventurer to certain destruction. They 
contended, that it was necessary to think of returning to Spain, while 
their crazy vessels were still in a conditicjn to keep the sea, but expressed 
their fears that the attempt would prove vain, as the wind, which had 
hitherto been so favourable to their course, must render it impossible to sail 
in an opposite direction. All agreed that Columbus should be compelled by 
force to adopt a measure on which their conimon salety depended. Some 
of the more audacious proposed, as the most expeditious and certain method 
of getting rid at once of his remonstrances, to throw him into the sea, being 
persuaded that, upon their return to Spain, the death of an unsuccessilQ 
projector would excite little concern, and be inquired into with no curiosity. 

Columbus was fully sensible of his perilous situation. He had observed, 
with great uneasiness, the fatal operation of ignorance and ol tear in producing 
disaffection among his crew, and saw that it was now ready to burst out 
into open mutiny. He retained, however, perl'ect presence of mind. He 
affected to seem ignorant of their machinations. Notwithstanding the 
agitation and solicitude of his own mind, he appeared with a cheenul 
countenance, like a man satisfied with the progress he had made, ar-d 
confident of success. Sometimes he employed all the arts ol insinuation 
to soothe his men. Sometimes he endeavoured to work upon their ambition 
or avarice, by magnificent descriptions of the fame and wealth which they 
were about to acquire. On other occasions he assumed a tone ol authority, 
and threatened them with vengeance from their sovereign, il^ by their 
dastardly behaviour, they should defeat this noble effort to promote the 
glory 01 God, and to exalt the Spanish name above that of every other 
nation. Even with seditious sailors, the words of a man whom they had 
been accustomed to reverence, were weighty and persuasive, and not only 
restrained therti from those violent excesses which they meditated, but 
prevailed with them to accompany their admiral for some time longer. 

As they proceeded, the indications of approaching land seemed to be 
more certain, and excited hope in proportion. The birds began to appear 
in ^ocks, making towards the southwest. Columbus, in iniitation ol the 
Portuguese navisrators, who had been guided, in several ol their discoveries, 
by the motion of birds, altered his coiu^ from due west towards that quarter 
w hither they pointed their flight. But, after holding on for several days in 
this new direction, without any better success than formerly, having seen 
no object, during thirty days, but the sea and the sky. the hopes of his 
companions subsided faster than they had risen : their fears revived with 
additional force : impatience, rasre, and despair, appeared in every counte- 
nance. All sense of subordination was lost : the oScers, who had hitherto 
concurred with Columbus in opinion, and supported his authority, now 
took part with the private men ; they assembled tumultuously on the deck, 
expostulated with their commander, mir^led threats with their expostulations, 
and required him instantiy to tack about and to return to Europe. Columbus 
perceived that it would be of no avail to have recourse to any ol his lormer 
arts, which, having been tried so often, had lost their effect ; and that it was 
impossible to rekindle any zeal for the success of the expedition among 
men in whose breasts fear had extinguished every generous sentiment. He 
saw that it was no less vain to think of employing either gentle or severe 
measures to quell a mutiny so general and so violent. It was necessary, on 
all these accounts, to soothe passions which he could no longer command. 



AMERICA. 55 

and to eire waf to a tenent too n^etnoas to be checked. He promised 
solemnfytoliis mendiat he would co m ply with tiieir request, ptonded tfaej 
would xoamfanj Iwn, and obey his command tor duee days koger. and 
il^ (kaiBj^ that tine, land weie not discovered, he would thai ahariop die 
entojmse, and direct his course towards Spain.* 

Enaged as the sailois were, and impatient to tum their faces again towards 
their natire oonntij, this profiositioo did not a|^>ear to them inreasanable. 
Nor did (x^onbas hazard nncfa in owifu i iig tmnseh' to a tenn so sfaorL 
The presages of discorering land were now so numerous and prom^ner. 
that be deoned them ia&llible. F<»- some days the soimdke line reached 
the bottom, and the sofl which it brought up indicated land to be at no 
peat di<taiir»». The flocks d biids increased, and woe composed not oniy 
of seatowl, but vi such land birds as could not be siiq>pQeed to fly tar fitm 
Ashore. The crew ot* the Pintaobsored a came floatme:, which seemed to 
hare been newly cut, and likewise a piece <tf timber aitificiallTcanred. The 
saiois aboard the Nigna took vp the branch of a tree with red berries, 
periecttr fiesfa. The ckmds aromd the setttog sun assumed a new app^- 
ance ; me air was more mild and warm, and dming the n^^ the wind 
became meqoal and vanable. From aJl these symptoms^ C^fambos was 
9o caab^esA of beipg near bnd, that on the evening of the elevendi of 
Octobet^ a&er public prayers fer soccesE, he ordered the sails to be iuded, 
and die diqis to lie to), keeping strict watch, lest thcT^iouId bedrirenadime 
in the nkhL Durmg this imerval of so^iense and expectation, no man shut 
hfe eyes,~aU kept i^on dedL. ga?:ing intestfly towards that qaaiter where 
they expected to discover the hoi, which \aA. been so long the olgect of 
their w^KS. 

About two boms before midnight, Colnmbas, ^andng en the forecastle, 
observed a light at a distance, and {m valeFy panted it out to Pedro Guttieiez. 
a page of the Qpeen's wardrobe. Guttierez perceived it, and caDing to 
SaJoMo^ comptroller of the fle^ all three saw it in motion, as tf it were 
caified fiom fJace to {^ace. A little a&er midnigfat the jojfiil soimd of 
lamd! lamdl was heard from the Pinfta, which kept ahvajs a head of the 
other siups. But, haviog been so often deceived by fallacious appearance?, 
every man was now become dow of bebeil and waited to afl the aogui^ of 
uncotainty and impatience for die r^mn of day. As soon as monni^ dawned 
[OcL 12], all doubts and fears were diaieled.' Fromevetyd^panslandwas 
seen aboot two leagues to the noilh, whose flat and verdairt fields, wefl stored 
with wood, and watered with many rivde^ presented die aspect of a 
delightfiil comiry. The oew of the Pinia ins^mtfy began the Te Demm, 
as a hymn of ri»aiA*f« i *i n g to God, and woe joined by those of the other 
diips, with tears of joy and transports of coogratolatian. This office fA 
ide to Heaven was followed by an act of jnstioe to th» commander, 
threw thonselves at the fe^ of Cohmbos, widi fedings of self- 
wation mingled with r ev e rence. They inq^ned him to pardco 
their ignannce, naednlity, and insolence, which had oeated him so much 
amecesBuy disquiet, and had so often obstructed the prosecntioo of his 
well-canoetted plan ; and passing, in the warmth of their admiratioi^ fiom 
one extreaae to another, they now pro no un ced the man, whom they h adap 
btely reviled and dneatened, to be a person lOEpired by Heaven with 
sagaci^ and fortitude more than \uman^ in order to aocomi^ish a design 
so iar beyond the ideas amd conception 4^ aD former ages. 

As soon as the sm arose, all their boats were manned and armed. They 
rowed towards the island with their colours di9>layed, with warUte music, 
and odier mardal pomp. As they approacfaed the coast, they saw it oovoed 
with a m w l i i im io of foofte, whom me novelty of die specude had drawn 
togetfaet^ whose attjtndes aid g estur e s expressed wander and astaoBhiiest 



56 IirSTORY OF [Book 11. 

at the strange objects which presented themselves to their vieAv. Columbus 
was the first European who set foot in the New World which he had dis- 
covered. He landed in a rich dress, and with a naked sword in his hand. 
His men followed, and kneeling down, they all kissed the ground which 
they had so long desired to see. They next erected a crucifix, and 
prostrating themselves before it, returned thanks to God for conducting 
their voyage to such a happy issue. They then took solemn possession of 
the country, for the crown of Castile and Leon, with all the formalities 
which the Portuguese were accustomed to observe in acts of this kind, in 
their new discoveries.* 

The Spaniards, while thus employed, were surrounded by many of the 
natives, who gazed in silent admiration upon actions which they could not 
comprehend, and of which they did not foresee the consequences. The 
dress of the Spaniards, the whiteness of their skins, their beards, their 
arms, appeared strange and surprising. The vast machines in which they 
had traversed the ocean, that seemed to move upon the waters with wings, 
and uttered a dreadful sound resembling thun ler, accompanied with lightning 
and smoke, struck them with such terror, that they began to respect their 
new guests as a superior order of beings, and concluded that they were 
children a( the Sun, who had descended to visit the earth. 

The Europeans were hardly less amazed at the scene now before them. 
Every herb, and shrub, and tree, was different from those which flourished in 
Europe. The soil seemed to be rich, but bore few marks of cultivation. 
The climate, even to the Spaniards, felt warm, though extremely delightful. 
The inhabitants appeared in the simple innocence of nature, entirely naked. 
Their black hair, long and uncurled, floated upon their shoulders, or was 
bound in tresses arouna their heads. They had no beards, and every part 
of their bodies was perfectly smooth. Their complexion was of a dusky- 
copper colour, their features singular, rather than disagreeable, their aspect 
gentle and timid. Though not tall, they were well shaped and active. 
Their faces, and several parts of their body, were fantastically painted with 
glaring colours.'^ They were shy at first through fear, but soon became 
Familiar with the Spaniards, and with transports of joy received from them 
hawksbelis, glass beads, or other baubles, in return for which they gave 
such provisions as they had, and some cotton yarn, the only commodity of 
value that they could produce. Towards evening", Columous returned to 
his ship, accompanied by many of the islanders in their boats, which they 
called canoes, and though rudely formed out of the trunk of a single tree, 
they rowed them with surprising dexterity. Thus, in the first interview 
between the inhabitants of the old and new worlds, every thing was con- 
ducted amicably, and to their mutual satisfaction. The fonner, enlightened 
and amljitious, formed already vast ideas with respect to the advantages 
which they might derive from the regions that began to open to their view. 
The latter, simple and undiscerning, had no foresight of the calamities and 
desolation which were approaching their country. 

Columbus, who now assumed the title and authority of admiral and 
viceroy, called the island which he had discovered Sa7i Salvador. It is 
better known by the name of Gunnahani, which the natives gave to it, and 
is one of that large cluster of islands called the Lucaya or Bahama isles 
It is situated above three thousand miles to the west of Gomera ; from 
which the squadron took its departure, and only four degrees to the south 
of it ; so little had Columbus deviated from the westerly course, which he 
had chosen as the most proper. 

Columbus employed the next day in visiting the coasts of the island ; and 
from the universal poverty of the inhabitants, he perceived that this was 
not the rich country for which he sought. But, conformably to his theor'' 

* Life of Coliunbus, c. 2!. 23. Herrera. i^t. I. lih. i- <•■ 2X 



AMERICA. 57 

concerning the discovery of those regions of Asia which stretched towards 
the east, he concluded that San Salvador was one of the isles which 

fec^raphers described as situated in the great ocean adjacent to India.* 
faving observed that most of the people whom he had seen wore small 
plates of gold, by way of ornament, in their nostrils, he eagerly inquired 
where they got that precious metal. They pointed towards the south, and 
made him comprehend by signs, that gold abounded in countries situated in 
that quarter. Thither he immediately determined to (iirect his course, in 
full confidence of rinding there those opulent regions which had been the 
object of his voyage, and would be a recompense lor all his toils and 
dangers. He took along with him seven of the natives of San Salvador, 
that, by acquiring the Spanish language, they mi^ht serve as guides and 
interpreters ; and those innocent people considered it as a mark of distinction 
when they were selected to accompany him. 

He saw several islands, and touched at three of the largest, on which 
he bestowed the names of St. Mary of the Conception, Fernandina, and 
Isabella. But, as their soil, productions, and inhabitants nearly resembled 
those of San Salvador, he made no stay in any of them. He inquired eveiy 
where tor gold, and the signs that were uniformly made by way of answer, 
confirmed him in the opinion that it was brought from the south. He 
followed that course, and soon discovered a country which appeared veiy 
extensive, not perfectly level, like those which he nad already visited, but 
so diversified with rising grounds, hills, rivers, woods, and plains, that he 
was uncertain whether it might prove an island, or part oi the continent. 
The natives of San Salvador, whom he had on board, called it Cuba; 
Columbus gave it the name of Juana. He entered the mouth of a large 
river with his squadron, and all the inhabitants fled to the mountains as he 
approached the shore. But as he resolved to careen the ships in that place, 
he sent some Spaniards, together with one of the people of San Salvador, 
to view the interior part of the country. They, having advanced above 
sixty miles fro'ifi the shore, leported, upon their return, that the soil was 
richer tnd more cultivated than my they had hitherto discovered ; that, 
besides many scattered cottages, they had found one village, containing 
above a thousand inhabitants; thai the people, though naked, seemed to 
be more inte'ligent than those of San Salvador, but had treated them with 
the same respectful attention, kissing their feet, and honouring them as sacred 
beings allied to heaven ; that they had given them to eat a certain root, the 
taste of which resembled roasted chestnuts, and likewise a singular species 
of corn called maize, which, either when roasted whole or ground into meal, 
was abundantly palatable ; that there seemed to be no four-footed animals 
in the country, but a species of dogs, which could not bark, and a creature 
resembling a rabbit, but of a much smaller size ; that they had observed 
some ornaments of gold amon" the people, but of no great value. t 

These messengers had prevailed with some of the natives to accompany 
them, who informed Columbus, that the gold of which they made their 
ornaments was found in Cubanacan. By this word they meant the middle 
or inland part of Cuba ;'hut Columbus, being ignorant of their language, 
as well as unaccustomed to their pronunciation, and his thoughts running 
continually upon his own theoiy concerning the discover}' of the East Indies, 
he was '.ed« by the resemblance of sound, to suppose thnt they spoke of 
the great Khan, and imagined that the opulent kingdom of Ciii/ia^, described 
by Marco Polo, was not very remote. This induced him to employ some 
time in viewing the country. He visited almost t very harbour, from Porto 
del Principe, on the north coast of Cul)a, to the eastern extremity of the 
island : but, though delighted with the beauty of the scenes which every 
where presented themselves, and amazed at the luxuriant fertility of the 

• Pet. Met!, cpisl. 135. t Life of ColnrabiB, c. C4— 98. Herrcra, dec. 1. lib. i. c. 1".. 

Vol. 1,-8 



58 HISTORY OF [Book II. 

soil, both which, from their novelty, made a more lively impression upon 
his imagination [14], he did not find gold in such quantity as was sufficient 
to satisfy either the avarice of his followers, or the expectations of the court 
to which he was to return. The people of the country, as much astonished 
at his eagerness in quest of gold as the Europeans were at their ignorance 
and simplicity, pointed towards the east, where an island which they called 
Hayti was situated, in which that metal was more abundant than among 
them. Columbus ordered his squadron to bend its course thither ; but 
Marton Alonso Pinzon, impatient to be the first who should take possession 
of the treasures which this country was supposed to contain, quitted his 
companions, regardless of all the admiral's signals to slacken sail until they 
should come up with him. 

Columbus, retarded by contrary winds, did not reach Hayti till the sixth 
of December. He called the port where he first touched St. Nicholas, and 
the island itself Espagnola, in honour of the kingdom by which he was 
employed ; and it is the only countiy, of those he had yet discovered, which 
has retained the name that he gave it. As he could neither meet with the 
Pinta, nor have any intercourse with the inhabitants, who fled in great 
consternation towards tlie woods, he soon quitted St. Nicholas, and, sailing 
along the northern coast of the island, he entered another harbour, v^ hich he 
called Conception. Here he was more ibrtunate ; his people overtook a 
woman who was flying iVom them, and after treating her w ith great gentle- 
ness, dismissed her with a present of such toys as they knew were most 
valued in those regions. The description which she gave to her countrymen 
of the humanity and wonderful qualities of the strangers ; their admiration 
of the trinkets, which she showed with exultation ; and their eagerness to 
participate of the same favours ; removed all their fears, and induced many 
of them to repair to the harbour. The strange objects which they beheld, 
and the baubles which Columbus bestowed upon them, amply gratified their 
curiosity and their wishes. They nearly resembled the people of 
Guanahani and Cuba. They were naked like themj ignorant and simple ; 
and seemed to be equally unacquainted with all the arts which appear most 
necessary in polished societies ; but they were gentle, credulous, and timid, 
to a degree which rendered it easy to acquire the ascendant over them, espe- 
cially as their excessive admiration led them into the same error with the 
people of the other islands, in believing the Spaniards to be more than mortals, 
and descended immediately from heaven. They possessed gold in' greater 
abundance than their neighbours, which they readily exchanged ibr bells, 
beads, or pins ; and in this unequal traffic both parties were highly pleased, 
each considering themselves as gainers by the transaction. Here Columbus 
was visited by a prince or cazique of the countiy. He appeared with all 
the pomp known among a simple people, being carried in a sort of palanquin 
upon the shoulder? of four men, and attended by many of his subjects, who 
served him with great respect. His deportment was grave and stately, 
very reserved towards his own people, but with Columbus and the Spaniards 
extremely courteous. He gave the admiral some thin plates of gold, and a 
girdle of curious workmanship, receiving in return presents of small value, 
but highly acceptable to him.* 

Columbus, still intent on discovering the mines which yielded gold, 
continued to interrogate all the natives with whom he had any intercourse, 
concerning their situation. They concurred in pointing out a mountainous 
country, which they called Cibao, at some distance tiom the sea, and further 
towards the east. Struck with this sound, which appeared to him the same 
with Cipango, the name by which Marco Polo, and other travellers to the 
east, distinguished the island of Japan, he no longer doubted with respect 
to the vicinity of the countries which he had discovered to the remote parts 

♦ I-ife of Columbus, c. 32, Hcrrera. dec. 1. lib. i. c. 15, fcr. 



AMERICA. 59 

of Asia ; and, in full expectation of reaching soon those regions which had 
been the object of his voyage, he directed his course towards the east. He 
put into a commodious harbour, which he called St. Thomas, and found 
that district to be under the government of a powerful cazique, named 
Guacanahari, who, as he afterwards learned, was one of the five sovereigns 
among whom the whole island was divided. He immediately sent messen- 
gers to Columbus, who in his name delivered to him the present of a mask 
curiously fashioned with the ears, nose, and mouth of beaten gold, and 
invited him to the place of his residence, near the harbour now called Cape 
Francois, some leagues towards the east. Columbus despatched some of 
his officers to visit this prince, who, as he behaved himself with greater 
dignity, seemed to claim more attention. They returned with such favour- 
able accounts both of the country and of the people, as made Columbus 
impatient for that interview with Guacanahari to which he had been invited. 

He sailed for this purpose from St. Thomas, on the twenty-fourth of 
December, with a fair wind, and the sea perfectly calm ; and as, amidst the 
multiplicity of his occupations, he had not shut his eyes for two days, he 
retired at midnight in order to take some repose, haying committed the 
helm to the pilot, with strict injunctions not to quit it for a moment. The 
pilot, dreading no danger, carelessly lei't the helm to an unexperienced 
cabin boy, and the ship, carried away by a current, was dashed against a 
rock. The violence of the shock awakened Columbus. He ran up to the 
deck. There all was confusion and despair. He alone retained presence 
of mind. He ordered some of the sailors to take a boat, and carry out an 
anchor astern ; but, instead of obeying, they made off towards the Nigna, 
which was about half a league distant. He then commanded the masts to 
be cut down, in order to lighten the ship ; but all his endeavours were too 
late ; the vessel opened near the keel, and tilled so fast with water that its 
loss was inevitable. The smoothness of the sea, and the timely assistance 
of boats from the Nigna, enabled the crew to save their lives. As soon as 
the islanders heard of this disaster, they crowded to the shore, with their 
prince Guacanahari at their head. Instead of taking advantage of the 
distress in which they beheld the Spaniards, to attempt any thing to their 
detriment, they lamented their misfortune with tears of sincere condolence. 
Not satisfied with this unavailing expression of their sympathy, they put to 
sea a number of canoes, and, under the direction of the Spaniards, assisted 
in saving whatever could be got out of the wreck ; and, by the united 
labour of so many hands, almost every thing of value was carried ashore. 
As fast as the goods were landed, Guacanahari in person took charge of 
them. By his orders they were all deposited in one place, and armed 
sentinels were posted, who kept the multitude at a distance, in order to 
prevent them not only from embezzling, but from inspecting too curiously 
what belonged to their guests. [15] Next morning this prince visited 
Columbus, who was now on board the Nigna, and endeavoured to console 
him for his loss, by offering all that he possessed to repair it.* 

The condition of Columbus was such that he stood in need of consolation. 
He had hitherto procured no intelligence of the Pinta, and no longer doubted 
but that his treacherous associate had set sail for Europe, in order to have 
the merit of carrying the first tidings of the extraordinary discoveries which 
had been made, and to preoccupy so far the ear of their sovereign, as to 
rob him of the glory and reward to which he was justly entitled. There 
remained but one vessel, and that the smallest and most crazy of the souadron, 
to traverse such a vast ocean, and carry so many men back to Europe. 
Each of those circumstances was alarming, and filled the mind of Columbus 
with the utmost solicitude. The desire of overtaking Pinzon, and of eflfacing 
the unfavourable impressions which his misrepresentatioas might make in 

* Ilerrora. dee. 1. lib. i. c. 1?. 



60 HISTORY OF fBooKlI. 

Spain, made it necessary to return thither without delay. The diflBculty 
oi taking such a number of persons on board the Nigna confirmed him in 
an opinion which the fertihtv of the country, and the gentle temper of the 
people, had already induced him to form. He resolved to leave a part of 
his crew in the island, that by residing there, they might learn the language 
of the natives, study their disposition, examine the nature of the country, 
search for mines, prepare for the commodious settlement of the colony with 
which he purposed to return, and thus secure and facilitate the ac(juisition 
of those advantages which he expected from his discoveries. V\ hen he 
mentioned this to his men, all approved of the design ; and from impatience 
under the fatigue of a long voyage, tVom the levity natural to sailors, or 
from the hopesof amassing wealth ina country which atforded such promising 
specimens of its riches, many otfered voluntarily to be among the number 
of those who should remain. 

Nothing was now wanting towards the execution of this scheme, but to 
obtain the consent of Guacanahari ; and his unsuspicious simplicity soon 
presented to the admiral a favourable opportunity of proposing it. Columbus 
having, in the best manner he could, by broken words and signs, expressed 
some curiosity to know the cause which had moved the islanders to fly 
with such precipitation upon the approach of his ships, the cazique informed 
him that the country was much infested by the incursions of certain people, 
whom he called Carribeans, who inhabited several islands to the south-east. 
These he described as a tierce and warlike race of men, who delighted in 
blood, and devoured the flesh of the prisoners who were so unhappy as to 
fall uito their hands ; and as the Spaniards at their first appearance were 
supposed to be Carribeans, whom the natives, however numerous, durst not 
face in battle, they had recourse to their usual method of securing their 
safety, by fly ina: into the thickest and most impenetrable woods. Guacanahari, 
while speaking of those dreadful invaders, discovered such symptoms of 
terror, as well as such consciousness of the inability of his own people to 
resist them, as led Columbus to conclude that he would not be alarmed at 
the proposition of any scheme which afforded him the prospect of an addi- 
tional security against their attacks. He instantly oiTered him the assistance 
of the Spaniards to repel his enemies: he engaged to take him and his 
people under the protection of the powerful monarch whom he served, and 
offiered to leave in the island such a number of his men as should be sufli- 
cient, not only to defend the inhabitants from future incursions, but to 
avenge their past wrongs. 

The ci-edulous prince closed eagerly with the proposal, and thought 
himself already sate under the patronao;e of beings sprung from heaven, 
and superior in power to mortal men. The ground was marked out for a 
small fort, which Columbus called JVavidad, because he had landed there 
on Christmas day. A deep ditch was drawn around it. The ramparts were 
fortified with pallisades, and the great guns, saved out of the admiral's ship, 
were planted upon them. In ten days the work was finished; that simple 
race of men labouring with inconsiderate assiduity in erecting this first 
monument of their own servitude. During this time, Columbus, by his 
caresses and liberality, laboured to increase the high opinion which the 
natives entertained of the Spaniards. But while he endeavoured to inspire 
them with confidence in their disposition to do good, he wished likewise 
to give them some striking idea of their power to punish and destroy such 
as were the oiyects of their indignation. With this view, in presence of a 
vast assembly, he drew up his inen in order of battle, and made an ostenta- 
tious but innocent display of the sharpness of the Spanish swords, of the force 
of their spears, and the operation of their cross-bows. These rude people, 
strangers to the use of iron, and unacquainted with any hostile weapons but 
arrows of reed pointed with the bones of fishes, wooden swords, andjavelins 
hardened in the fire, wondered and trembled. Before this surprise or fear 



AMERICA. 01 

had time to abate, he ordered the ^eat guns to be tired. The sudden 
explosion struck them with such terror that they fell flat to the ground, 
covering their faces with their hands ; and when they beheld the astonishing 
effect of the bullets among the trees, towards which the cannon had been 
pointed, they concluded that it was impossible to resist men, who had the 
command of such destructive instruaients, and who came armed with 
thunder and lightning against iheir eneuiies. 

After giving such impressions both of the beneficence and power of the 
Spaniards, as might have rendered it easy to preserve an ascendant over 
the minds of the natives, Columbus appointed thirty-eight of his people to 
remain in the island. He intrusted the command of these to Diego de 
Arado, a gentleman of Cordova, investing him with the same powers which 
he himself had received from Ferdinand and Isabella ; and furnished him 
with every thing requisite tor the subsistence or defence of this infant 
colony, lie strictly enjoined them to maintain concord among themselves, 
to yield an unreserved obedience to then- commander, to avoid giving offence 
to the natives by any violence or exaction, to cultivate the triendship of 
Guacanahari, but not to put themselves in his power by straggling in small 
parties, or marching too far from the fort. He promised to visit them soon 
with such a reinforcement of strength as might enable them to take full 
possession of the country, and to reap all the fruits of their discoveries. In the 
mean time he engaged to mention their names to the king and queen, and 
to place their merit and services in the most advantageous light.* 

Having thus taken every precaution for the secuiiiy of the colony, he 
left Navidad on the tburth of January, one thousand lour hundred and 
ninety-three, and steering towards the east, discovered and gave names to 
most of the harbours on the northern coast of the island. On the sixth he 
descried the Pinta, and soon came up with her, after a separation of more 
than six weeks. Finzon endeavoured to justify his conduct by pretending 
that he had been driven from his course by stress of weather, and prevented 
from returning by contraiy winds. The admirai, though he still suspected 
his perfidious intentions, and knew well what he uiged in his own delience 
to be frivolous as well as t'alse, was so sensible that this was not a proper 
time for venturing upon jiny high strain of authority, and felt such satisfaction 
in this junction with his consort, which delivered him from many disquieting 
apprehensions, that, lame as Pinzon's apology was, he admitted of it without 
diificulty, and restored him to favour. During his absence from the 
admiral, Pinzon had visited several harbours in the island, had acquired 
some gold by trafficking with the natives, but had made no discovery of 
any importance. 

From the condition of his ships, as well as the temper of his men, 
Columbus now found it necessary to hasten his return to Europe. The 
foraier having suffered much during a voyage of such an unusual length, 
were extremely leaky. The latter expressed the utmost impatience to 
revisit their native country, from which they had been so long absent, and 
where they had things so wonderful and unheard-of to relate. Accordingly, 
on the sixteenth of January, he directed his course towards the north-cast, and 
soon lost sight of land. He had on board some of the natives, whom he had 
taken from the different islands which he discovered ; and besides the gold, 
which was the chief object of research, he had collected specimens of all 
the productions which were likely to become subjects of commerce in the 
several countries, as well as many unknown birds, and other natural 
curiosities, which might attract the attention of the learned, or excite the 
wonder of the people. The voyage was prosperous to the fourteenth of 
February, and he had advanced near five hundred leagues across the Atlantic 
ocean, when the wind began to rise, and continued to blow with increasing 

♦ Oviedo ap. Bamusio, iii. p. 82. E. IJerrera, dec. I. lib. i. c. 20. Life of Columbus, c. 3;. 



62 HISTORY OF [Book II. 

TRg;e, which terminated in a furious hurricane. Every thing that the naval 
skill and experience of Columbus could devise was employed in order to 
save the ships. But it was impossible to withstand the violence of the 
storm, and, as they were still far from any land, destruction seemed inevitable. 
The sailors had recourse to prayers to Almighty God, to the invocation 
of saints, to vows, and charms, to every thing that religion dictates, or 
superstition suggests to the affrighted mind of man. rfo prospect of 
deliverance appearing, they abandoned themselves to despair, and expected 
every moment to be swallowed up in the waves. Besides the passions 
^vhich naturally agitate and alarm the human mind in such awful situations, 
■when certain d.eath, in one of his most terrible forms, is before it, Columbus 
had to endure feelings of distress peculiar to himself. He dreaded that 
all knowledge of the amazing discoveries which he had made was now 
to perish ; mankind were to be deprived of every benefit that might have 
been derived from the happy success of his schemes, and his own name 
would descend to posterity as that of a rash deluded adventurer, instead of 
being transmitted with the honour due to the author and conductor of the 
most noble enterprise that had ever been undertaken. These reflections 
extinguished all sense of his own personal danger. Less affected with the 
loss of life than solicitous to preserve the memoiy of what he had attempted 
and achieved, he retired to his cabin and wrote upon a parchment a short 
account of the voyage which he had made, of the course which he had 
taken, of the situation and riches of the countries which he had discovered, 
and of the colony that he had left there. Having wrapped up this in an 
oiled cloth, which he enclosed in a cake of wax, he put it into a cask 
carefully stopped up, and threw it into the sea, in hopes that some 
fortunate accident might preserve a deposit of so much importance to the 
world.*[l6] 

At length Providence interposed to save a life reserved for other services. 
The wind abated, the sea became calm, and on the evening of the fifteenth, 
Columbus and his companions discovered land ; and though uncertain what 
it was, they made towards it. They soon knew it to be St. Mary, one of 
the Azores or western isles, subject to the crown of Portugal. There, 
after a violent contest with the governor, in which Columbus displayed no 
less spirit than prudence, he obtained a supply of fresh provisions, and 
whatever else he needed. One circumstance, however, greatly disquieted 
him. The Pinta, of which he had lost sight on the first day of the hurri- 
cane, did not appear ; he dreaded for some time that she had foundered at 
sea, and that all her crew had perished ; afterwards, his former suspicions 
recurred, and he became apprehensive that Pinzon had borne away for 
Spain, that he might reach it before him, and by giving the first account of 
his discoveries, might obtain some share of his fame. 

In order to prevent this, he left the Azores as soon as the weather would 
permit [Feb. 24]. At no great distance from the coast of Spain, when near 
the end of his voyage, and seemingly beyond the reach of any disaster, 
another storm arose, little inferior to the former in violence; and after 
driving before it during two days and two nights, he was forced to take^ 
shelter in the river Tagus [March 4]. Upon application to the King of 
Portugal, he was allowed to come up to Lisbon ; and, notwithstanding the 
envy which it was natural tor the Portuguese to feel, when they beheld 
another nation entering upon that province of discovery which they had 
hitherto deemed peculiarly their own, and in its first essay not only rivalhng 
but eclipsing their fame, Columbus was received with all the marks of 
distinction due to a man who had performed things so extraordinary and 
unexpected. The King admitted him into his presence, treated him with 
the highest respect, and listened to the account which he gave of his voyage 

* Life of Columbus, c. 37. Heriera, <\vc. I. lib. ii. r. 1. 2. 



AMERICA. 63 

with admiration mingled with regret. While Columbus, on his part, 
enjoyed the satisfaction of describing the importance of his discoveries, and 
of being now able to prove the solidity of his schemes to those veiy 
persons, who, with an ignorance disgraceful to themselves, and fatal to their 
country, had lately rejected them as the projects of a visionary or designing 
adventurer.* 

Columbus was so impatient to return to Spain, that he remamed only 
five days in Lisbon. On the fifteenth of March he arrived in the port of 
Palos, seven months and eleven days from the time when he set out thence 
upon his voyage. As soon as the ship was discovered approaching the 
port, all the inhabitants of Palos ran eagerly to the shore, in order to welcome 
their relations and fellow-citizens, and to hear tidings of their voyage. 
When the prosperous issue of it was known, when they beheld the strange 
people, the unknown animals, and singular productions, brought trom the 
countries which had been discovered, the effusion of joy was general and 
unbounded. The bells were rung, the cannon fired ; Columbus was 
received at landing with royal honours, and all the people in soienm pro- 
cession, accompanied him and his crew to the church, where they returned 
thanks to Heaven, which had so wonderfully conducted and crowned with 
success a voyage of greater length and of more importance than had been 
attempted in any former age. On the evening of the same day, he had the 
satisfaction of seeuig the Pinta, which the violence of the tempest had driven 
far to the north, enter the harbour. 

The first care of Columbus was to inform the King and Queen, who were 
then at Barcelona, of his arrival and success. Ferdinand and Isabella, no 
less astonished than delighted with this unexpected event, desired Columbus, 
in terms the most respectful and flattering, to repair immediately to court, 
that from his own mouth they might receive a full detail of his extraordinary 
services and discoveries. During his journey to Barcelona, the people 
crowded from the adjacent countiy, following himeveiy where with admi- 
ration and applause. His entrance into the city was conducted, by order 
of Ferdinand and Isabella, with pomp suitable to the great event, which 
added such distinguishing lustre to their reign. The people whom he 
brought along with him from the countries which he had discovered, 
marched first, and by their singular complexion, the wild peculiarity of their 
features, and uncouth finery, appeared like men of another species. Next 
to them were carried the ornaments of gold, fashioned by the rude art of 
the natives, the grains of gold found in the mountains, and dust of the same 
metal gathered in the rivers. After these appeared the various commodities 
of the new discovered countries, together with their curious productions. 
Columbus himself closed the procession, and attracted the eyes of all the 
spectators, who gazed with admiration on the extraordinary man, whose 
superior sagacity and tbrtitude had conducted their countrymen, by a route 
concealed from past ages, to the knowledge of a new world. Ferdinand 
and Isabella received him clad in their royal robes, and seated upon a 
throne, under a magnificent canopy. When he approached, they stood up, 
and raising him as he kneeled to kiss their hands, commanded him to take 
his seat upon a chair prepared for him, and to give a circumstantial account 
of his voyage. He delivered it with a gravity and composure no less 
suitable to the disposition of the Spanish nation than to the dignity of the 
audience in which he spoke, and with that modest simplicity which 
characterizes men of superior minds, who, satisfied with having performed 
great actions, court not vain applause by an ostentatious display of their 
exploits. When he had finished his narration, the king and queen, kneeling 
flown, offered up solemn thanks to Almighty God for the discovery of those 
new regions, from which they expected so many advantages to flow in upon 

* liife of Columbus, c. 40, 41. Heriera, dec. 1. lib. ii. c 3. 



(A HISTORY OF [Book U. 

the kingdoms subject to their government. [17] Every mark of honour 
that gratitude or admiration could suggest was conferred upon Columbus. 
Letters patent were issued, confinning to him and to his heirs all the privileges 
contained in the capitulation concluded at Santa Fe ; his family w^as enno- 
bled ; the king and queen, and alter their example the courtiess, treated him 
on every occasion with all the ceremonious respect paid to persons of the 
highest rank. But what pleased him most, as it gratified his active mind, 
bent continually upon great objects, was an order to equip, without delay, 
an armament ot such Ibrce as might enable him not only to tai^e possession 
of the countries which he had already discovered, but to go in search of 
those more opulent regions which he still confidently expected to find.* 

While preparations were making for this expedition, the tame of Columbus's 
successful voyage spread over Europe, and excited general attention. The 
multitude, struck with amazement when they heard that a new world had 
been found, could hardly believe an event so much above their conception. 
Men of science, capable of comprehending the nature, and of discerning 
the effects of this great discovery, received the account of it with admiration 
and joy. They spoke of his voyage with rapture, and congiatulated one 
another upon then- felicity in having lived hi the period when, by this ex- 
traordinary event, the boundaries of human knowledge were so much 
extended, and such a new field of inquiry and observation opened, as would 
lead mankind to a perfect acquaintance with the stiiicture and productions 
of the habitable globe. t [18] Various opinions and conjectures were 
formed concerning the new found countries, and what division of the earth 
they belonged to. Columbus adhered tenaciously to his original opinion, 
that they should be reckoned a part of those vas^ regions in Asia, compre- 
hended under the general name of India. This sentiment was confirmed 
by the observations which he made concerning the productions of the 
countries he had discovered. Gold was known to abound in India, anu he 
had met with such promising samples of it in the islands which he visited, 
as led him to believe that rich mines of it might be found. Cotton, another 
production of the East Indies, was common there. The pimento of the 
islands he imagined to be a species of the East Indian pepper. He mistook 
a root, somewhat resembling rhubarb, for that valuable drug, which was 
then supposed to be a plant peculiar to the East Indies. J The birds brought 
home by him were adorned with the same rich plumage which distin- 
guishes those of India. The alligator of the one country appeared to be 
the same with the crocodile of the other. After weighing all these circum- 
stances, not only the Spaniards, but the other nations of Europe, seem to 
have adopted the opinion of Columbus. The countries v\ hich he had 
discovered were considered as a part of India. In consequence of this 
notion, the name of Indies is giveii to them by Ferdinand and Isabella, in 
a ratification of their former agreement, which was granted to Columbus 
upon his retuni.§ Even after the error which gave rise to this opinion was 
defected, and the true position of the New World was ascertained, the 
name has remained, and the rippellation of West Indies is given by all the 
people of Europe to the country, and tliat of Indians to its inhabitants. 

The name by which Columbus distinguished the countries which he had 
discovered was so inviting, the specimens oi their riches and fertility which 
he produced were so considerable, and the reports of his companions, 
delivered frequently with the exaggeration natural to travellers, so favourable, 
as to excite a wonderful spirit of enterprise among the Spaniards. Though 
little accustomed to naval expeditions, they were impatient to set out upon 
their voyage. Volunteers of every rank solicited to be employed. Allured 
by the inviting prospects which opened to their ambition and avarice, 

* Life of Columbus, c. 42, 43. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. ii. c. 3. 12 P. Mart. epiBt. 133, 134, 135. 
t Herrera, dec. 1. lib. i. c. 20. Gomera Hist. c. 17. § Life <Jf Columbus, c 44. 



A iVI E R I C A. 6i 

neither the length nor danger of the navigation intimidated them. Cautious 
as Ferdinand was, and averse to every thing new or adventurous, he seems 
to have catched the same spirit with his subjects. Under its influence, 
preparations for a second expedition were carried on with rapidity unusual 
in Spain, and to an extent that would be deemed not inconsiderable in the 
present age. The fleet consisted of seventeen ships, some of which were 
of good burden. It had on board hfteen hundred persons, among whom 
were many of noble families, who had served in honourable stations. The 
greater part ot these, being destined to remain in the country, were fur- 
nished with every thing requisite lor conquest or settlement, with all kinds 
ot European domestic animals, with such seeds and plants as were most 
likely to thrive in the cliinate ol the West Indies, with utensiis and instruments 
of every sort, and with such artilicers as might be most useful in an infant 
colony.* 

But, formidable and well provided as this fleet was, Ferdinand and 
Isabella did not rest their title to the possession of the newly discovered 
countries upon its operations alone. 'I'he example of the Portuguese, as 
well as the superstition of the age, made it necessary to obtain Irom the 
Roman pontiff a grant of those territories which they wished to occupy. 
The Pope, as the vicar and representative of Jesus Christ, was supposed 
to have a right of dominion over all the kingdoms of the earth. Alexander 
VI., a pontiff infamous for every crime which disgraces humanity, filled the 
Papal throne at that time. As he was born Ferdinand's subject, and very 
solicitous to secure the protection of Spain, in order to facilitate the execution 
of his ambitious schemes in favour of his own family, he was extremely 
willing to gratify the Spanish monarchs. By an act of liberality which 
cost him nothing, and that served to establish the j urisdiction and pretensions 
of the Papal See, he granted in full right to Ferdinand and Isabella all the 
countries inhabited by Infidels, which they had discovered, or should discover; 
and, in virtue of that power which he derived from Jesus Christ, he con- 
ferred on the crown of Castile vast regions, to the possession ot which he 
himself was so far from having any title, that he was unacquainted with 
their situation, and ignorant even of their existence. As it was necessary 
to prevent this grant trom interfering with that formerly made to the crown 
of Portugal, he appointed that a line, supposed to be drawn from pole to 

f)ole, a hundred leagues to the westward of the Azores, should serve as a 
imit between them ; and, in the plenitude of his power, bestowed all to 
the east of this imaginary line upon the Portuguese, and all to the west of 
it upon the Spaniards.! Zeal for propagating the Christian faith was the 
consideration employed by Ferdinand in soliciting this bull, and is mentioned 
by Alexander as his chief motive for issuing it. In order to manifest some 
concern for this laudable object, several friars, under the direction of Father 
BoyI, a Catalonian monk of great reputation, as apostolical vicar, were 
appointed to accompany Columbus, and to devote themselves to the 
instruction of the natives. The Indians, whom Columbus had brought along 
■with him, having received some tincture of Christian knowledge, were 
baptized with much solenmity, the king himself, the prince his son, and the 
chief persons of his court, standing as their godfathers. Those first fruits 
of the New World have not been loUowed by such an increase as pious men 
wished, and had reason to expect. 

Ferdinand and Isabella having thus acquired a title, which was then 
deemed completely valid, to extend their discoveries and to establish their 
dominion over such a considerable portion of the globe, nothing now retarded 
the departure of the fleet. Columbus was extremely impatient to revisit 
the colony which he had left, and to pursue that career of glory upon which 

• Herrera, dec. 1. lib. ii. c. 5. Life of Columbus, c. 45. t Hctrera, dec. 1. lib. Si. r 4. 

Torquemeila Mon. Ind. lib. xviii. c. 3. 

Vol. I.— 9 



66 HISTORY OF LBookII. 

he had entered. He set sail from tlie bay of Cadiz on the twenty-fifth of 
September, and touching again at the island of Gomera, he steered further 
towards the south than in his former voyage. By holding this course, he 
enjoyed more steadily the benefit of the regular winds, which reign within 
the tropics, and was carried towards a large cluster of islands, situated 
considerably to die east of those which he had already discovered. On the 
twenty-sixth day after his departure from Gomera [Nov. 2], he made land.* 
It was one of the Carribbee or Leeward Islands, to which he gave the name 
of Deseada, on account of the impatience of his crew to discover some part 
of the New World. After this he visited successively Dominica, Mari- 
galante, Guadaloupe, Antigua, San Juan de Puerto Rico, and several other 
islands, scattered in his way as he advanced towards the north-west. All 
these he found to be inhabited by that fierce race of people whom Guacan- 
ahari had painted in such frightful colours. His descriptions appeared not 
to have been exaggerated. I'he Spaniards never attempted to land without 
meeting with such a reception as discovered the martial and daring spirit 
of the natives ; and in their habitations were found relics of those horrid 
feasts which they had made upon the bodies of their enemies taken in war. 
But as Columbus was eager to know the state of the colony which he 
had planted, and to supply it with the necessaries of which he supposed it 
to be in want, he made no stay in any of those islands, and proceeded 
directly to Hispaniola [Nov. 22J.t When he arrived ofif Navidad, the 
station in which he had left the thirty-eight men under the command of 
Arada, he was astonished that none of them appeared, and expected every 
moment to see them running with transports of joy to welcome their 
countrymen. Full of solicitude about their safety, and foreboding in his 
mind what had befallen them, he rowed instantly to land. All the natives 
from whom he might have received information had fled. But the fort 
which he had built was entirely demolished, and the tattered garments, the 
broken arms and utensils scattered about it, left no room to doubt concerning 
the unhappy fate of the garrison.;}: While the Spaniards were shedding 
fears over those sad memorials of their fellow-citizens, a brother of the 
cazique Guacanahari arrived. From him Columbus received a particular 
detail of what had happened after his departure from the island. The 
familiar intercourse of the Indians with the Spaniards tended gradually to 
diminish the superstitious veneration with which their first appearance had 
inspired that simple people. By their own indiscretion and ill conduct, the 
Spaniards speedily effaced those favourable impressions, and soon convinced 
the natives, that they had all the wants, and weaknesses, and passions of 
men. As soon as the powerful restraint which the presence and authority 
of Columbus imposed was withdrawn, the garrison threw off all regard for 
the officer whom he had invested with command. Regardless of the 
prudent instructions which he had given them, every man became inde- 
pendent, and gratified his desires without control. Ihe gold, the women,- 
the provisions of the natives, were all the prey of those licentious oppressors. 
They roamed in small parties over the island, extending their rapacity and 
insolence to every corner of it. Gentle and timid as the people were, those 
unprovoked injuries at length exhausted their patience, and roused their 
courage. The cazique of Cibao, whose country the Spaniards chiefly 
infested on account of the gold which it contained, surprised and cut off 
several of them, while they straggled in as perfect security as if their 
conduct had been altogether inoffensive. He then assembled his subjects, 
and surrounding the fort, set it on fire. Some of the Spaniards were killed 
in defending it ; the rest perished in attempting to make their escape by 
crossing an arm of the sea. Guacanahari, whom all their exactions had 

• Oviedo ap. Ramus, iii. 85. t P- Martyr, dec. p. 15. 18. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. ii. c. T. Life 

of ColiimbuB, e. 46. &c. J Hist, de Cura de los Pal^cios. MS. 



A M E R I C A, 67 

not alienated from the Spaniards, took arms in their befiah", antl, in endea- 
vouring to protect them, had received a wound, by which he was still 
contined.* 

Though this account was far from removing the suspicions which the 
Spaniards entertained with respect to the fidelity of Guacanahari, Columbus 
perceived so clearly that this was not a proper juncture for inquiring into his 
conduct with scrupulous accuracy, that he rejected the advice of several of 
liis officers, who urged him to seize the person of that Prince, and to revengo 
the death of their countiymen by attacking his subjects. He represented 
to them the necessity of securing the friendship of some potentate of the 
countr)', in order to facilitate the settlement which they intended, and the 
danger of driving the natives to unite in some desperate attempt against 
them, by such an ill-timed and unavailing exercise of rigour. Instead of 
wasting his time in punishing past wrongs, he took precautions tor preventing 
any future injuiy. With this view, he made choice of a situation more 
healthy and commodious than that of Navidad. He traced out the plan of 
a town in a large plain near a spacious bay, and obliging every person to 
put his hand to a work on which their common safety depended, the houses 
and ramparts were soon so far advanced, by their united labour, as to atFord 
them shelter and security. This rising city, the first that the Europeans 
founded in the New World, he named Isabella, in honour of his patroness 
the Queen of Castile.t 

In carrying on this necessaiy work, Columbus had not only to sustain all 
the hardships, and to encounter all the difficulties, to which infant colonies 
are exposed when they settle in an uncultivated country, but he had to 
contend with what was more insuperable, the laziness, the impatience, and 
mutinous disposition of his followers. By the enervating influence of a hot 
climate, the natural inactivity of the Spaniards seemed to increase. Many 
of them were gentlemen, unaccustomed to the fatigue of bodily labour, 
and all had engaged in the enterprise with the sanguine hopes excited by 
the splendid and exaggerated description of their countrymen who returned 
from the first voyage, or by the mistaken opinion of Columbus, that the 
country which he had discovered was either the Cipango of Marco Polo, 
or the Ophir,;}; from which Solomon imported those precious commodities 
which suddenly diffused such extraordinary riches through his kingdom. 
But when, instead of that golden harvest which they had expected to reap 
without toil or pains, the Spaniards saw that their prospect of wealth was 
remote as well as uncertain, and that it could not be attained but by the 
slow and persevering efforts of industry, the disappointment of those 
chimerical hopes occasioned such dejection of mind as bordered on despair, 
and led to general discontent. In vain did Columbus endeavour to revive 
their spirits by pointing out the fertility of the soil, and exhibiting the 
specimens of gold daily brought in from different parts of the island. 
They had not patience to wait for the gradual returns which the former 
might yield, and the latter they despised as scanty and inconsiderable. 
The spirit of disaffection spread, and a conspiracy was formed, which might 
have been fatal to Columbus and the colony. Happily he discovered it ; 
and, seizing the ringleaders, punished some of them, sent others prisoners 
into Spain, whither he despatched twelve of the ships which had served 
as transports, with an earnest request for a reinforcement of men and a large 
supply of provisions.§ 

1494.] Meanwhile, in order to banish that idleness which, by allowing 
liis people leisure to brood over their disappointment, nourished the spirit 
of discontent, Columbus planned several expeditions into the interior part of 



* p. Martyr, dec. p. 22, &c. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. ii. c. 7. fl. Life of Columbus, c. 49, 50. t Life 
of Columbus, c. 5L Herrera, dec. 1. lib. ii. c. 10. 1 P. Martyr, dec. p. 99. $ Herrera, defc 
J.lib. ii. c. 10. II 



68 HISTORV OF [Book II. 

the country. He sent a detachment, under the command of Alonzo de 
Ojeda, a vigilant and enterprising officer, to visit the district of Cibao, which 
was said to yield the greatest quantity of gold, and followed him in person 
with the main body ot his troops. In this expedition he displayed all the 
pomp of military magnificence that he could exhibit, in order to strike the 
imagination of the natives. He marched with colours flying, wi^th martial 
music, and with a small body of cavalry that paraded sometimes in the front 
and sometimes in the rear. As those were the first horses which appeared 
in the New World, they were objects of terror no less than of admiration 
to the Indians, who, having no tame animals themselves, were unacquainted 
with that vast accession of power which man hath acquired by subjecting 
them to his dominion. They supposed them to be rational creatures. They 
imagined that the horse and the rider formed one animal, with whose speed 
they were astonished, and whose impetuosity and strength they considered 
as irresistible. But while Columbus endeavoured to inspire the natives 
with a dread of his power, he did not neglect the arts of gaining their love 
and confidence. He adhered scrupulously to the principles of integrity and 
justice in all his transactions with them, and treated them, on every occasion, 
not only with humanity, but with indulgence. The district of Cibao 
answered the description given of it by the natives. It was mountainous 
and uncultivated, but in every river artd brook gold was gathered either in 
dust or in grains, some of which were of considerable size. The Indians had 
never opened any mines in search of gold. To penetrate into the bowels of 
the earth, and to refine the rude ore, were operations too complicated and 
laborious for their talents and industry, and they had no such high value for 
gold as to put their ingenuity and invention upon the stretch in order to 
obtain it.* The small quantity of that precious metal which they possessed, 
was either picked up in the beds of the rivers, or washed from the mountains 
by the heavy rains that fall within the tropics. But from those indications, 
the Spaniards could no longer doubt that the country contained rich treasures 
in its bowels, of which they hoped soon to be masters.! In order to secure 
the command of this valuable province, Columbus erected a small fort, to 
Avhich he gave the name of St. Thomas, by way of ridicule upon some of 
his incredulous followers, who would not believe that the country produced 
gold, until they saw it with their own eyes, and touched it with their 
hands.J 

The account of those promising appearances of wealth in the country of 
Cibao came very seasonably to comfort the desponding colony, which was 
affected with distresses of various kinds. The stock of provisions which 
had been brought from Europe was mostly consumed ; what remained was 
so much corrupted by the heat and moisture of the climate as to be almost 
unfit for use ; the natives cultivated so small a portion of ground, and with 
so little skill, that it hardly yielded what was sufficient for their own sub- 
sistence ; the Spaniards at Isabella had hitherto neither time nor leisure to clear 
the soil, so as to reap any considerable fruits of their own industry. On all 
these accounts, they became afraid of perishing with hunger, and were 
reduced already to a scanty allowance. At the same time, the diseases 
predominant in the torrid zone, and which rage chiefly in those uncultivated 
countries where the hand of industry' has not opened the woods, drained the 
marshes, and confined the rivers within a certain channel, began to spread 
among them. Alarmed at the violence and unusual symptoms of those 
maladies, they exclaimed against Columbus and his companions in the 
former voyage, who, by their splendid but deceitful descriptions of Hispa- 
niola, had allured them to quit Spain for a barbarous uncultivated land, 
where they must either be cut off by famine, or die of unknown distempers. 

* Oviedo, lib. ii. p. 90. A. t P- Martyr, dec. p. 32. i Ilenera, dec. 1. lib. ii. c. 12. Life 
of Colunibns, c. 53. 



A M E R I C A. 69 

Several of the officers and persons of note, instead of checking, joined in 
those seditious complaints. Father Boyl, the apostolical vicar, was one of 
the most turbulent and outrageous. It required all the authority and address 
of Columbus to re-establish subordination and tranquillity in the colony. 
Threats and promises were alternately employed for this purpose ; but 
nothing contributed more to soothe the malecontents than the prospect of 
finding, in the mines of Cibao, such a rich store of treasure as would be a 
recompense for all their sufferings, and efface the memory of former 
disappointments. 

VVhen, by his unwearied endeavours, concord and order were so far 
restored that he could venture to leave the island, Columbus resolved to 
pursue his discoveries, that he might be able to ascertain whether those new 
countries with which he had opened a communication were connected with 
any region of the earth already known, or whether they were to be con- 
sidered as a separate portion of the globe hitherto unvisited. He appointed 
his brother Don Diego, with the assistance of a council of oificers, to govern 
the island in his absence ; and gave the command of a body of soldiers to 
Don Pedro Margarita, with which he was to visit the different parts of the 
island, and endeavour to establish the authority ol the Spaniards among the 
inhabitants. Having left them very particular instructions with respect to 
their conduct, he weighed anchor on the 24th of April, with one ship and 
two small barks under his command. During a tedious voyage of full five 
months, he had a trial of almost all the numerous hardships to which 
persons of his profession are exposed, without making any discovery of 
importance, except the island of Jamaica. As he ranged along the southern 
coast of Cuba [19], he was entangled in a labyrinth formed by an incredible 
number of small islands, to which he gave the name of the Queen's Garden. 
In this unknown course, among rocks and shelves, he was retarded by con- 
trary winds, assaulted with furious storms, and alarmed with the terrible 
thunder and lightning which is often almost incessant between the tropics. At 
length his provisions fell short ; his crew, exhausted with fatigue as well as 
hunger, murmured and threatened, and were ready to proceed to the most 
desperate extremities against him. Beset with danger in such various forms, 
he was obliged'to keep continual watch, to observe every occurrence with 
his own eyes, to issue every order, and to superintend the execution of it. 
On no occasion was the extent of his skill and experience as a navigator so 
much tried. To these the squadron owed its satety. But this unremitted 
fatigue of body, and intense application of mind, overpowering his consti- 
tution, though naturally vigorous and robust, brought on a feverish disorder, 
which terminated in a lethargy, that deprived him of sense and memoiy, 
and had almost proved fatal to his life.* 

But, on his return to Hispaniola [Sept. 27], the sudden emotion of joy 
which he felt upon meeting with his brother Bartholomew at Isabella, 
occasioned such a flow of spirits as contributed greatly to his recovery. 
It was now thirteen years since the two brothers, whom similarity of talents 
united in close friendship, had separated from each other, and during that 
long period there had been no intercourse between them. Bartholomew, 
after finishing his negotiation in the court of England, had set out lor Spain 
by the way of France. At Paris he received an account of the extraordinary 
discoveries which his brother had made in his first voyage, and that he was 
then preparing to embark on a second expedition. Though this naturally- 
induced him to pursue his journey with the utmost despatch, the admiral 
had sailed for Hispaniola belore he reached Spain. Ferdinand and Isabella 
received him with the respect due to the nearest kinsman of a person whose 
merit and services rendered him so conspicuous ; and as they knew what 
consolation his presence would afford to his brother, they persuaded him to 

• Lift of Columbu", c. 54, *.c. Ileirera. irr. I. lib, ii. e. 11, 14 P. Martyr, dec. I. p. 34, &.c. 



70 H I S T O R V O F [Book II. 

take the command of three ships, which they had appointed to carry 
provisions to the colony at Isabella.* 

He could not have arrived at any juncture when Columbus stood more 
in need of a friend capable of assisting him with his counsels, or of dividing 
with him the cares and burdens of government. For although the provisions 
now brought from Europe afforded a temporary relief to the Spaniards from 
the calamities of famine, the supply was not in such quantity as to support 
them long, and the island did not hitherto yield what was sufficient for their 
sustenance. They were threatened with another danger, still more formida- 
ble than the return of scarcity, and which demanded more immediate 
attention. No sooner did Columbus leave tlie island on his voyage of 
discovery, than the soldiers under Mai^arita, as if they had been set free 
from discipline and subordination, scorned all restraint. Instead of con- 
forming to the prudent instructions of Columbus, they dispersed in straggling 
parties over the island, lived at discretion upon the natives, wasted their 
provisions, seized their women, and treated that inofifensive race with all the 
insolence of military oppression.! 

As long as the Indians had any prospect that their sufiferings might come 
to a period by the voluntaiy departure of the invaders, they submitted in 
silence, and dissembled their sorrow ; but they now perceived that the yoke 
would be as permanent as it was intolerable. The Spaniards had built a 
town, and surrounded it with ramparts. They had erected forts in different 
places. They had enclosed and sown several iields. It was apparent 
that they came not to visit the countiy, but to settle in it. Though the 
number of those strangers was inconsiderable, the state of cultivation among 
these rude people was so imperfect, and in such exact proportion to their 
own consumption, that it was with difficulty they could afford subsistence 
to their new guests. Their own mode of life was so indolent and inactive, 
the warmth of the climate so enervating, the constitution of their bodies 
naturally so feeble, and so unaccustomed to the laborious exertions of 
industry, that they were satisfied with a proportion of food amazingly small. 
A handful of maize, or a little of the insipid bread made of the cassada- 
root, was sufficient to support men whose strength and spirits were not 
exhausted by any vigorous efforts either of body or mind. The Spaniards, 
though the most abstemious of all the European nations, appeared to them 
excessively voracious. One Spaniard consumed as much as several Indians. 
This keenness of appetite surprised them so much, and seemed to be so 
insatiable, that they supposed the Spaniards had left their own country 
becai'se it did not produce as much as was requisite to gratify their immo- 
derate desire of food, and had come among thein in quest of nourishment.^ 
Self-preservation prompted them to wish for the departure of guests who 
wasted so fast their slender stock of provisions. The injuries which they 
suffered added to their impatience for this event. They had long expected 
that the Spaniards would retire of their own accord. They now perceived 
that, in order to avert the destruction with which they were threatened, either 
by the slow consumption of famine, or by the violence of their oppressors, it 
was necessary to assume courage, to attack those formidable invaders with 
united force, and drive them from the settlements of which they had 
violently taken possession. 

Such were the sentiments which universally prevailed among the Indians, 
when Columbus returned to Isabella. Inflamed, by the unprovoked out- 
rages of the Spaniards, with a degree of rage of which their gentle natures, 
tiirmed to sufler and submit, seemed hardly susceptible, they wailed only 
for a signal from their leaders to fall upon the colony. Some of the 
caziques had already surprised and cut off several stragglers. The dread 
of this impending danger united the Spaniards, and re-established the 

• Hcrrers. dec. I. lib. ii. r. 15. *■ p. Martyr, dec. p. 47. t Herrera. dec. I. lib. ii. c. IT. 



A xM ERIC A. 71 

authority of Columbus, as they saw no prospect of safety but in committing 
themselves to his prudent guidance. It was now necessary to have recourse 
to arms, the employing of which against the Indians Columbus had hitherto 
avoided with the greatest solicitude. Unequal as the conflict may seem, 
between the naked inhabitants of the New World armed with clubs, sticks 
hardened in the fire, wooden swords, and arrows pointed with bones or flints, 
and troops accustomed to the discipline, and provided with the instruments 
of destruction known in the European art of war, the situation of the 
Spaniards was far from being exempt iVom danger. The vast superiority 
oi the natives in number compensated many detects. A handful of men 
was about to encounter a whole nation. One adverse event, or even any 
unforeseen delay in determining the fate of the war, might prove fatal to the 
Spaniards. Conscious that success depended on the vigour and rapidity of 
his operations, Columbus instantly assembled his forces. They were 
reduced to a very small number. Diseases, engendered by the wamith 
and humidity of the country, or occasioned by their own licentiousness, had 
raged among them with much violence ; experience had not yet taught them 
the art either of curing these, or the precautions requisite for guarding against 
them ; two-thirds ot the original adventurers were dead, and many of 
those who survived were incapable of service.* The body which took 
the tield [March 24, 1495] consisted only of two hundred foot, twenty 
horse, ana twenty lai^e dogs ; and how strange soever it may seem to 
mention the last as composing part of a military force, they were not perhaps 
the least formidable and destructive of the whole, when employed against 
naked and timid Indians. All the caziques of the island, Guacanahari 
excepted, who retained an inviolable attachment to the Spaniards, were in 
arms to oppose Columbus, with forces amounting, if we may believe the 
Spanish historians, to a hundred thousand men. Instead of attempting to 
draw the Spaniards into the fastnesses of the woods and mountains, they 
were so imprudent as to take their station in the V'ega Real, the most open 
plain in the country. Columbus did not allow them time to perceive their 
error, or to alter their position. He attacked them during the night, when 
undisciplined troops are least capable of acting with union and concert, and 
obtained an easy and bloodless victor)'. The consternation with which the 
Indians were filled by the noise and' havoc made by the fire arms, by the 
impetuous force of the cavaliy, and the fierce onset of the dogs was so 
great, that they threw down their weapons, and fled without attempting 
resistance. Many were slain ; more were taken prisoners, and reduced to 
servitude [20] ; and so thoroughly were the rest intimidated, that from that 
moment they abandoned themselves to despair, relinquishing all thoughts 
of contending with aggressors whom they deemed invincible. 

Columbus employed several months in marching through the islaiid, and 
in subjecting it to the Spanish government, without meeting with any 
opposition. He imposed a tribute upon all the inhabitants above the age of 
fourteen. Each person who lived in those districts where gold was found, 
was obliged to pay quarterly as much gold dust as filled a hawk's bell ; 
from those in other parts of the countiy, twenty-five pounds of cotton were 
demanded. This was the first regular taxation of the Indians, and served 
as a precedent for exactions still more intolerable. Such an imposition was 
extremely contrary to tliose maxims which Columbus had hitherto inculcated 
with respect to the mode of treating them. But intrigues were carrying 
on in the court of Spain at this juncture, in order to undermine his power, 
and discredit his operations, which constrained him to depart from his own 
system of administration. Several unfavourable accounts of his conduct, as 
well as of the countries discovered by him, had been transmitted to Spain. 
Margarita and Father Boyl were now at court, and in order to justify their 

• Life of Columbus, t. 61. 



72 HISTORY OF [Book II. 

own conduct, or to gratify their resentment, watched with malevolent 
attention for every opportunity of spreading insinuations to his detriment. 
Many of the courtiers viewed his growing reputation and power with 
envious eyes. Fonseca, archdeacon of Seville, who was intrusted with the 
chief direction of Indian affairs, had conceived such an unfavourable opinion 
of Columbus, for some reason which the contemporary writers have not 
mentioned, that he listened with partiality to every invective against him. 
It was not easy for an unfriended stranger, unpractised in courtly arts, to 
counteract the machinations of so many enemies. Columbus saw that there 
was but one method of supporting his own credit, and of silencing all his 
adversaries. He must produce such a quantity of gold as would not only 
justify what he had reported with respect to the richness of the country, but 
encourage Ferdinand and Isabella to persevere in prosecuting his plans. 
The necessity of obtaining it forced him not only to impose this heavy tax 
upon the Indians, but to exact payment of it with extreme rigour ; and may 
be pleaded in excuse for his deviating on this occasion from the mildness 
and humanity with which he uniformly treated that unhappy people.* 

The labour, attention, and foresight which the Indian? were obliged to 
employ in procurinof the tribute demanded of them, appeared the most 
intolerable of all evils, to men accustomed to pass their days in a careless 
improvident indolence. They were incapable of such a regular and 
persevering exertion of industry, and felt it such a grievous restraint upon 
their liberty, that they had recourse to an expedient for obtaining deliverance 
from this yoke, which demonstrates the excess of their impatience and 
despair. They formed a scheme of starving those oppressors whom they 
durst not attempt to expel ; and from the opinion which they entertained 
with respect to the voracious appetite of the Spaniards, they concluded 
the execution of it to be very practicable. With this view they suspended 
all the operations of agriculture ; they sowed no maize, they pulled up the 
roots of the manioc or cassada which were planted, and, retiring to the most 
inaccessible parts of the mountains, left the uncultivated plains to their 
enemies. This desperate resolution produced in some degree the efifects 
which they expected. The Spaniards were reduced to extreme want ; 
but they received such seasonable supplies of provisions from Europe, and 
found so many resources in their own ingenuity and industry, that they_ 
.'suffered no great loss of men. The wretched Indians were the victims of 
their own ill-concerted policy. A great multitude of people, shut up in the 
mountainous or wooded part of the country, without any food but the spon- 
taneous productions of the earth, soon felt the utmost distresses of famine. 
This brought on contagious diseases ; and in the course of a few months 
more than a third part of the inhabitants of the island perished, after 
experiencing misery in all its various forms.! 

But while Columbus was establishing the foundations of the Spanish 
grandeur in the New World, his enemies laboured with unwearied assiduity 
to deprive him of the glory and rewards which, by his services and 
sufferings, he was entitled to enjoy. The hardships unavoidable in a new 
settlement, the calamities occasioned by an unhealthy climate, the disasters 
attending a voyage in unknown seas, were all represented as the efl'ects of 
his restless and inconsiderate ambition. His prudent attention to preserve 
discipline and subordination was denominated excess of rigour; the 
punishments which he inflicted upon the mutinous and disorderly were 
imputed to cruelty. These accusations gained such credit in a jealous 
court, that a commissioner was appointed to repair to Hispaniola, and to 
inspect into the conduct of Columbus. By the recommendation of his 
enemies, Aguado, a groom of" the bedchamber, was the person to whom 

* HeiTMa, dec. 1. lib. ii. c. 17. t Herrera, dec. 1. lib. xi. c. 18. Life of Columbiiu, c. 61. 

Oviedo. lib. iii. p. 93. D. Bcnzon Hist. Novi Orbi», lib. i. c. 9. P. Msnyr. dec. p. 48. 



AMERICA. 73 

this important trust was committed. But in (his choice they seem to have 
been more influenced by the obsequious attachment of the man to their 
interest, than by his capacity for the station. PuSed up with such sudden 
elevation, Aguado displayed, in the exercise of this office, all the frivolous 
self-importance, and acted with all the disgusting insolence which are natural 
to little minds, when raised to unexpected dignity, or employed in functions 
to which they are not equal. By listening with eagerness to every accusa- 
tion against Columbus, and encouraging not only the malecontent Spaniards, 
but even the Indians, to produce their grievances, real or imaginary, he 
fomented the spirit of dissension in the island, without establishing any 
regulations of public utility, or that tended to redress the many wrongs, 
with the odium of which he wished to load the admiral's administration. 
As Columbus felt sensibly how humiliating his situation must be, if he 
should remain in the country while such a partial inspector observed his 
motions and controlled his jurisdiction, he took the resolution of returning to 
Spain, in order to lay a full account of all his transactions, particularly with 
re3.pect to the points in dispute between him and his adversaries, before 
Ferdinand and Isabella, from whose justice and discernment he expected an 
equal and a favourable decision [1496], He committed the administration 
ot afiairs, during his absence, to Don Bartholomew, his brother, with the 
title of Adelantado, or Lieutenant-Governor. By a choice less fortunate, 
and which proved the source of many calamities to the colony, he appointed 
Francis Roldan chief justice, with very extensive powers.* 

In returning to Europe, Columbus held a course different from that which 
he had taken in his former voyage. He steered almost due east from 
Hispaniola, in the parallel of twenty-two degrees of latitude ; as experience 
had not yet discovered the more certain and expeditious method of stretching 
to the north, in order to fall in with the south-west winds. By this ill 
advised choice, which, in the infancy of navigation between the New and 
Old Worlds, can hardly be imputed to the admiral as a defect in naval skill, 
he was exposed to infinite fatigue and danger, in a perpetual struggle with 
the trade winds, which blow without variation from the east between the 
tropics. Notwithstanding the almost insuperable difficulties of such a 
navigation, he persisted in his course with his usual patience and firmness, 
but made so little way that he was three months without seeing land. At 
length his provisions began to fail, the crew was reduced to the scanty 
allowance of six ounces of bread a day for each person. The admiral fared 
no better than the meanest sailor. But, even in this extreme distress, he 
retained the humanity which distinguishes his character, and refused to 
comply with the earnest solicitations of his crew, some of whom proposed 
to feed upon the Indian prisoners whom they were cariying over, and others 
insisted to throw them overboard, in order to lessen the consumption of 
their small stock. He represented that they were human beings, reduced 
by a common calamity to the same condition with themselves, and entitled 
*o share an equal fate. His authority and remonstrances dissipated those 
wild ideas suggested by despair. Nor had they time to recur; as he came 
soon withm sight of the coast of Spain, when all their fears and sufferinffs 
ended.t 

Columbus appeared at court with the modest but determined confidence 
of a mat) conscious not only of integrity, but of having performed great 
services. Ferdinand and Isabella, ashamed of their own facility in lending 
too favourable an ear to frivolous or unfounded accusations, received him 
with such distinguished marks of respect as covered his enemies with 
shame. Their censures and calumnies were no more heard of at that 
j uncture. The gold, the pearls, the cotton, and other commodities of value 

* Hftrrera, dec. 1. lib. ii. c. 18. lib. iii. el. t Herrera. dec. 1. lib. iii. c. J. Life of 

LOlumnus, c. 64. 

Vol. I.—IO 



74 HISTORY OF [BookII. 

which Columbus produced, seemed fully to refute what the malecontents 
had propagated with respect to the poverty of the countiy. By reducing 
the Indians to obedience, and imposing a regular tax upon them, he had 
secured to Spain a laige accession of new subjects, and the establishment 
of a revenue that promised to be considerable. By the mines which he had 
found out and examined, a source of wealth still more copious was opened. 
Great and unexpected as those advantages were, Columbus represented 
them only as preludes to future acquisitions, and as the earnest of more 
important discoveries, which he still meditated, and to which those he had 
already made would conduct him with ease and certainty.* 

The attentive consideration of all these circumstances made such an 
impression, not only upon Isabella, who was flattered with the idea of being 
the patroness of all Columbus's enterprises, but even upon Ferdinand, who 
having originally expressed his disapprobation of his schemes, was still apt 
to doubt of their success, that they resolved to supply the colony of 
Hispaniola with every thing which could render it a permanent establish- 
ment, and to furnish Columbus with such a fleet, that he might proceed to 
search for those new countries of whose existence he seemed to be confident. 
The measures most proper for accomplishing both these designs were 
concerted with Columbus. Discovery had been the sole object of the first 
voyage to the New World ; and though, in the second, settlement had been 
proposed, the precautions taken for that purpose had either been insuffi- 
cient, or were rendered ineflfectual by the mutinous spirit of the Spaniards, 
and the unforeseen calamities arising iVom various causes. Now a plan was 
to be formed of a regular colony, that might serve as a model in all future 
establishments. Every particular was considered with attention, and the 
whole arranged with a scrupulous accuracy. The precise number of 
adventurers who should be permitted to embark was fixed. They were 
to be of diS'erent ranks and professions, and the proportion of each was 
established according to their usefulness and the wants of the colony. A 
suitable number of women were . to be chosen to accompany these new 
settlers. As it was the first object to raise provisions in a country' where 
scarcity of tbod had been the occasion of so much distress, a considerable 
body of husbandmen was to be carried over. As the Spaniards had then 
no conception of deriving any benefit from those productions of the New 
World which have since yielded such large returns of wealth to Europe, 
but had formed magnificent ideas, and entertained sanguine hopes with 
respect to the riches contained in the mines which had been discovered, a 
band of workmen, skilled in the various arts employed in digging and 
refining the precious metals, was provided. All these emigrants were to 
receive pay and subsistence for some years, at the public expense.! 

Thus far the regulations were pnident, and well adapted to the end in 
view. But as it was foreseen that few would engage voluntarily to settle 
in a country whose noxious climate had been fatal to so many of their 
countrymen, Columbus proposed to transport to Hispaniola such malefactors 
as had been convicted of crimes which, though capital, were of a less 
atrocious nature ; and that for the future a certain proportion of the offenders 
usually sent to the galleys, should be condemned to labour in the mines 
which were to be opened. This advice, given without due reflection, was 
as inconsiderately adopted. The prisons of Spain were drained, in order 
to collect members for the intended colony ; and the judges empowered to 
try criminals were instructed to recruit it by their future sentences. It was 
not, however, with such materials that the foundations of a society, destined 
to be permanent, should be laid. Industry, sobriety, patience, and mutual 
confidence, are indispensably requisite in an infant settlement, where purity 
of morals must contribute more towards establishing order than the operation 

• Life of Columbus, c. 65. Herrcra, dec. 1. lib. iii. c. 1. t Herrera, dec. 1. lib. iii. c. 2. 



AMERICA. 75 

or authority of laws. But when such a mixture of what is corrupt is 
admitted into the original constitution of the political body, the vices of 
those unsound and incurable members will probably infect the whole, and 
must certainly be productive of violent and unhappy effects. This the 
Spaniards fatally experienced ; and the other European nations having 
successively imitated the practice of Spain in this particular, pernicious 
consequences have followed in their settlements, which can be imputed to 
no other cause.* 

Though Columbus obtained, with great facility and despatch, the royal 
approbation of every measure and regulation that he proposed, his endeavours 
to carry them into execution were so long retarded, as must have tired out 
the patience of any man less accustomed to encounter and to surmount 
difficulties. Those delays were occasioned partly by that tedious formality 
and spirit of procrastination, with which the Spaniards conduct business, 
and partly by the exhausted state of the treasury, which was drained by the 
expense of celebrating the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella's only son 
with IVIaigaret of Austria, and that of Joanna, their second daughter, with 
Philip Archduke of Austria ;t but must be chiefly imputed to the malicious 
arts of Columbus's enemies. Astonished at the reception which he met 
with upon his return, and overawed by his presence, they gave way, for 
some time, to a tide of favour too strong for them to oppose. Their enmity, 
however, was too inveterate to remain long inactive. They resumed their 
operations ; and by the assistance of Fonseca, the minister for Indian affairs, 
who was now promoted to the bishopric of Badajos, they threw in so many 
obstacles to protract the preparations for Columbus's expedition, that a year 
elapsedj betbre he could procure two ships to carry over a part of the 
supplies destined for the colony, and almost two years were spent before 
the small squadron was equipped, of which he himself was to take the 
command.5 

1498.] This squadron consisted of six ships only, of no great burden, and 
but indifferently provided for a long or dangerous navigation. The voyage 
which he now meditated was in a course different from any he had under- 
taken. As he was fully persuaded that the fertile regions of India lay to the 
south-west of those countries which he had discovered, he proposed, as the 
most certain method of finding out these, to stand directly south from the 
Canary or Cape de Verd islands, until he came under the equinoctial line, 
and then to stretch to the west before the favourable wind tor such a course, 
which blows invariably between the tropics. With this idea he set sail 
[May 30], and touched first at the Canary, and then at the Cape de Verd 
islands [July 4]. From the former he despatched three of his ships with a 
supply of provisions for the colony in Hispaniola ; with the other three, he 
continued his voyage towards the south. No remarkable occurrence 
happened until they arrived within five degrees of the line [July 19], 
There they were Becalmed, and at the same time the heat became so 
excessive that many of their wine casks burst, the liquors in others soured, 
and their provisions corrupted.il The Spaniards, who had never ventured 
so far to the south, were afraid that the ships would take fire, and began to 
apprehend the reality of what the ancients had taught concerning the 
destructive qualities of that torrid region of the globe. They were 
relieved, in some measure, from their fears by a seasonable fall of rain. 
This, however, though so heavy and unintermitting that the men could 
hardly keep the deck, did not greatly mitigate the intenseness of the heat. 
The admiral, who with his usual vigilance had in person directed every 
operation from the beginning of the voyage, was so much exhausted by 

* Herrera, dec. 1. lib. iii. c. 2. Toaron HIbU Gener. de I'Amerique, i. p. 51. t P- Martyr, 

epist. 168. { Life of Columbiu. c. (55. ^ Herrera, dec. 1. lib. iii. c. 9. !| P. Martyr, 

dec. p. 70. 



76 HISTORY OF [Book II. 

fatigue and want of sleep, that it brought on a violent fit of the gout, 
accompanied with a fever. All these circumstances constrained him to 
yield to the importunities of his crew, and to alter his course to the north- 
west, in order to reach some of the Caribbee islands, where he might refit, 
and be supplied with provisions. 

On the first of August, the man stationed in the round top surprised them 
with the joyful cry of Land! They stood toward it, and discovered a 
considerable island, which the admiral called Trinidad, a name it still 
retains. It lies on the coast of Guiana, near the mouth of the Orinoco. 
This, though a river only of the third or fourth magnitude in the New 
World, far surpasses any of the streams in our hemisphere. It roils towards 
the ocean such a vast body of water, and rushes into it with such impetuous 
force, that when it meets the tide, which on that coast rises to an uncommon 
height, their collision occasions a swell and agitation of the waves no less 
surprising than formidable. In this conflict, the irresistible torrent of the 
river so iar prevails, that it freshens the ocean many leagues with its flood.* 
Columbus, before he could conceive the danger, was entangled among those 
adverse currents and tempestuous waves, and it was with the utmost 
difliculty that he escaped through a narrow strait, which appeared so 
tremendous that he called it La Boca del Drago. As soon as the conster- 
nationwhich this occasioned permitted him toreflect upon the nature of an 
appearance so extraordinary, he discerned in it a source of comfort and 
hope. He justly concluded that such a vast body of water as this river con- 
tained, could not be supplied by any island, but must flow through a country 
of immense extent, and of consequence that he was now arrived at that 
continent which it had long been the object of his wishes to discover. 
Full of this idea, he stood to the west along the coast of those provinces 
which are now known by the names of Paria and Cumana. He landed 
in several places, and had some intercourse with the people, who resembled 
those of Hispaniola in their appearance and manner of life. They wore, 
as ornaments, small plates of gold, and pearls of considerable value, which 
they willingly exchanged for European toys. They seemed to possess a 
better understanding and greater courage than the inhabitants of the islands. 
The country produced four-footed animals of several kinds, as well as a 
great variety of fowls and fruits.j The admiral was so much delighted 
with its beauty and fertility, that, with the warm enthusiasm of a discoverer, 
he imagined it to be the Paradise described in Scripture, which the Almighty 
chose for the residence of man while he retained innocence that rendered 
him worthy of such a habitation.^ [21] Thus Columbus had the glory 
not only of discovering to mankind the existence of a new World, but made 
considerable progress towards a perfect knowledge of it ; and was the first 
man who conducted the Spaniards to that vast continent which has been the 
chief seat of their empire, and the source of their treasures in this quarter 
of the globe. The shattered condition of his ships, scarcity of provisions, 
his own infirmities, together with the impatience of his crew, prevented 
him trom pursuing his discoveries any further, and made it necessary to 
bear away for Hispaniola. In his way thither he discovered the islands of 
Cubagua and Margarita, which afterwards became remarkable for their 
pearl-fishery. When he arrived at Hispaniola [Aug. 30], he was wasted 
to an extreme degree, with fatigue and sickness ; but found the affairs of 
the colony in such a situation as afforded him no prospect of enjoying that 
repose of*^ which he stood so much in need. 

Many revolutions had happened in that country during his absence. His 
brother, the adelantado, in consequence of an advice which the admiral 
gave before his departure, had removed the colony from Isabella to a more 

• Gumilla Hist, de I'Drenoque, torn. i. p. 14. T Herrera, dec. a. lib. jii. c. 9—11. Life of 

Columbus, r. 66—73. % Herrera. dec. 1. lib. iii. c. \1. Comara, c. 34. 



AMERICA. -jq 

commodious station, on the opposite side of the island, and laid the foundation 
of St. Domingo,* which was long the most considerable European town in 
the New World, and the seat of the supreme courts in the Spanish dominions 
there. As soon as the Spaniards were established in this new settlement, 
the adelantado, that they might neither languish in inactivity, nor have 
leisure to form new cabals, marched into those parts of the island which 
his brother had not yet visited or reduced to obedience. As the people were 
unable to resist, they submitted every where to the tribute which he im- 
posed. But they soon tbund the burden to be so intolerable that, overawed 
as they were by the superior power of their oppressors, they took arms 
against them. Those insurrections, however, were not formidable. A 
conflict with timid and naked Indians was neither dangerous nor of doubtful 
issue. 

But while the adelantado was employed against them in the field, a 
mutiny of an aspect tar more alarming broke out among the Spani.^rds. 
The ringleader of it was Francis Koldan, whom Columbus had placed in 
a station which required him to be the guardian of order and tranquillity 
in the colony. A turbulent and inconsiderate ambition precipitated him 
into this desperate measure, so unbecoming his rank. The arguments 
which he employed to seduce his countrymen were frivolous and ill 
founded. He accused Columbus and his two brothers of an-ogance and 
severity ; he pretended that they aimed at establishing an independent 
dominion in the country ; he taxed them with an intention of cutting off 
part of the Spaniards by hunger and fatigue, that they might more easily 
reduce the remainder to subjection ; he represented it as unworthy of 
Castilians, to remain the tame and passive slaves of these Genoese 
adventurers. As men have always a propensity to impute the hardships 
of which they feel the pressure to the misconduct of their rulers ; as every 
nation views with a jealous eye the power and exaltation of foreigners, 
lloldan's insinuations made a deep impression on his countrymen. His 
character and rank added weight to tliem. A considerable number of the 
Spaniards made choice of him as their leader ; and, taking arms against 
tiie adelantado and his brother, seized the king's magazine of provisions, 
and endeavoured to surprise the Ibrt at St. Domingo. This was preserved 
by the vigilance and courage of Don Diego Columbus. The mutineers 
were obliged to retire to the province of Xaragua, where they continued 
not only to disclaim the adelantado 's authority themselves, but excited the 
Indians to throw off the yoke.j 

Such was the distracted state of the colony when Columbus landed at 
St. Domingo. He was astonished to find that the three ships which he had 
despatched from the Canaries were not yet arrived. By the unskilfulness of 
the pilots, and the violence of currents, they had been carried a hundred and 
sixty miles to the west of St. Domingo, and forced to take shelter in a 
harbour of the province of Xaragua, where Roldan and his seditious 
followers were cantoned. Roldan carefully concealed from the commanders 
of the ships his insurrection against the adelantado, and, employing his 
utmost address to gain their confidence, persuaded them to set on shore a 
considerable part of the new settlers whom they brought over, that they 
might proceed by land to St. Domingo. It required but i'ew arguments to 
prevail with those men to espouse his cause. They were the refuse of the 
jails of Spain, to whom idleness, licentiousness, and deeds of violence were 
familiar ; and they returned eagerly to a course of life nearly resembling 
that to which they had been accustomed. The commanders of the ships 
perceiving, when it was too late, their imprudence in disembarking so many 
of their men, stood away for St. Domingo, and got safe into the port a few 

♦ p. Martyr, dec. p. 56. t Herrera, dec. 1. lib. iii. c. 5—8. Lift of Colurabufi, c. 7t— 77. 

Goranra, c. 23. P. Martyr, p. 78. 



78 HISTORY Of [Book II. 

days after the admiral ; but their -rtock of provliions was so wasted during 
a voyage oi such long continuance that they brought IJttie relief to tbe 
colony.* 

By this ju/Ktion with a band of such bold and desperate associates, 
Roldan o-came extremely forrrjidabie, and no leas eitravagant in his 
demands. Columbas, ti^iough filled with resentment at his ingratitude, and 
highly exasijerated by the insolence of his followers, made no hiite to take 
the field. He trembled at the thoughts of kindling the flanies of a civil 
war, in which, whatever party prevailed, the power and strer^^ of both 
must be so much wasted as might encourage the common enemy to uTiite 
and complete their destruction. At the same time, he observed, that the 
prejudices and passioris which incited the rebels to take arms, had so far 
infected those who still adhered to him, that many of them were adverse, 
and all cold to the service, from such sentiments, with respect to the 
public interest, as well as trom this view of his own situation, he chose to 
negotiate rather than to fight, by a seasonable proclamation, offering free 
pardon to such as should merit it by returriing to their duty, he made 
impression upon some of the malecontents. Bj engaging to grant such as 
should desire it the liberty of returning to Spain, he allured ali those unlor- 
tunate adventurers, who, from sickness and disapjxjintment, were disgusted 
with the country. By promising to re-establish Koldan in his former ot&ce, 
lie soothed his jpride ; and, by complying with most of his demands in 
behalf of his followers, he satished their avarice. Thus, gradually and 
without bloodshed, but after many tedious negotiations, he dissolved this 
dangerous combination, which threatened the colony with ruin ; and restored 
the appearance of order, regular government, and tranquillity.t 

In consequence ot this agreement with the mutineers, lands were allotted 
them in different parts of the island, and the Indiana settled in each 'listrict 
were appointed to cultivate a certain portion of gToun<i for the use of those riew 
tnafiters [1499]. The performance of this work was substituted in place of 
the tribute formerly impfjsed ; and how necessary soever such a regulation 
might be in a sickly and feeble colony, it introduced among the Spaniards 
the Repurtimientos, or distributions of Indians established by them in all 
their settlements, which brought numberless calairiities upon that unhappy 
people, and subjected them to the most grievous oppession.^ This was 
not the only bad effect of the insurrection in Hispaniola ; it prevented 
Columbus trom prosecutirjg his discoveries on the contirjent, as seh-pre- 
servation obliged him to keep near his person his brother the adelantado, 
and the sailors whom he intended to have employed in that service. A^ 
soon as his affairs would permit, he sent some oi his ships to Spain with a 
journal of the voyage which he had made, a description ot the new countries 
which he had discovered, a chart of the coast along which he had sailed, 
and specimens of the ?old, the pearls, and other curious or valuable pro- 
ductions which he had acquired by trafficking with the natives. At the 
same time he transmitted an account of the insurrection in Hispanio.a ; he 
accused the mutineers not only o: having thrown the colony into such violent 
convulsions as threatened its dissolution, but of having obstructed every 
attempt towards discovery and improvement, by their unprovoked rebeliioo 
against their superiors, and proposed several regulations for the better 
government of the island, as well as the extinction of that mutinous spirit, 
which, though suppressed at present, might soon burst out with additional 
rage. Roldan and his associates did not neglect to convey to Spain, by the 
same ships, an apology for their own conduct, together with their recrimi- 
nations upon the admiral and his brothers. Unlbrtunately for the honour of 

* Herrera, dec. 1. Ub. iii. c. li. Life of Columbus, c. 'S, 79. * Herrera, dee. 1. lib. iii. c 

13, 14. Life of Colombas, c. 80. fcc. t Herrera. dec. 1. lib. iii. c. 14. kx 




.*E.t ik.iikC.ML 



.9iiK.<Mk»>B.eS. 



ao HISTORY OF [Book II. 

Teenth of September, one thousand four hundred and ninety-nine, two years 
two months and fiye days from the time he left that port.* 

Thus, during the course of the fifteenth century, mankind made greater 
progress in exploring the state of the habitable globe, than in all the ages 
which had elapsed previous to that period. The spirit of discovery, feeble 
at first and cautious, ?noved within a very narrow sphere, and made its 
eflforts with hesitation and timidity. Encouraged by success, it became 
adventurous, and boldly extended its operations. In the course of its pro- 
gression, it continued to acquire vigour, and advanced at length with a 
rapidity and force which burst through all the limits within which ignorance 
and fear had hitherto circumscribed the activity of the human race. Almost 
fifty years were employed by the Portuguese in creeping along the coast 
of Africa from Cape Non to Cape de Verd, the latter of which lies only 
tweive degrees to the south of the former. In less than thirty years they 
ventured heyonl the equinoctial line into another hemisphere, and penetrated 
to the southern extremity of Africa, at the distance of forty-nine degrees 
from Cape de Verd. During the last seven years of the century, a New 
World was discovered in the west, not inferior in extent to all the parts of 
the earth with which mankind were at that time acquainted. In the East, 
unknown seas and countries were found out, and a communication, long 
desired, but hitherto concealed, was opened between Europe and the 
opulent regions of India. In comparison with events so wonderful and 
unexpected, all that had hitherto been deemed great or splendid faded away 
and disappeared. Vast objects now presented themselves. The human 
mind, roused and interested by the prospect, engaged with ardour in pursuit 
of them, and exerted its active powers in a new direction. 

This spirit of enterprise, though but newly awakened in Spain, began 
soon to operate extensively. All the attempts towards discovery made in 
that kingdom had hitherto been carried on by Columbus alone, and at the 
expense of the Sovereign. But now private adventurers, allured by the 
magnificent descriptions he gave of the regions which he had visited, as 
well as by the specimens of their. wealth which he produced, offered to fit 
out squadrons at their own risk, and to go in quest of new countries. The 
Spanish court, whose scanty revenues were exhausted by the charge of its 
expeditions to the New World, which, though they opened alluring prospects 
of future benefit, yielded a very sparing return of present profit, was 
extrem.ely willing to devolve the burden of discovery upon its subjects. 
It seized with joy an opportunity of rendering the avarice, the ingenuity, 
and efforts of projectors instrumental in promoting designs of certain advan- 
tage to the public, though of doubtful success with respect to themselves. 
One of the first propositions of this kind was made by Alonzo de Ojeda, a 
gallant and active officer, who had accompanied Columbus in his second 
voyage. His rank and character procured him such credit with the mer- 
chants of Seville, that they undertook to equip four ships, provided he 
could obtain the royal license, authorizing the voyage. The powerftil 
patronage of the Bishop of Badajos easily secured success in a suit 
so agreeable to the court. Without consulting Columbus, or regarding 
the rights and jurisdiction which he had acquired by the capitulation 
in one thousand four hundred and ninety-two,. Ojeda was permitted 
to set out for the New World. In order to direct his course, the bishop 
communicated to him the admiral's journal of his last voyage, and his 
charts of the countries which he had discovered. Ojeda struck out into no 
new path of navigation, but adhering servilely to the route which Columbus 
had taken, arrived on the coast of Paria [May]. He traded with the 
natives, and, standing to the west, proceeded as tar as Cape de Vela, and 
ranged along a considerable extent of coast beyond that on which Columbus 

♦ RamuBio, vol. i. U?. IV 



AMERICA. HI 

had touched. Having thus ascertained the opinion of Columbus, that this 
country was a part of the continent, Ojeda returned by way of Hispaniola 
to Spain [October], with some reputation as a discoverer, but with little 
benefit to those who had raised the funds for the expedition.* 

Ameriffo Vespucci, a Florentine gentleman, accompanied Ojeda in this 
Voyage, in what station he served is uncertain ; but as he was an experienced 
sailor, and eminently skilled in all the sciences subservient to navigation, 
he seems to have acquired such authority among his companions, that they 
willingly allowed him to have a chief share in directing their operations 
during the voyage. Soon after his return, he transmitted an account of his 
adventures and discoveries to one of his countrymen ; and labouring with 
the vanity of a traveller to magnify his own exploits, he had the address 
and confidence to frame his narrative so as to make it appear that he had 
the glory of having first discovered the continent in the New World. 
Amerigo s account was drawn up not only with art, but with some elegance. 
It contained an amusing history of his voyage, and judicious observations 
upon the natural productions, the inhabitants, and the customs of the 
countries which he had visited. As it was the first description of any part 
of the New World that was published, a performance so well calculated to 
gratify the passion of mankind for what is new and mar\ ellous, circulated 
rapidly, and was read with admiration. The country of which Amerigo 
was supposed to be the discoverer, came gradually to be called by his 
name. The caprice of mankind, often as unaccountable as unjust, has 
perpetuated this error. By the universal consent of nations, America is the 
name bestowed on this new quarter of the globe. The bold pretensions of 
a fortunate impostor, have robbed the discoverer of the New World of a 
distinction which belonged to him. The name of Amerigo has supplanted 
that of Columbus ; and mankind ma^ regret an act of injustice, which, 
having received the sanction of time, it is now too late to redress. [22] 

During the same year, another voyage of discovery was undertaken. 
Columbus not only introduced the spirit of naval enterprise into Spain, but 
all the first adventurers who distinguished themselves in this new career 
were formed by his instructions, and acquired in his voyages the skill and 
information which qualified them to imitate his example. Alonso Nigno, 
who had served under the admiral in his last expedition, fitted out a single 
ship, in conjunction with Christopher Guerra, a merchant of Seville, and 
sailed to the coast of Paria. This voyage seems to have been conducted 
with greater attention to private emolument than to any general or national 
object. Nigno and Guerra made no discoveries of any importance ; but 
they brought home such a return of gold and pearls as inflamed their coun- 
trymen with the desire of engaging in similar adventures.! 

Soon after [Jan. 13, 1500], Vincent Yanez Pinzon, one of the admiral's 
companions in his first voyage, sailed from Palos with four ships. He stood 
boldly towards the south, and was the first Spaniard who ventured across 
the equinoctial line ; but he seems to have landed on no part of the coast 
beyond the mouth of the Maragnon, or river of the Amazons. All these 
navigators adopted the erroneous theory of Columbus, and believed that 
the countries which they had discovered were part of the vast continent of 
India,| 

During the last year of the fifteenth century, that fertile district of 
America, on the confines of which Pinzon had stopped short, \ as more 
fully discovered. The successful voyage of Gama to the East Indies having 
encouraged the King of Portugal to fit out a fleet so powerful as not only 
to carry on trade but to attempt conquest, he gave the command of it to 
Pedro Alvarez Cabral. In order to avoid the coast of Africa, where he was 

* Herrera, dec. 1. lib. iv. c. 1, 9, 3. t T. Mariyr, dee. p. 87. Herren, dec. 1. lib. iv. c. ri. 
1 Herrera, doc. 1. lib. iv. r C>. P. Marlvr, dec. p. «5. 
Vol. I.-H 



82 HISTORY OF [Book II. 

certain of meeting with variable breezes or frequent calms, which mi^ht 
retard his voyage, Cabral stood out to sea, and kept so far to the west, that, 
to his surprise, he found himself upon the shore of an unknown country, in 
the tenth degree beyond the line. He imagined at first that it was some 
island in the Atlantic ocean, hitherto unobserved ; but, proceeding along 
its coast for several days, he was led gradually to believe, that a country 
so extensive fonned a part of some great continent. This latter opinion 
was well founded. The country with which he fell in belongs to that 
province in South America now known by the name of Brasil. He landed ; 
and having formed a very high idea of the fertility of the soil, and agreea- 
bleness ot the climate, he took possession of it for the crown of Portugal, 
and despatched a ship to Lisbon with an account of this event, which 
appeared to be no less important than it was unexpected.* Columbus's 
discovery of the New World was the effort of an active genius enlightened 
by science, guided by experience, and actins: upon a regular plan executed 
with no less courage than perseverance. But from this adventure of the 
Portuguese, it appears that chance might have accomplished that ereat 
design which it is now the pride of human reason to have formed and 
perfected. If the sagacity of Columbus had not conducted mankind to 
America, Cabral, by a fortunate accident, might have led them, a few years 
later, to the knowledge of that extensive continent. t 

While the Spaniards and Portuguese, by those successive voy^es, were 
daily acquiring more enlarged ideas of the extent and opulence of that 
quarter of the globe which Columbus had made known to them, he 
himself, far from enjoying the tranquillity and honours with which his 
Services should have been recompensed, was struggling with every distress 
in which the envy and malevolence of the people under his command, or 
the ingratitude of the court which he served, could involve him. Though 
the pacification with Roldan broke the union and weakened the force of the 
mutineers, it did not extirpate the seeds of discord out of the island. 
Several of the malecontents continued in arms, refusing to submit to the 
admiral. He and his brothers were obliged to take the field alter- 
nately, in order to check their mcursions, or to punish their crimes. The 
perpetual occupation and disquiet which this created, prevented him 
from giving due attention to the dangerous machinations of his enemies in 
the court of Spain. A good number of such as were most dissatisfied with 
his administration had embraced the opportunity of retumins: to Europe with 
the ships which he despatched from St. Domingo. The final disappointment 
of all their hopes inflamed the rage of these unfortunate adventurers against 
Columbus to the utmost pitch. Their poverty and distress, by exciting 
compassion, rendered their accusations credible, and their complaints inte- 
resting. They teased Ferdinand and Isabella incessantly with memorials, 
containing the detail of their own grievances, and the articles of their 
charge against Columbus. Whenever either the king or queen appeared 
in public, they surrounded them in a tumultuary manner, insisting with 
importunate clamours for the payment of the arrears due to them, and de- 
manding vengeance upon the author of their sufferings. They insulted the 
admiral's sons wherever they met them, reproaching them as the offspring 
of the projector, whose fatal curiosity had discovered those pernicious 
regions which drained Spain of its wealth, and would prove the grave of 
its people. These avowed endeavours of the malecontents from America 
to ruin Columbus, were seconded by the secret but more dangerous insinu- 
ations of that party among the courtiers, which had always thwarted his 
■chemes, and envied his success and credit. J 

Ferdinand was disposed to listen, not only with a willing but with a partial 
ear, to these accusations. Notwithstanding the flattering accounts which 

♦ Herrera, dec. ]. lib. iv. c. 7. t Ibiii. doc. 1. lib. vii. c. 5. J Life of Columbus, c. 85. 



AMERICA. 83 

Columbus had given of (he riches of America, the remittances from it had 
hitherto been so scanty that they fell far short of defraying the expense of 
the armaments fitted out. The giory of the discovery, together with the 
prospect of remote commercial advantages, was all that Spain had yet 
received in return for the efforts which she had made. But time had 
already diminished the first sensations of joy which the discovery of a 
New World occasioned, and fame alone was not an object to satisfy the 
cold interested mind of Ferdinand. The nature of commerce was then so 
little understood that, where immediate gain was not acquired, the hope of 
distant benefit, or of slow and moderate returns, was totally disregarded. 
Ferdinand considered Spain, on this account, as having lost by the enterprise 
of Columbus, and imputed it to his misconduct and incapacity for govern- 
ment, that a country abounding in gold had yielded nothing of value to its 
conquerors. Even Isabella, who from the favourable opinion which she 
entertained of Columbus had uniformly protected him, was shaken at length 
by the number and boldness of his accusers, and beeran to suspect that 
a disaffection so general must have been occasioned by real grievances which 
called for redress. The Bishop of Badajos, with his usual animosity against 
Columbus, encouraged these suspicions, and confirmed them. 

As soon as the queen began to give way to the torrent of calumny, a 
resolution fatal to Columbus was taken. Francis dc Bovadilla, a knight of 
Calatrava, was appointed to repair to Hispaniola, with full powers to inquire 
into the conduct of Columbus, and if he should find the charge of malad- 
ministration proved, to supersede him, and assume the government of the 
island. It was impossible to escape condemnation, when this preposterous 
commission made it the interest of the judge to pronounce the person whom 
he was sent to try, guilty. Though Columbus had now composed all the 
dissensions in the island ; though he had brought both Spaniards and 
Indians to submit peaceably to his government ; though he had made such 
effectual provision for working the mines, and cultivating the country, as 
Avould have secured a considerable revenue to the king, as well as large 
profits to individuals ; Bovadilla, without deigning to attend to the nature 
or merit of those services, discovered from the moment that he landed in 
Hispaniola, a determined purpose of treating him as a criminal. He took 
possession of the admiral s house in St. Domingo, from which its master 
happened at that time to be absent, and seized his effects, as if his guilt had 
been already fully proved ; he rendered himself master of the fort and of the 
King's stores by violence ; he required all persons to acknowledge him as 
supreme governor ; he set at liberty the prisoners confined by the admiral, 
and summoned him to appear before his tribunal, in order to answer for his 
conduct ; transmitting to him, together with the summons, a copy of the 
royal mandate, by which Columbus was enjoined to yield implicit obedience 
to his commands. 

Columbus, though deeply affected with the ingratitude and injustice of 
Ferdinand and Isabella, did not hesitate a moment about his own conduct. 
He submitted to the will of his sovereigns with a respectful silence, and 
repaired directly [October] to the court of that violent and partial judge 
whom they had authorized to try him. Bovadilla, without admitting him 
into his presence, ordered him instantly to be arrested, to be loaded with 
chains, and hurried on board a ship. Even under this humiliating reverse 
of fortune, the firmnessof mind which distinguishes the character of Columbus 
did not forsake him. Conscious of his own integrity, and solacing himself 
with reflecting upon the great things which he had achieved, he endured 
this insult offered to his character, not only with composure but with 
dignity. Nor had he the consolation of sympathy to mitigate his sufferings. 
Bovadilla had already rendered himself so extremely por>ular, by granting 
various immunities to the colony, by liberal donations of Indians to all who 
applied for them, and by relaxing the reins of discipline and government. 



W HISTORY OF [Book II. 

that the Spaniards, who were mostly adventurers, whom their indigence or 
crimes had compelled to abandon their native country, expressed tlie most 
indecent satisfaction with the disgrace and imprisonment of Columbus. 
They flattered themselves that now they should enjoy an uncontrolled liberty 
more suitable to their disposition and former habits of life. Among persons 
thus prepared to censure the proceedings, and to asperse the character of 
Columbus, Bovadilla collected materials for a charge against him. All 
accusations, the most improbable as well as inconsistent, were received. 
No informer, however infamous, was rejected. The result of this inquest, 
no less indecent than partial, he transmitted to Spain. At the same time he 
ordered Columbus, with his two brothers, to be carried thither in fetters ; 
and, adding cruelty to insult, he confined them in different ships, and 
excluded them from the comfort of that friendly intercourse which might 
have soothed their common distress. But while the Spaniards in Hispaniola 
viewed the arbitrary and insolent proceedings of Bovadilla with a general 
approbation, which reflects dishonour upon their name and country, one man 
still retained a proper sense of the great actions which Columbus had 
performed, and was touched with the sentiments of veneration and pity 
due to his rank, his age, and his merit. Alonzo de Valejo, the captain of 
the vessel on board which the admiral was confined, as soon as he was clear 
of the island, approached his prisoner with great respect, and offered to 
release him from the fetters with which he was unjustly loaded. " No," 
replied Columbus with a generous indignation, " I wear these irons io 
consequence of an order from my sovereigns. They shall find me as 
obedient to this as to their other injunctions. By their command I have 
been confined, and their command alone shall set me at liberty."* 

Nov. 23.] Fortunatelv, the voyage to Spain was extremely short. As 
soon as Ferdinand and Isabella were informed that Columbus was brought 
home a prisoner and in chains, thej perceived at once what universal 
astonishment this event must occasion, and what an impression to their 
disadvantage it must make. All Europe, they foresaw, would be filled with 
indignation at this ungenerous requital of a man who had performed actions 
worthy of the highest recompense, and would exclaim against the injustice 
of the nation, to which he had been such an eminent benefactor, as well as 
against the ingratitude of the princes whose reign he had rendered illustrious. 
Ashamed of their own conduct, and eager not only to make some reparation 
for this injury, but to efface the stain which it might fix upon their character, 
they instantly issued orders to set Columbus at liberty [Dec. 17], invited 
him to court, and remitted money to enable him to appear there in a manner 
suitable to his rank. When he entered the royal presence, Columbus threw 
himself at the feet of his sovereigns. He remained for some time silent ; 
the various passions which agitated his mind suppressing his power of 
utterance. At length he recovered himself, and vindicated his conduct in a 
long discourse, producing the most satisfying proofs of his own integrity as 
well as good intention, and evidence, no less clear, of the malevolence of 
his enemies, who, not satisfied with haying ruined his fortune, laboured to 
deprive him of what alone was now lel't, his honour and his fame. Ferdi- 
nand received him with decent civility, and Isabella with tenderness and 
respect. They both expressed their sorrow for what had happened, 
disavowed their knowledge of it, and joined in promising him protection 
and fuhire favour. But though they instantly degraded Bovadilla, in order 
to remove from themselves any suspicion of having authorized his violent 
proceedings, they did not restore to Columbus his jurisdiction and privileges 
as viceroy of those countries which lie had discovered. Though willing to 
appear the avengers of Columbus's wrongs, that illiberal jealousy which 

• Life of Columlius, e. 86. Ilerrera, dee. 1. lib. iv. c. 8— 11. Gomara Hist. c. £3. O\teio, 
lib. iii. c. 6. 



AMERICA 85 

prompted them to invest Bovadilla with such authority, as put it in his 
power to treat the admiral with indignity, still subsisted. They were 
afraid to trust a man to whom they had been so highly indebted ; and 
retaining him at court under various pretexts, they appointed Nicholas 
de Ovando, a knight of the military order of Alcantara, governor of 
Hispaniola.* 

Cfolumbus was deeply affected with this new injury, which came from 
hands that seemed to be employed in making reparation for his past 
sufferings. The sensibility with which great minds feel every thing that 
implies any suspicion of their intee^rity, or that wears the aspect of an 
affront, is exquisite. Columbus ha^ experienced both from the Spaniards, 
and their ungenerous conduct exasperated him to such a degree that he 
could no longer conceal the sentiments which it excited. Wherever he 
went he carried about with him, as a memorial of their ingratitude, those 
fetters with which he had been loaded. They were constantly hung up 
in his chamber, and he gave orders, that when he died they should be 
buried in his grave. t 

1501.] Meanwhile the spirit of discovery, notwithstanding the severe 
check which it had received by the ungenerous treatment of the man who 
first excited it in Spain, continued active and vigorous. [January] Roderigo 
de Bastidas, a person of distinction, fitted out two ships in copartnery with 
John de la Cosa, who having served under the admiral in two of his voyages 
was deemed the most skilful pilot in Spain. They steered directly towards 
the continent, arrived on the coast of Paria, and, proceeding to the west, 
discovered all the coast of the province now known by the name of Tierra 
Firme, from Cape de Vela to the Gulf of Darien. Not long after Ojeda, 
with his former associate Amerigo Vespucci, set out upon a second voyage, 
and, being unacquainted with the destination of Bastidas, held the same 
course and touched at the same places. The voyage of Bastidas was 
prosperous and lucrative, that of Ojeda unfortunate. But both tended to 
increase the ardour of discovery ; for in proportion as the Spaniards acquired 
a more extensive knowledge of the American continent, their idea of its 
opulence and fertility increased.^ 

Before these adventurers returned from their voyages, a fleet was 
equipped, at the public expense, for cariying over Ovando, the new 
governor, to Hispani"la. His presence there was extremely requisite, in 
order to stop the inconsiderate career of Bovadilla, whose imprudent 
administration threatened the settlement with ruin. Conscious of the violence 
and iniquity of his proceedings against Columbus, he continued to make it 
his sole object to gain the favour and support of his countrymen, by 
accommodating himself to their passions and prejudices. With this view, 
he established regulations in every point the reverse of those which Columbus 
deemed essential to the prosperity of the colony. Instead of the severe 
discipline, necessary in order to habituate the dissolute and corrupted members 
of which the society was composed, to the restraints of law and subordination, 
he suffered them to enjoy such uncontrolled license as encouraged the wildest 
excesses. Instead of protecting the Indians, he eave a legal sanction to the 
oppression of that unhappy people. He took the exact number of such as 
survived their past calamities, divided them into distinct classes, distributed 
them in property among his adherents, and reduced all the people of the 
island to a state of complete servitude. As the avarice of the Spaniards 
was too rapacious and impatient to try any method of acquiring wealth 
but that of searching for gold, this servitude became as grievous as it was 
unjust. The Indians were driven in crowds to the mountains, and compelled 
to work in the mines, by masters who imposed their tasks without mercy or 

» Henera, dec. 1. lib. iv. c. 10—12. Lifeof Columbm, c. 87. f Life of Cohnnbiis, c. 86. 

p. 5T7. < Herrera. dec. 1. lib. iv. c. 11. 



86 H I S T O R Y O F [Book II. 

discretion. Labour so disproportioned to their strength and former habits 
of life, wasted that feeble race of men with such rapid consumption, as must 
have soon terminated in the utter extinction of the ancient inhabitants of 
the country.* 

The necessity of applying a speedy remedj^ to those disorders hastened 
Ovando's departure. He had the command of the most respectable arma- 
ment hitherto fitted out for the New World. It consisted of thirty -two ships, 
on board of which two thousand five hundred persons embarked with an 
intention of settling in the country. [1502.] Upon the arrival of the new 
governor with this powerful reinforcement to the colony, Bovadilla resigned 
his charge, and was commanded to return instantly to Spain, in order to 
answer tor his conduct. Roldan and the other ringleaders of the mutineers, 
who had been most active in opposing Columbus, were required to ieave 
the island at the same time. A proclamation was issued, declaring the 
natives to be free subjects of Spain, of whom no ser^ ice was to be expected 
contrary to their own inclination, and without paying them an adequate price 
for their labour. With respect to the Spaniards themselves, various regu- 
lations were made, tending to suppress the licentious spirit which had been 
so fatal to the colony, and to establish that reverence for law and order on 
which society is founded, and to which it is indebted tor its increase and 
stability. In order to limit the exorbitant gain which private persons were 
supposed to make by working the mines, an ordinance was published, 
directing all the gold to be brought to a public smelting-house, and declaring 
one halt of it to be the property of the crow-n.t 

While these steps were taking for securing the tranquillity and welfare 
of the colony which Columbus had planted, he himself was engaged in the 
unpleasant employment of soliciting the favour of an ungrateful court, and 
notwithstanding all his merit and services, he solicited in vain. He 
demanded, in terms of the original capitulation in one thousand four hundred 
and ninety-two, to be reinstated in his otfice of viceroy over the countries 
which he had discovered. By a strange fatality, the circumstance which 
he uiged in support of his claim, determined a jealous monarch to reject 
it. The greatness of his discoveries, and the prospect of their increasing 
value, made Ferdinand consider the concessions in the capitulation as 
extravagant and impolitic. He was afraid of intrusting a subject with the 
exercise of a jurisdiction that now appeared to be so extremely extensive, 
and might grow to be no less formidable. He inspired Isabella with the 
same suspicions ; and under various pretexts, equally frivolous and unjust, 
they eluded all Columbus's requisitions to perform that which a solemn 
compact bound them to accomplish. After attending the Court of Spain 
for near two years, as an humble suitor, he found it impossible to remove 
Ferdinand's prejudices and apprehensions ; and perceived at length that 
he laboured in vain, when he urged a claim of justice or merit with an 
interested and unfeeling prince. 

But even this ungenerous return did not discourage him from pursuing 
the great object which first called forth his inventive genius, and excitecl 
him to attempt discovery. To open a new passage to the East Indies was 
his original and favourite scheme. This still engrossed his thoughts ; and 
either from his own obser\ations in his voyage to Paria, or from some 
obscure hint of the natives, or from the accounts given by Bastidas and de 
la Cosa of their expedition, he conceived an opinion that beyond the con- 
tinent of America there was a sea which extended to the East Indies, and 
hoped to find some strait or narrow neck of land, by which a communica- 
tion might be opened with it and the part of the ocean already known. 
By a very fortunate conjecture, he supposed this strait or isthmus to be 

* Ilenera, dw. 1. lib. iv. c. 11, &e. Oviedo Hist. lib. iii. c. 6. p. 97. Benzon Hist. lib. i f, 12. 
p. SI. t i^olorzano I'olitica Indiana, lib. i. c. IS. Uerrera, dec. 1. lib. iv. c. IS. 



AMERICA. 87 

situated near the Gulf of Darien. Full of this idea, though he was now of 
an advanced age, worn out with fatigue, and broken with infirmities, he 
offered, with the alacrity of a youthful adventurer, to undertake a voyag:e 
which would ascertain this important point, and perfect the grand scheme 
which trom the beginning he proposed to accomplish. Several circumstances 
concuned in disposing Ferdinand and Isabella to lend a favourable ear to 
this proposal. They were glad to have the pretext of any honourable 
employment for removing from court a man with whose demands they 
deemed it impolitic to comply, and whose services it was indecent to 
neglect. Though unwilling to reward Columbus, they were not insensible 
of his merit, and trom their experience of his skill and conduct, had reason 
to give credit to his conjectures, and to confide in his success. To these 
considerations, a third must be added of still more powerful influence. 
About this time the Portuguese fleet, under Cabral, arrived from the Indies ; 
and, by the richness of its caigo, gave the people of Europe a more perfect 
idea than they had hitherto been able to form, of the opulence and fertility 
of the East. The Portuguese had been more fortunate in their discoveries 
than the Spaniards. They had opened a communication with countries 
where industry, arts, and elegance flourished ; and where commerce had 
been longer established, and carried to greater extent than in any region 
of the earth. Their first voyages thither yielded immediate as well as vast 
returns of profit, in commodities extremely precious and in great request. 
Lisbon became immediately the seat of commerce and wealth ; while Spain 
had only the expectation of remote benefit, and of future gain, from the western 
world. Nothing, then, could be more acceptable to the Spaniards than 
Columbus's offer to conduct them to the East, by a route which he expected 
to be shorter, as well as less dangerous than that which the Portuguese had 
taken. Even Ferdinand was roused by such a prospect, and warmly 
approved of the undertaking. 

But interesting as the object of this voyage was to the nation, Columbus 
could procure only four small barks, the largest of which did not exceed 
seventy tons in burden, for performing it. Accustomed to brave danger, 
and to engage in arduous undertakings with inadequate force, he did not 
hesitate to accept the command of this pitiful squadron. His brother Bar- 
tholomew, and his second son Ferdinand, the historian of his actions, 
accompanied him. He sailed from Cadiz on the ninth of May, and touched, 
as usual, at the Canary islands ; from thence he proposed to have stood 
directly for the continent ; but his largest vessel was so clumsy and unfit 
for service, as constrained him to bear away for Hispaniola, m hopes of 
exchanging her for some ship of the fleet that had carried out Ovando. 
When he arrived at St. Domingo [June 29], he found eighteen of these 
ships ready loaded, and on the point of departing for Spain. Columbus 
immediately acquainted the governor with the destination of his voyage, 
and the accident which had obliged him to alter his route. He requested 
permission to enter the harbour, not only that he might negotiate the 
exchange of his ship, but that he might take shelter during a violent hurri- 
cane, of which he discerned the approach from various prognostics which 
his experience and sagacity had taught him to observe. On that account, 
he advised him likewise to put off for some days the departure of the 
fleet bound for Spain. But Ovando refused his request, and despised his 
counsel. Under circumstances in which humanity would have afforded 
refuge to a stranger, Columbus was denied admittance into a countr}"^ of 
which he had discovered the existence and acquired the possession. His 
salutary warning, which merited the greatest attention, was regarded as 
the dream of a visionary prophet, who arroganUy pretended to predict an 
event beyond the reach of human foresight. The fleet set sail for Spain. 
Next night the hurricane came on with dreadful impetuosity. Columbus, 
aware of the danger, took precautions against it, and saved his little squadron. 



88 HISTORY OF [Book II. 

The fleet destined for Spain met with the fate which the rashness and 
obstinacy of its commanders deserved. Of eighteen ships two or three 
only escaped. In this general wreck perished Bovadilla, Koldan, and the 
greater part of those who had been the most active in persecuting Columbus, 
and oppressing the Indians. Together with themselves, all the wealth 
which they had acquired by their injustice and cruelty was swallowed up. 
It exceeded in value two hundred tliousand ^csos ; an immense sum at that 
period, and sutBcient not only to have screened them from any severe scrutiny 
into their conduct, but to have secured them a gracious reception in the 
Spanish court. Among the ships that escaped, one had on board all the 
effects of Columbus which had been recovered from the ruins of his 
fortune. Historians, struck with the exact discrimination of characters, as 
well as the just distribution of rewards and punishments, conspicuous in 
those events, universally attribute them to an immediate interposition of Divine 
Providence, in order to avenge the wrongs of an injured man, and to punish the 
oppressors of an innocent people. Upon the ignorant and superstitious race 
of men, who were witnesses of this occurrence, it made a different im- 
pression. From an opinion which vulgar admiration is apt to entertain 
with respect to persons who have distinguished themselves by their sagacity 
and inventions, they believed Columbus to be possessed of supernatural 
powers, and imagined that he had conjured up this dreadful storm by 
magical art and incantations in order to be avenged of his enemies.* 

Columbus soon left Hispaniola [July 14], where he met with such an 
inhospitable reception, and stood towards the continent. After a tedious 
and dangerous voyage, he discovered Guanaia, an island not far distant 
from tlie coast ot Honduras. There he had an interview with some 
inhabitants of the continent, who arrived in a large canoe. They appeared 
to be a people more civilized, and who had made greater progress in the 
knowledge of useful arts than any whom he had hitherto discovered. In 
return to the inquiries which the Spaniards made, with their usual eager- 
ness, concerning the places where the Indians got the gold which they 
wore by way of ornament, they directed them to countries situated to the 
west, in which gold was tbund in such profusion that it was applied to the 
most common uses. Instead of steering in quest of a country so inviting, 
Avhich would have conducted him along the coast of Yucatan to the rich 
Empire of Mexico, Columbus was so bent upon his favourite scheme of 
finding out the strait which he supposed to communicate with the Indian 
ocean, that he bore away to the east towards the gulf of Darien. In this 
navigation he discovered all the coast of the continent, from Cape Gracias 
a Dios to a harbour which, on account of its beauty and security, he called 
Porto Bello. He searched in vain for the imaginary strait, through which 
he expected to make his way into an unknown sea ; and though he went 
on shore several times, and advanced into the country, he did not penetrate 
so far as to cross the narrow isthmus which separates the Gulf of Mexico 
from the great Southern ocean. He was so much delighted, however, 
with the fertility of the country, and conceived such an idea of its wealth 
from the specimens of gold produced by the natives, that he resolved to leave 
a small colony upon the river Belen, in the province of Veragua, under the 
command of his brother, and to return himself to Spain [1503], in order to 
procure what was requisite tor rendering the establishment permanent. But 
the ungovernable spirit of the people under his command, deprived Colum- 
bus of the glory of planting the first colony on the continent of America. 
Their insolence and rapaciousness provoked the natives to take arms ; and 
as these were a more hardy and warlike race of men than the inhabitants 
of the islands, they cut off part of the Spaniards, and obliged the rest to 
abandon a station which was found to be untenable.t 

* 0\ipdo, lib. iii. c.7. 9. Ilerrera, dec. 1. lili. v. c. 1, 9. Lifr of Coluinbuf, c. 8S. t Herrera, 
flee. 1. lib. T. c. 5, &c. Lifa of Columbus, c. fid, &c. Oviedo. lib. iii. c. 9. 



AMERICA. 89 

This repulse, the first that the Spaniards met with from any of the Ame- 
rican nations, was not the only misfortune that belell Columbus : it was 
followed by a succession of all the disasters to which navigation is exposed. 
Furious hurricanes, with violent storms of thunder and lightning, threatened 
his leaky vessels with destruction ; while his discontented crew, exhausted 
with fatigue, and destitute of provisions, was unwilling or unable to execute 
his commands. One of his shi^.s perished ; he was obliged to abandon 
another, as unfit for service ; and with the two which remained, he quitted 
that part of the continent, which, in his anguish, he named the Coast of 
Vexation,* and bore away for Hispaniola. New distresses awaited him 
in this voyage. He was driven back by a violent tempest from the coast of 
Cuba, his ships fell foul of one another, and were so much shattered by the 
shock that with the utmost ditiiculty they reached Jamaica [.June 24], 
where he was obliged to run them aground, to prevent them from sinking. 
The measure of his calamities seemed now to be full. He was cast ashore 
upon an island at a considerable distance from the only settlement of the 
Spaniards in America. His ships were ruined beyond the possibility of 
being repaired. To convey an account of his situation to Hispaniola 
appeared impracticable ; and without this it was in vain to expect relief. 
His genius, fertile in resources, and most vigorous in those perilous extre- 
mities when feeble minds abandon themselves to despair, discovered the 
only expedient which afforded any prospect of deliverance. He had 
recourse to the hospitable kindness of the natives, who, considering the 
Spaniards as beings of a superior nature, were eager, on every occasion, to 
minister to their wants. From them he obtained two of their canoes, each 
formed out of the trunk of a single tree hollowed with fire, and so misshapen 
and awkward as hardly to merit the name of boats. In these, which were 
fit only for creeping along the coast, or crossing from one side of a bay to 
another, Mendez, a Spaniard, and Fieschi, a Genoese, two gentlemen parti 
cularly attached to Columbus, gallantly offered to set out for Hispaniola, 
upon a voyage of above thirty leagues.! This they accomplished in ten 
days, after surmounting incredible dangers, and enduring such fatigues that 
several of the Indians who accompanied them sunk under it, and died. 
The attention paid to them by the governor of Hispaniola was neither such 
as their courage merited, nor the distress of the persons from whom they 
came required. Ovando, from a mean jealousy of Columbus, was afraid 
of allowing him to set foot in the island under his government. This unge- 
nerous passion hardened his heart against every tender sentiment which 
reflection upon the services and niistbrtunes of that great man, or compas- 
sion for his own fellow-citizens, involved in the same calamities, must have 
excited. Mendez and Fieschi spent eight months in soliciting relief for 
their commander and associates, without any prospect of obtaining it. 

During this period, various passions agitated the mind of Columbus and 
his companions in adversity. At first, the expectation of speedy deliverance, 
from the success of Mendez and Fieschi's voyage, cheered the spirits of 
the most desponding. After some time the most timorous began to suspect 
that they had miscarried in their daring attempt [1504]. At length, even 
the most sanguine concluded that they had perished. The ray of hope 
which had broke in upon ihem, made their condition appear now more 
dismal. Despair, heightened by disappointment, settled in every breast. 
Their last resource had failed, and nothing remained but the prospect of 
ending their miserable days among naked savages, far from their country 
and their friends. The seamen, in a transport of rage, rose in open mutiny, 
threatened the life of Columbus, whom they reproached as the author of 
all their calamities, seized ten canoes, which they had purchased from the 
Indians, and, despising bis remonstrances and entreaties, made oflf with 

* La Costa de Io« ConatraatM. t Oviedo, lib. iii. c. 9> 

Vol. I.— 12 



90 HISTORY OF IBookII. 

them to a distant part of the island. At the same time the natives mur- 
mured at the long residence of the Spaniards in their country. As their 
industry was not greater than that of their neighbours in Hispaniola, Hke 
them they found the burden of supporting so many strangers to be altoge- 
ther intolerable. They began to bring in provisions with reluctance, they 
furnished them with a sparing hand, and threatened to withdraw those 
supplies altogether. Such a resolution must have been quickly tatal to the 
Spaniards. Their safety depended upon the good will oi the Indians ; and 
unless they could revive the admiration and reverence with which that 
simple people had at tirst beheld them, destruction was unavoidable. 
Though the licentious proceedings of the mutineers had in a great measure 
effaced those impressions which had been so favourable to the Spanianis, 
the ingenuity of Columbus suggested a happy artilice, that not only restored 
but heightened the high opinion which the Indians had originally entertained 
of them. By his skill in astronomy, he knew that there was shortly to be a 
total eclipse of the moon. He assembled all the principal persons of the 
district around him on the day betbre it happened, and, after reproaching 
them for their fickleness in withdrawing their affection and assistance from 
men whom they had lately revered, he told them, that the Spaniards 
were servants of the Great Spirit who dwells in heaven, who made and 
governs the world ; that he, offended at their refusing to support men who 
were the objects of his peculiar favour, was preparing to punish this crime 
with exemplary severity, and that very night the moon should withhold her 
light, and appear of a bloody hue, as a sign of the divine wrath and an 
emblem of the vengeance ready to fall upon them. To this marvellous 
prediction some of them listened with the careless indifference peculiar to 
the people of America ; others, with the credulous astonishment natural 
to barbarians. But when the moon began gradually to be darkened, and 
at length appeared of a red colour, all were struck with terror. They ran 
with consternation to their houses, and returning instantly to Columbus 
loaded with provisions, threw them at his feet, conjuring him to intercede 
with the Great Spirit to avert the destruction with which they were threat- 
ened. Columbus, seeming to be moved by their entreaties, promised to 
comply with their desire. The eclipse went off, the moon recovered its 
splendour, and from that day the Spaniards were not only furnished profusely 
with provisions, but the natives, with superstitious attention, avoided every 
thing that could give them offence.* 

During those transactions, the mutineers had made repeated attempts to 
pass over to Hispaniola in the canoes which they had seized. But, from 
theij" own misconduct or the violence of the winds and currents, their efforts 
were all unsuccessful. Enraged at this disappointment, they marched towards 
that part of the island where Columbus remained, threatenii^ him with 
new insults and danger. While they were advancing, an event happened, 
more cruel and afflicting than any calamity which he dreaded from them. 
The governor of Hispaniola, whose mind was still filled with some dark 
suspicions of Columbus, sent a small bark to Jamaica, not to deliver 
his distressed countrymen, but to spy out their condition. Lest the sympathy 
of those whom he employed should afford them relief, contrary to his inten- 
tion, he gave the command of this vessel to Escobar, an inveterate enemy 
of Columbus, who, adhering to his instructions with malignant accuracy, cast 
anchor at some distance trom the island, approached the shore in a small 
boat, observed the wretched plight of the Spaniards, delivered a letter of 
empty compliments to the admiral, received his answer, and departed. 
When the Spaniards first descried the vessel standing towards the island, 
every heart exulted, as if the long expected hour of their deliverance had 
At length arrived ; but when it disappeared so suddenly, they sunk into the 

• Life of Colambud, e. 103. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. vi. c. 5, 6. Venzon, Hiat, lib. i. c 14. 



AMERICA. 91 

deepest dejection, and all their hopes died away. Columbus alone, though 
he feit most sensibly this wanton insult which Ovando added to his past 
neglect, retained such composure of mind as to be able to cheer his followers. 
He assured them that Mendez and Fieschi had reached Hispaniola in safety ; 
that they would speedily procure ships to carry them off; but, as Escobar's 
vessel could not take them all on board, that he had refused to go with her, 
because he was determined never to abandon the faithful companions of his 
distress. Soothed with the expectation of speedy deliverance, and delighted 
with his apparent generosity in attending more to their preservation than to 
his own safety, their spirits revived, and ne regained their confidence.* 

Without this confidence he could not have resisteii the mutineers, who 
were now at hand. All his endeavours to reclaim those desperate men had 
no effect but to increase their frenzy. Their demands became every day 
more extravagant, and theii intentions more violent and bloody. The 
common safety rendered it necessary to oppose them with open force. 
Columbus, who had been long afflicted with the gout, could not take the 
field. His brother, the adelantado, marched against them [May 20]. 
They quickly met. The mutineers rejected with sconi terms of accom- 
modation, which were once more offered them, and rushed on boldly to the 
attack. They fell not upon an enemy unprepared to receive them. In the 
first shock, several of their most daring leadei's were slain. The adelan- 
tado, whose strength was equal to his courage, closed with their captain, 
wounded, disarmed, and took him prisoner.! At sight of this, the rest 
fled with a dastardly fear suitable to their former insolence. Soon after, 
they submitted in a body to Columbus, and bound themselves by the most 
solemn oaths to obey all his commands. Hardly was tranquillity re- 
established when the ships appeared, whose arrival Columbus had promised 
with great address, though he could foresee it with little certainty. With 
transports of joy the Spaniards quitted an island in which the unfeeling 
jealousy of Ovando had suffered them to languish above a year, exposed to 
misery in all its various forms. 

When they arrived at St. Domingo [Aug. 13], the governor, with the mean 
artifice of a vulgar mind, that labours to atone for insolence by servility, 
fawned on the man whom he envied, and had attempted to ruin. He 
received Columbus with the most studied respect, lodged him in his own 
house, and distinguished him with every mark of honour. But amidst those 
overacted demonstrations of regard, he could not conceal the hatred and 
malignity latent in his heart. He set at liberty the captain of the mutineers, 
whom Columbus had brought over in chains to be tried for his crimes ; and 
threatened such as had adhered to the admiral with proceeding to a judicial 
inquiry into their conduct. Columbus submitted in silence to what he 
could not redress ; but discovered an extreme impatience to quit a country 
which was under the jurisdiction of a man who had treated him, on eveiy 
occasion, with inhumanity and injustice. His preparations were soon finished, 
and he set sail for Spain with two ships [Sept. 12]. Disasters similar to 
those which had accompanied him through life continued to pursue him 
to the end of his career. One of his vessels being disabled, was soon forced 
back to St. Domingo ; the other, shattered by violent storms, sailed several 
hundred leagues withjury-masts, and reached with difficulty the port of St. 
Lucar [December].| 

There he received the account of an event the most fatal that could have 
befallen him, and which completed his misfortunes. This was the death of 
his patroness Queen Isabella [Nov. 9], in whose justice, humanity, and 
favour he confided as his last resource. None now remained to redress his 
wrongs, or to reward him for his services and sufferings, but Ferdinand, who 

* Life of Columbus, c. 104. Herrnra, dec. 1. lib. vi. c. 17. f Ibid. c. 107. Herrera. dec 1. 
lib. vi. c. 11. : Ibid. c. 108. Heneia, dec. 1. lib. vi. c. 12. 



9a HISTORY OF [Book III. 

had so long opposed and so often injured him. To solicit a prince thus 

firejudiced against him was an occupation no less irksome than hopeless, 
n this, however, was Columbus doomed to employ the close of his days. 
As soon as his health was in some degree re-established, he repaired to 
court ; and though he was received there with civility barely decent, he 
plied Ferdinand with petition after petition, demanding the punishment of 
his oppressojs, and the restitution of all the privileges bestowed upon him 
by the capitulation of one thousand four hundred and ninety-two. Ferdi- 
nand amused him with fair words and unmeaning promises. Instead of 
granting his claims, he proposed expedients in order to elude them, and 
spun out the affair with such apparent art, as plainly discovered his intention 
that it should never be terminated. The declining health of Columbus 
flattered Ferdinand with the hopes of being soon delivered from an 
importunate suitor, and encouraged him to persevere in this illiberal plan. 
Nor was he deceived in his expectations. Disgusted with the ingratitude of 
a monarch whom he had served with such fidelity and success, exhausted 
with the fatigues and hardships which he had endured, and broken with 
the infirmities which these had brought upon him, Columbus ended his life 
at Valladolid on the twentieth of May, one thousand five hundred and six 
in the fifty-ninth year of his age. He died with a composure of mind 
suitable to the magnanimity which distinguished his character, and with 
sentiments of piety becoming that supreme respect for religion which he 
manifested in eveiy occurrence of his life."* 



BOOK III. 

While Columbus was employed in his last voyage, several events worthy 
of notice happened in Hispaniola. The colony there, the parent and nurse 
of all the subsequent establishments of Spain in the New World, gradually 
acquired the form of a regular and prosperous society. The humane 
solicitude of Isabella to protect the Indians from oppression, and particularly 
the proclamation by which the Spaniards were prohibited to compel them 
to work, retarded, it is true, for some time the progress of improvement. 
The natives, who considered exemption from toil as extreme felicity, scorned 
every allurement and reward by which they were invited to labour. The 
Spaniards had not a sufficient number of hands either to work the mines or 
to cultivate the soil. Several of the first colonists who had been accus- 
tomed to the service of the Indians, quitted the island, when deprived of 
those instruments, without which they knew not how to carry on any 
operation. Many of the new settlers who came over with Ovando, were 
seized with the distempers peculiar to the climate, and in a short space above 
a thousand of them died. At the same time, the exacting one half of the 
product of the mines, as the royal share, was found to be a demand so exor- 
bitant that no adventurers would engage to work them upon such terms. In 
order to save the colony Irom ruin, Ovando ventured to relax the rigour of 
the royal edicts [1505]. He made a new distribution of the Indians among 
the Spaniards, and compelled them to labour, for a stated time, in digging 
the mines, or in cultivating the ground ; but in order to screen himself irom 
the imputation of having subjected them again to servitude, he enjoined 
their masters to pay them a certain sum, as the price of their work. He 

• Life of CoUimb\is, c. lOP. Heirera- dec. 1. lib. vi. e. 13, 14, 15. 



AxMEKICA. 93 

reduced the royal share of the gold found in the mines from the half to the 
third part, ancf soon after lowered it to a fifth, at which it long remained. 
Notwithstanding Isabella's tender concern for the good treatment of the 
Indians, and Ferdinand's eagerness to improve the Royal revenue, Ovando 
persuaded the court to approve of both these regulations.* 

But the Indians, after enjoying respite from oppression, though during a 
short interval, now felt the yoke of bondage to be so galling that they made 
several attempts to vindicate their own linerty. This the Spaniards consi- 
dered as rebellion, and took arms in order to reduce them to subjection. 
When war is carried on between nations whose state of improvement is in 
any degree similar, the means of defence bear some proportion to those 
employed in the attack ; and in this equal contest such efforts must be made, 
such talents are displayed, and such passions roused, as exhibit mankind to 
view in a situation no less striking than interesting. It is one of the noblest 
functions of history to observe and to delineate men at a juncture when their 
minds are most violently agitated, and all their powers and passions are 
called forth. Hence the operations of war, and the struggles between 
contending states, have been deemed by historians, ancient as well as 
modem, a capital and important article in the annals of human actions. 
But in a contest between naked savages, and one of the most warlike of the 
European nations, where science, courage, and discipline on one side, were 
opposed by ignorance, timidity, and disorder on the other, a particular 
detail of events would be as unpleasant as uninstructive. If the simplicity 
and innocence of the Indians had inspired the Spaniards with humanity, 
had softened the pride of superiority into compassion, and had induced them 
to improve the inhabitants of the New World, instead of oppressing them, 
some sudden acts of violence, like the too rigorous chastisements of 
impatient mstructors, might have been related without horror. But, unfor- 
tunately, this consciousness of superiority operated in a different manner. 
The Spaniards were advanced so far beyond the natives of America in 
improvement of every kind, that they viewed them with contempt. They 
conceived the Americans to be animals of an inferior nature, who were not 
entitled to the rights and privileges of men. In peace they subjected them 
to servitude. In war they paid no regard to those laws which, by a tacit 
convention between contending nations, regulate hostility, and set some 
bounds to its rage. They considered them not as men fighting in defence 
of their liberty, but as slaves who had revolted against their masters. Their 
caziques, when taken, were condemned, like the leaders of banditti, to the 
most cruel and ignominious punishments ; and all their subjects, without 
regarding the distinction of ranks established among them, were reduced 
to the same state of abject slavery. With such a spirit and sentiments were 
hostilities carried on against the cazique of Higuey, a province at the 
eastern extremity of the island. This war was occasioned by the perfidy 
of the Spaniards, in violating a treaty which they had made with the 
natives, and it was terminated by hanging up the cazique, who defended 
his people with bravery so far superior to that of his countrymen, as 
entitled him to a better fate.t 

The conduct of Ovando, in another part of the island, was still more 
treacherous and cruel. The province anciently named Xaragua, which 
extends from the fertile plain where Leogane is now situated to the western 
extremity of the island, was subject to a female cazique, named Anacoana, 
highly respected by the natives. She, from that partial fondness with which 
the women of America were attached to the Europeans (the cause of 
which shall be afterwards explained), had always courted the friendship 
of the Spaniards, and loaded them with benefits. But some of the adhe- 
rents of Roldan having settled in her country, were so much exasperated 

• Herrer.i. dec. 1. lib. v. c. 3 ♦ Ibid dec. 1. lib. vl. r. 0, 10. 



94 HISTORY OF [Book 111. 

at her endeavouring to restrain their excesses, that they accused her of 
having formed a plan to throw off the yoke, and to exterminate the 
Spaniards. Ovando, though he knew well what little credit was due to 
such profligate men, marched, without further inquiry, towards Xara^ua, 
with three hundred foot and seventy horsemen. To prevent the Indians 
from taking alarm at this hostile appearance, he gave out that his sole 
intention was to visit Anacoana, to whom his countrymen had been so much 
indebted, in the most respectful manner, and to regulate with her the mode 
of levying the tribute payable to the king of Spain. Anacoana, in order 
to receive this illustrious guest with due honour, assembled the principal men 
in her dominions, to the number of three hundred ; and advancing at the 
head of these, accompanied by a great crowd of persons of inferior rank, 
she welcomed Ovando with songs and dances, according to the mode of 
the country, and conducted him to the place of her residence. There he 
was feasted for some days, with all the kimlness of simple hospitality, and 
amused with the games and spectacles usual among the Americans upon 
occasions of mirth and festivity. But amidst the security which this 
inspired, Ovando was meditating the destruction of his unsuspicious enter- 
tainer and her subjects ; and the mean perfidy with which he executed this 
scheme, equalled his barbarity in forming it. Under colour of exhibiting 
to the Indians the parade of a European tournament, he advanced with his 
troops, in battle array, towards the house in which Anacoana and the chiefs 
who attended her were assembled. The infantry took possession of all the. 
avenues which led to the village. The horsemen encompassed the house. 
These movements were the object of admiration, without any mixture of 
fear, until, upon a signal which had been concerted, the Spaniards suddenly 
drew their swords, and rushed upon the Indians, defenceless, and astonished 
at an act of treachery which exceeded the conception of undesigning men. 
In a moment Anacoana was secured. All her attendants were seized and 
bound. Fire was set to the house ; and without examination or conviction, 
all these unhappy persons, the most illustrious in their own country, were 
consumed in the flames. Anacoana was reserved for a more ignominious 
late. She was carried in chains to St. Domingo, and, after the formality of 
a trial before Spanish judges, she was condemned, upon the evidence of 
those very men who had betrayed her, to be publicly hanged.* 

Overawed and humbled by this atrocious treatment of their princes and 
nobles, who were objects of their highest reverence, the people in all the 
provinces of Hispaniola submitted, without further resistance, to the Spanish 
yoke. Upon the death of Isabella all the regulations tending to mitigate the 
rigour of their servitude were forgotten. The small gratuity paid to them 
as the price of their labour was withdrawn, and at the same time the tasks 
imposed upon them were increased [1506]. Ovando, without any restraint, 
distributed Indians among his friends in the island. Ferdinand, to whom 
the Queen had lelt by wmI one half of the revenue arising from the settle- 
ments in the New World, conferred grants of a similar nature upon his 
courtiers, as the least expensive mode of rewarding their services. They 
farmed out the Indians, of whom they were rendered proprietors, to theu* 
countrymen settled in Hispaniola ; and that wretched people, bein^ com- 
pelled to labour in order to satisfy the rapacity of both, the exactions of 
their oppressors no longer knew any bounds. But, barbarous as their policy 
was, and fatal to the inhabitants of Hispaniola, it produced, for some time, 
very considerable effects. By calling forth the force of a whole nation, 
and exerting itself in one direction, the working of the mines was carried 
on with amazing rapidity and success. During several years the gold brought 
into the royal smelting houses in Hispaniola amounted annually to four hundred 

• Ovledo, lib. iii. r. 12. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. vi. c. 4. Belaoion rie Destruyc de las tndias por 
Dart, (le lasCasa.^, p. 8. 



AMERICA. 95 

and sixty thousand pesos, above a hundred thousand pounds sterling ; which, 
if we attend to the great change in the value of money since the beginning 
of the sixteenth century to the present times, must appear a considerable 
sum. Vast fortunes were created, of a sudden, by some. Others dissipated, 
in ostentatious profusion, what they acquired with facility. Dazzled by 
both, new adventurers crowded to America, with the most eager impatience, 
to share in those treasures which had enriched their countrymen ; and, 
notwithstanding the mortality occasioned by the unhealthiness ot the climate, 
the colony continued to increase.* 

Ovnndo governed the Spaniards with wisdom and justice not inferior to 
the rijour with which he treated the Indians. He established equal laws ; 
and, by executing them with impartiality, accustomed the people of the 
colony to reverence them. He founded several new towns in different parts 
of the island, and allured inhabitants to them by the concession of various 
immunities. He endeavoured to turn the attention of the Spaniards to 
some branch of industiy more useful than that of searching for gold in the 
mines. Some slips of the sugarcane having been brought from the Canary 
islands by way of experiment, they were found to thrive with such increase 
in the rich soil and warm climate to which they were transplanted, that 
the cultivation of them soon became an object of commerce. Extensive 

f)lantations were bearun ; sugarworks, which the Spaniards called ingenios, 
rom the various machinery employed in them, were erected, and in a few 
years the manufacture of this commodity was the great occupation of 
the inhabitants of Hispaniola, and the most considerable source of their 
wealth.t 

The prudent endeavours of Ovando, to promote the welfare of the 
colony, were powerfully seconded by Ferdinand. The large remittances 
which he received from the New World opened his eyes, at length, with 
respect to the importance of those discoveries, which he had hitherto 
affected to undervalue. Fortune, and his own address, having now ex- 
tricated him out of those difficulties in which he had been involved by 
the death of his Queen [1507], and by his disputes with his son-in-law 
about the government of her dominions,| he had full leisure to turn his 
attention to the affairs of America. To his provident sagacity Spain is 
indebted for many of those regulations which gradually formed that 
system of profound but jealous policy, by which she governs her dominions 
in the New World. He erected a court distinguished by the title of 
Casa de Contratacion, or Board of Trade, composed of persons eminent 
for rank and abilities, to whom he committed the administration of American 
affairs. This board assembled regularly in Seville, and was invested with 
a distinct and extensive jurisdiction. He gave a regular tbrm to ecclesias- 
tical government in America, by nominating archbishops, bishops, deans, 
together with clergymen of subordinate ranks, to take charge of the Spaniards 
established there, as well as of the natives who should embrace the Christian 
faith, but notwithstanding the obsequious devotion of the Spanish court to 
tlie papal see, such was Ferdinand's solicitude to prevent any foreign power 
from claiming jurisdiction, or acquiring influence, in his new dominions, 
that he reserved to the crown of Spain the sole right of patronage to the 
benefices in America, and stipulated that no papal bull or mandate should 
be promulgated there until it was previously examined and approved of by 
his council. With the same spirit of jealousy, he prohibited any goods to 
be exported to America, or any person to settle there without a special 
license from that council.§ 

But, notwithstanding this attention to the police and welfare of the colony, 
a calamity impended which threatened its dissolution. The original inha- 

• Herrera, dec. 1. lib. vi. c. 18, &c. t Oviedo, lib. iv. c. 8. % History of the Reign of 

Charles V. p. 6, &c. ^ Herrera, dec. 1. lib. vi. c. 19, 20. 



96 HISTORY OF [Book III. 

bitants, on whose labour the Spaniards in Hispaniola depended for their 
prosperity, and even their existence, wasted so fast that the extinction of the 
whole race seemed to be inevitable. When Columbus discovered Hispa- 
niola, the number of its inhabitants was computed to be at least a million.* 
They were now reduced to sixty thousand in the space of fifteen years. 
This consumption of the human species, no less amazing than rapid, was 
the efifect of several concurring causes. The natives of the American 
islands were of a more feeble constitution than the inhabitants of the 
other hemisphere. Thej could neither perform the same work nor endure 
the same fatigue with men whose oi^ans were of a more vigorous con- 
formation. The listless indolence in which they delio:hted to pass their 
days, as it was the effect of their debility, contributed likewise to increase 
it, and rendered them from habit, as well as constitution, incapable of hard 
labour. The food on which they subsisted afforded little nourishment, and 
they were accustomed to take it in small quantities, not sufficient to invigorate 
a languid frame, and render it equal to the efforts of active industry. The 
Spaniards, without attending to those peculiarities in the constitution of the 
Americans, imposed tasks upon them which, though not greater than 
Europeans might have performed with ease, were so disproportioned to 
their strength, that many sunk under the fatieue, and ended their wretched 
days. Others, prompted by impatience and despair, cut short their own 
lives with a violent hand. Famine, brought on by compelling such numbers 
to abandon the culture of their lands, in order to labour in the mines, proved 
fatal to many. Diseases of various kinds, some occasioned by the hardships 
to which they were exposed, and others by their intercourse with the 
Europeans, who communicated to them some of their peculiar maladies, 
completed the desolation of the island. The Spaniards, being thus deprived 
of the instruments which they were accustomed to employ, found it impos- 
sible to extend their improvements, or even to carry on the works which 
they had already begun [1508]. In order to provide an immediate remedy 
for an evil so alarming, (Jvando proposed to transport the inhabitants of the 
Lucayo islands to Hispaniola, under pretence that they might be civilized 
with more facility, and instructed to greater advantage in the Christian 
religion, if they were united to the Spanish colony, and placed under the 
immediate inspection of the missionaries settled there. Ferdinand, deceived 
by this artifice, or willing to connive at an act of violence which policy 
represented as necessary, gave his assent to the proposal. Several vessels 
were fitted out for the Lucayos, the commanders of which informed the 
natives, with whose language they were now well acquainted, that they 
came from a delicious country, in which the departed ancestors of the 
Indians resided, by whom they were sent to invite their descendants to resort 
thither, to partake of the bliss enjoyed there by happy spirits. That simple 
people listened with wonder and credulity ; and, fond of visiting their 
relations and friends in that happy region, followed the Spaniards with 
eagerness. By this artifice above forty thousand were decoyed into His- 
paniola, to share in the sufferings which were the lot of the inhabitants of 
that island, and to mingle their groans and tears with those of that wretched 
race of men.f 

The Spaniards had, for some time, carried on their operations in the 
mines of Hispaniola with such ardour as well as success, that these seemed 
to have engrossed their whole attention. The spirit of discovery lan- 
guished ; and, since the last voyage of Columbus, no enterprise of any 
moment had been undertaken. But as the decrease of the Indians rendered 
it impossible to acquire wealth in that island with the same rapidity as 
formerly, this urged some of the more adventurous Spaniards to search for 
new countries, where their avarice might be gratified with more facility. 

• ncrrcra, dec. 1. lib. j. c. 12, t Ibid. lib. vii. c. 3. Oviedo, lib. iii. C 6. Gomara Hist. r. 41. 



AMERICA. 97 

Juan Ponce de Leon, who commanded under Ovando in the eastern district 
of Hispaniola, passed over to the island of St. Juan de Puerto Rico, \\ hich 
Columbus had discovered in his second voyage, and penetrated into the 
interior part of the country. As he found the soil to be fertile, and ex- 
pected, from some symptoms, as well as from the information of the 
inhabitants, to discover mines of gold in the mountains, Ovando permitted 
him to attempt making a settlement in the island. This was easily effected 
by an officer eminent for conduct no less than for courage. In a few years 
Puerto Rico was subjected to the Spanish government, the natives were 
reduced to servitude ; and being treated with the same inconsiderate rigour 
as their neighbours in Hisparhiola, the race of original inhabitants, worn out 
with fatigue and sufferings, was soon exterminated.* 

About the same time Juan Diazde Solis, in conjunction with Vincent Yanez 
Pinzon, one of Columbus's original companions, made a voyage to the conti- 
nent. They held the same course which Columbus had taken as far as the 
island of Guanaios ; but, standing from thence to the west, they discovered 
a new and extensive province, afterwards known by the name of Yucatan, 
and proceeded a considerable way along the coast of that country.! 
Though nothing memorable occurred in this voyage, it deserves notice, 
because it led to discoveries of greater importance- For the same reason 
the voyage of Sebastian de Ocampo must be mentioned. By the command 
of Ovando he sailed round Cuba, and first discovered with certainty, that 
this country, which Columbus once supposed to be a part of the continent, 
was a lai^e island.| 

This voyage round Cuba was one of the last occurrences under the admi- 
nistration of Ovando. Ever since the death of Columbus, his son, Don 
Diego, had been employed in soliciting Ferdinand to grant him the offices 
of viceroy and admiral in the New World, together with all the other 
immunities and profits which descended to him by fnheritance, in consequence 
of the original capitulation with his father. But if these dignities and 
revenues appeared so considerable to Ferdinand, that, at the expense of 
being deemed unjust as well as ungrateful, he had wrested them from 
Columbus, it was not surprising that he should be unwilling to confer them 
on his son. Accordingly Don Diego wasted two years in incessant but 
fruitless importunity. Weary of this, he endeavoured at length to obtain 
by a legal sentence what he could not procure from the favour of an inte- 
rested monarch. He commenced a suit against Ferdinand before the 
council which managed Indian affairs ; and that court, with integrity which 
reflects honour upon its proceedings, decided against the king, and sustained 
Don Diego's claim of the viceroyalty, together with all the other privileges 
stipulated in the capitulation. Even after this decree Ferdinand's repugnance 
to put a subject in possession of such extensive rights might have thrown 
in new obstacles, if Don Diego had not taken a step which interested very 
powerful persons in the success of his claims. The sentence of the 
council of the Indies gave him a title to a rank so elevated, and a fortune so 
opulent, that he found no difficulty in concluding a marriage with Donna 
Maria, daughter of Don Ferdinand de Toledo, great commendator of Leon, 
and brother of the duke of Alva, a nobleman of the first rank, and nearly 
related to the king. The duke and his family espoused so warmly the 
cause of their new ally, that Ferdinand could not resist their solicitations 
[1509]. He recalled Ovando, and appointed Don Diego his successor, 
though even in conferring this favour he could not conceal his jealousy ; 
for he allowed him to assume only the title of governor, not that of viceroy, 
which had been adjudged to belong to him.§ 

Don Diego quickly repaired to Hispaniola, attended by his brother, his uncles, 

* Heirera, dec. 1. lib. vii. c. 1 — 1. Ooniara Hist. c. 44. Relacion de B. de Ia.«CasB«i, p. 10. 
t Ibid. dec. 1. lib. vi. c. 17. t Ibid. lib. vii, «. I. ^ Ibid. dec. I. lib. vii. c. 4, *.c 

Vol. I.— 13 



98 HISTORY OF [Book III. 

his wife, whom the courtesy of the Spaniards honoured with the title of vice- 
queen, and a numerous retinue of persons of both sexes born of good famihes. 
He lived with a splendour and magnificence hitherto unknown in the New 
World ; and the family of Columbus seemed now to enjoy the honours and 
rewards due to his inventive genius, of which he himself had been cruelly de- 
frauded. The colony itself acquired new lustre by the accession of so many 
inhabitants, of a different rank and character from most of those who had 
hitherto migrated to America, and many of the most illustrious families in the 
Spanish settlements are descended from the persons who at that time accom- 
panied Don Diego Columbus.* 

No benefits accrued to the unhappy natives from this change of governors. 
Don Diego was not only authorized by a royal edict to contmue the repar- 
timientos, or distribution of Indians, but the particular number which he 
might grant to every person, according to his rank in the colony, was spe- 
cified. He availed himself of that permission ; and soon after he landed at 
St. Domingo, he divided such Indians as were still unappropriated, among 
his relations and attendants.! 

The next care of the new governor was to comply with an instruction 
which he received from the king, about settling a colony in Cubagua, a 
sniall island which Columbus had discovered in his third voyage. Though 
this barren spot hardly yielded subsistence to its wretched inhabitants, 
such quantities of those oysters which produce pearls were found 'on its 
coast, that it did not long escape the inquisitive avarice of the Spaniards, 
and became a place of considerable resort. Large fortunes were acquired 
by the fishery of pearls, which was carried on with extraordinary ardour. 
The Indians, especiall)'- those from the Lucayo islands, were compelled to 
dive for them ; and this dangerous and unhealthy employment was an addi- 
tional calamity which contributed not a little to the extinction of that 
devoted race.f 

About this period, Juan Diaz de Solis and Pinzon set out, in conjunction, 
upon a second voyage. They stood directly south, towards the equinoctial 
line, which Pinzon had formerly crossed, and advanced as far as the fortieth 
degree of southern latitude. They were astonished to find that the conti- 
nent of America stretched on their right hand through all this vast extent of 
ocean. They landed in different places, to take possession in name of their 
sovereign ; but though the country appeared to be extremely fertile and 
inviting, their force was so small, having been fitted out rather for discovery 
than making settlements, that they left no colony behind them. Their 
voyage served, however, to give the Spaniards more exalted and adequate 
ideas with respect to the dimensions of this new quarter of the globe. § 

Though it was about ten years since Columbus had discovered the main 
land of America, the Spaniards had hitherto made no settlement in any 
part of it. What had been so long neglected was now seriously attempted, 
and with considerable vigour ; though the plan for this purpose was neither 
formed by the crown, nor executed at the expense of the nation, but carried 
on by the enterprising spirit of private adventurers. The scheme took its 
rise from Alonso de Ojeda, who had already made two voyages as a disco- 
verer, by which he acquired considerable reputation, but no wealth. But 
his character for intrepidity and conduct easily procured him associates, who 
advanced the money requisite to defray the chaises of the expedition. 
About the same time, Diego de Nicuessa, who had acquired a large fortune 
m Hispaniola, formed a similar design. Ferdinand encouraged both ; and^ 
though he refused to advance the smallest sum, he was extremely liberal of 
titles and patents. He erected two governments on the continent, one ex- 
tending from Cape de Vela to the Gulf of Darien, and the other from that to 
t^ape Gracias a Dios. The formerwas given to Ojeda, the latter to Nicuessa. 

• Oyiedo, lib. iii. c. 1. t Recopilacion dc Lpyre, lib vi. til. «. I. I. i. Herrera, dee. 1. lib. 

vu. c. 10. * llerreru, d(X. 1. lib. vii. c. 9. G.xiiara Hist. c. >'. <^ Ibiil. dec. I. lib. vii. c. 9 



AMERICA. »y 

Ojeda fitted out a ship and two brigantines, with three hundred men ; 
Nicuessa, six vessels, with seven hundred and eighty men. They sailed 
about the same time from St. Domingo for their respective governments. 
In order to give their title to those countries some appearance of validity, 
several of the most eminent divines and lawyers in Spain were employed to 
prescribe the mode in which they should take possession of them.* There 
is not in the history of mankind any thing more singular or extravagant than 
the form which they devised for this purpose. They instructed those 
invaders, as soon as they landed on the continent, to declare to the natives 
the principal articles ot the Christian faith ; to acquaint them in parti- 
cular, with the supreme jurisdiction of the Pope over all the kingdoms of 
the earth ; to inform them of the grant which this holy pontiff had made of 
their country to the king of Spain ; to require them to embrace the doctrines 
of that religion which the Spaniards made known to them ; and to submit 
to the sovereign whose authority they proclaimed. If the natives refused to 
compiy with this requisition, the terms of which must have been utterly 
incomprehensible to uninstructed Indians, then Ojeda and Nicuessa were 
authorized to attack them with fire and sword ; to reduce them, their 
wives and children, to a state of servitude ; and to compel them by force 
to recognise the jurisdiction of the church, and the authority of the monarch, 
to which they would not voluntarily subject themselves [23]. 

As the inhabitants of the continent could not at once yield assent to 
doctrines too refined for their uncultivated understandings, and explained to 
them by interpreters imperfectly acquainted with their language ; as they 
did not conceive how a foreign priest, of whom they had never heard, 
could have any right to dispose of their country, or how an unknown prince 
should claim jurisdiction over them as his subjects ; they fiercely opposed 
the new invaders of their territories. Ojeda and Nicuessa endeavoured 
to effect by force what they could not accomplish by persuasion. The 
contemporary writers enter into a very minute detail in relating their 
transactions ; but as they made no discovery of importance, nor established 
any permanent settlement, their adventures are not entitled to any consi- 
derable place in the general history of a period where romantic valour, 
struggling with incredible hardships, distinguishes every effort of the 
Spanish arms. They found the natives in those countries of which they 
went to assume the government, to be of a character very different from that 
of their countrymen in the islands. They were free and warlike. Their 
arrows were dipped in a poison so noxious, that every wound was followed 
with certain death. In one encounter they slew above seventy of Ojeda's 
followers, and the Spaniards, for the first time, were taught to dread the 
inhabitants of the New World. Nicuessa was opposed by people equally 
resolute in defence of their possessions. Nothing could soften their 
ferocity. Though the Spaniards employed every art to soothe them, and to 
gain their confidence, they refused to hold any intercourse, or to exchange 
any friendly office, with men whose residence among them they considered 
as fatal to their liberty and independence [1510]. This implacable enmity 
of the natives, though it rendered an attempt to establish a settlement in 
their country extremely difficult as well as dangerous, mi^ht have been 
surmounted at length by the perseverance of the Spaniarcfi, by the supe- 
riority of their arms, and their skill in the art of war. But every disaster 
which can be accumulated upon the unfortunate combined to complete their 
ruin. The loss of their ships by various accidents upon an unknown 
coast, the diseases peculiar to a climate the most noxious in all America, 
the want of provisions unavoidable in a country imperfectly cultivated, 
dissension among themselves, and the incessant hostilities of the natives, 
involved them in a succession of calamities, the bare recital of which strike" 

* Herrern. der 1 lib- vii c l."i 



100 , HISTORY OF [Book in. 

one with hon'or. Though they received two considerable reinforcements 
from Hispaniola, the greater part of those who had engaged in this unhappy 
expedition perished, in less than a year, in the most extreme misery. A 
few who survived settled as a feeble colony at Santa Maria el Antigua, on 
the Gulf of Darien, under the command of Vasco Nugnez de Balboa, who, 
in the most desperate exigencies, displayed such courage and conduct as 
first gained the confidence of his countrymen, and marked him out as their 
leader in more splendid and successful undertakings. Nor was he the 
only adventurer in this expedition who will appear with lustre in more 
important scenes. Francisco Pizarro was one of Ojeda's companions, and 
in this school of adversity acquired or improved the talents which fitted him 
tor the extraordinary actions which he afterwards performed. Hernan 
Cortes, whose name became still more famous, had likewise engaged early 
in this enterprise, which roused all the active youth of Hispaniola to arms ; 
but the good fortune that accompanied him in his subsequent adventures 
interposed to save him from the disasters to which his companions were 
exposed. He was taken ill at St. Domingo before the departure of the 
fleet, and detained there by a tedious indisposition.* 

Notwithstanding the unfortunate issue of this expedition, the Spaniards 
were not deterred from engaging in new schemes of a similar nature. 
When wealth is acquired gradually by the persevering hand of industry, or 
accumulated by the slow operations of regular commerce, the means 
employed are so proportioned to the end attained, that there is nothing to 
strike the imagination, and little to urge on the active powers of the mind 
to uncommon efforts. But when large fortunes were created almost 
instantaneously ; when gold and pearls were procured in exchange for 
baubles ; when the countries which produced these rich commodities, 
defended only by naked savages, might be seized by the first bold invader ; 
objects so singular and alluring roused a wonderful spirit of enterprise 
among the Spaniards, who rushed with ardour into this new path that was 
opened to wealth and distinction. While this spirit continued warm and 
vigorous, every attempt either towards discovery or conquest was applauded, 
and adventurers engaged in it with emulation. The passion for new under- 
takings, which characterizes the age of discovery in the latter part of the 
fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuiy, would alone have been 
sufficient to prevent the Spaniards from stopping short in their career. But 
circumstances peculiar to Hispaniola, at this juncture, concurred with it in 
extending their navigation and conquests. The rigorous treatment of the 
inhabitants of that island having almost extirpated the race, many of the 
Spanish planters, as I have already observed, finding it impossible to carry- 
on their works with the same vigour and profit, were obliged to look out for 
settlements in some country where people were not yet wasted by op- 
pression. Others, with the inconsiderate levity natural to men upon whom 
wealth pours in with a sudden flow, had squandered in thoughtless prodigality 
what they acquired with ease, and were driven by necessity to embark in 
the most desperate schemes, in order to retrieve their aff'airs. From all 
these causes, when Don Diego Columbus proposed [1511] to conquer the 
island ef Cuba, and to establish a colony there, many persons of chief 
distinction in Hispaniola engaged with alacrity in the measure. He gave 
the command of the troops destined for that service to Diego Velasquez, 
one of his father's companions in his second voyage, and who, having been 
long settled in Hispaniola, had acquired an ample fortune, with such repu- 
tation for probity and prudence, that he seemed to be well qualified for 
conducting an expedition of importance. Three hundred men were eemed 
suflScient for the conquest of an island of above seven hundred miles in 

* Herrera, dec. 1. lib. vii. c- 11, &.c; Gomara Hist; c. 57. 53. 59. Bonzon. Hi3t. lib. i. c. 19—33. 
r. Mhrtyr, dccacl. p. 122. 



AMERICA. 101 

length, and filled with inhabitants. But thev were of the same unwarlike 
character with the people of Hispaniola. They were not only intimidated 
by the appearance of their new enemies, but unprepared to resist them. 
For though, from the time that the Spaniards took possession of the adjacent 
island, there was reason to expect a descent on their territories, none of 
the small communities into which Cuba was divided, had either made any 
provision for its own defence, or had formed any concert for their common 
safety. The only obstruction the Spaniards met with was from Hatuey, a 
cazique, who had fled from Hispaniola, and had taken possession of the 
eastern extremity of Cuba. He stood upon the defensive at their first 
landing, and endeavoured to drive them back to their ships. His feeble 
troops, however, were soon broken and dispersed ; and he himself being 
taken prisoner, Velasquez, according to the barbarous maxim of the 
Spaniards, considered him as a slave who had taken arms against his master, 
and condemned him to the flames. When Hatuey was fastened to the 
stake, a Franciscan friar, labouring to convert him, promised him imme- 
diate admittance into the joys of heaven, if he would embrace the Christian 
faith. " Are there any Spaniards," says he, after some pause, " in that 
region of bliss which you describe ?" — " Yes," replied the monk, " but 
only such as are worthy and good." — " The best of them," returned the 
indignant cazique, " have neither worth nor goodness : I will not go to a 
place where I may meet with one of that accursed race."* This dreadful 
example of vengeance struck the people of Cuba with such terror that they 
scarcely gave any opposition to the progress of their invaders ; and Velas- 
quez, without the loss of a man, annexed this extensive and fertile island to 
the Spanish monarchy.! 

The facility with which this important conquest was completed served 
as an incitement to other undertakings. Juan Ponce de Leon, having 
acquired both fame and wealth by the reduction of Puerto Rico, was 
impatient to engage in some new enterprise. He fitted out three ships at 
his own expense, for a voyage of discoveiy [1512], and his reputation soon 
drew together a respectable body of followers. He directed his course 
towards the Lucayo islands ; and after touching at several of them, as well 
as of the Bahama isles, he stood to the south-west, and discovered a country 
hitherto unknown to the Spaniards, which he called Florida, either because 
he fell in with it on Palm Sunday, or on account of its gay and beautiful 
appearance. He attempted to land in different places, but met with such 
vigorous opposition from the natives, who were fierce and warlike, as con- 
vinced him that an increase of force was requisite to effect a settlement. 
Satisfied with having opened a communication with a new country, of whose 
value and importance he conceived very sanguine hopes, he returned to 
Puerto Rico through the channel now loiown by the name of the Gulf of 
Florida. 

It was not merely the passion of searching for new countries that prompted 
Ponce de Leon to undertake this voyage ; he was influenced by one of 
those visionary ideas, which at that time often mingled with the spirit of 
discovery, and rendered it more active. A tradition prevailed among the 
natives of Puerto Rico, that in the isle of Bimini, one of the Lucayos, there 
was a fountain of such wonderful virtue as to renew the youth and recall 
the vigour of every person who bathed in its salutaiy waters. In hopes of 
finding this grand restorative. Ponce de Leon and his followers ranged 
through the islands, searching with fruitless solicitude and labour for the 
fountain which was the chief object of their expedition. That a tale so 
fabulous should gain credit among simple and uninstructed Indians is not 
surprising. That it should make any impression upon an enlightened people 
appears in the present age altogether incredible. The fact, however, is 

• B. de las Casae, p. 40. T Herrera, dec. 1. lib. ix. t. % 3, ^c. Oviedo, lib. xvii. e. 3. p. 179. 



102 HISTORY OF [Book III. 

certain ; and the most authentic Spanish historians mention this extravagant 
sally of their credulous countrj'men. The Spaniards at that period were 
engaged in a career of activity which gave a romantic turn to their imagina- 
tion, and daily presented to them strange and marvellous objects. A New 
World was opened to their view. They visited islands and continents, of 
whose existence mankind in former ages had no conception. In those 
delightful countries nature seemed to assume another form : every tree and 
plant and animal was difierent from those of the ancient hemisphere. They 
seemed to be transported into enchanted ground ; and after the wonders 
which they had seen, nothing, in the warmth and novelty of their admira- 
tion, appeared to them so extraordinary as to be beyond beliet. If the 
rapid succession of new and striking scenes made such impression even 
upon the sound understanding of Columbus, that he boasted of having tbund 
the seat of Paradise, it will not appear strange that Ponce de Leon should 
dream of discovering the fountain of youth.* 

Soon after the expedition to Florida, a discovery of much greater import- 
ance was made in another part of America. Balboa having been raised 
to the government of the small colony at Santa Maria in Darien, by the 
voluntary suffrage of his associates, was so extremely desirous to obtain 
from the crown a confirmation of their election, that he despatched one of 
his officers to Spain, in order to solicit a royal commission, which might 
invest him with a legal title to the supreme command. Conscious, however, 
that he could not expect success from the patronage of Ferdinand's ministers, 
with whom he was unconnected, or troni negotiating in a court to the arts 
of which he was a stranger, he endeavoured to merit the dignity to which 
he aspired, and aimed at performing some sio;naI service that would secure 
him the preference to every' competitor. Full of this idea, he made frequent 
inroads into the adjacent country, subdued several of the caziques, and 
collected a considerable quantity of gold, which abounded more in that 
part of the continent than in the islands. In one of those excursions, the 
Spaniards contended with such eagerness about the division of some gold, 
that they were at the pomt of proceeding to acts of violence against one 
another. A young cazique who was present, astonished at the high value 
which they set upon a thing of which he did not discern the use, lumbled 
the gold out of the balance with indignation ; and turning to the Spaniards, 
" Why do you quarrel (says he) about such a trifle ? If you are so passion- 
ately fond of gold, as to abandon your own country, and to disturb the 
tranquillity of distant nations for its sake, I will conduct you to a region 
where the metal which seems to be the chief object of your admiration and 
desire is so common that the meanest utensils are formed of it," Transported 
with what they heard, Balboa and his companions inquired eagerly 
where this happy country lay, and how they might arrive at it. He 
informed them that at the distance of six suns, that is, of six days' journey, 
towards the south, they should discover another ocean, near to which this 
wealthy kingdom was situated ; but if they intended to attack that powerful 
state, they must assemble forces far superior in number and strength to those 
with which they now appeared.! 

This was the fiist information which tlie Spaniards received concerning 
the great southern ocean, or the opulent and extensive country known after- 
wards by the name of Peru. Balboa had now before him objects suited 
to his boundless ambition, and the enterprising ardour of his genius. He 
immediately concluded the ocean which the cazique mentioned, to be that 
for which Columbus had searched without success in this part of America, 
in hopes of opening a more direct communication with the East Indies ; and he 

* p. Martyr, decad. p. 202. Ensayo Chronol. para la Hist, de la Florida, par de Gab. Cnrdenaa, 

p. 1. Oviedo, lib. ivi. c. 11. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. ix. c. 5. Hiet. de la Conq. de la Florida, par 

Garc. de la Vega, lib. 1. e. 3. t Borrera, dec. 1. lib. ii. c, 3. Gomara. c. tiO. P. Marlyr. dec. 
^140 



AMERICA. lOS 

jcctured that the rich territory which had been described to him must be 
part of that vast and opulent region of the earth. Elated with the idea 
of perlbrming; what so great a man had attempted in vain, and eager to 
accomplish a discovery which he knew would be no less acceptable to tlie 
king than beneficial to his country, he was impatient until he could set out 
upon this enterprise, in comparison of which all his former exploits appeared 
inconsiderable. But previous arrangement and preparation were requisite 
to ensure success. He began with courting and securing the friendship of 
the neighbouring caziques. He sent some of his officers to Hispaniola with 
a large quantity of gold, as a proof of his past success, and an earnest of 
his future hopes. By a proper distribution of this, they secured the favour 
of the governor, and allured volunteers into the service. A considerable 
reinforcement from that island joined him, and he thought himself in a con- 
dition to attempt the discovery. 

The isthmus of Darien is not above sixty miles in breadth ; but this neck 
of land which binds together the continents of North and South America, 
is strengthened by a chain of lotty mountains stretching through its whole 
extent, which render it a barrier of solidity sufficient to resist the impulse 
of two opposite oceans. The mountains are covered with Ibrests almost 
inaccessible. The valleys in that moist climate where it rains during two- 
thirds of the year, are marshy, and so frequently overflowed that the 
inhabitants find it necessar)', in many places, to build their houses upon 
trees, in order to be elevated at some distance from the damp soil, and the 
odious reptiles engendered in the putrid waters.* Lai^e rivers rush down 
with an impetuous current from the high grounds. In a region thinly 
inhabited by wandering savages, the hand of industry had done nothing to 
mitigate or correct those natural disadvantages. To march across this 
unexplored country with no other guides but Indians, whose fidelity could 
be little trusted, was, on all those accounts, the boldest enterprise on which 
the Spaniards had hitherto ventured in the New World. But the intrepidity 
of Balboa was such as distinguished him among his countrymen, at a period 
when every adventurer was conspicuous for daring courage [1513]. Nor 
was bravery his only merit ; he was prudent in conduct, generous, affable, 
and possessed of tliose popular talents which, in the most desperate under- 
takings, inspire confidence and secure attachment. Even after the junction 
of the volunteers from Hispaniola, he was able to muster only a hundred 
and ninety men for his expedition. But they were hardy veterans, inured 
to the climate of America, and ready to follow him through every danger. 
A thousand Indians attended them to carry their provisions ; and, to com- 
plete their warlike array, they took with them several of those fierce dogs, 
which were no less formidable than destructive to their naked enemies. 

Balboa set out upon this important expedition on the first of September, 
about the time that the periodical rains began to abate. He proceeded 
by sea, and without any difficulty, to the territories of a cazique whose 
friendship he had gained ; but no sooner did he begin to advance into the 
interior part of the country, than he was retarded by every obstacle, which 
he had reason to apprehend, from the nature of the territory, or the dispo- 
sition of its inhabitants. Some of the caziques, at his approach, fled to the 
mountains with all their people, and carried off or destroyed whatever 
could afford subsistence to his troops. Others collected their subjects, in 
order to oppose his progress ; and he quickly perceived what an arduous 
undertaking it was to conduct such a body ot men through hostile nations, 
across swamps, and rhers, and woods, which had never been passed but 
by straggling Indians. But by sharing in every hardship with the meanest 
soldier, by appearing the foremost to meet every danger, by promising 
confidently to his troops the enjoyment of honour and riches superior to 

• p. Ma/UT. dec. p, ISfi. 



104 HISTORY OF [Book Hi. 

■what had been attained by the most successful of their countrymen, he 
inspired them with such enthusiastic resolution, that they followed him 
without murmuring. When they had penetrated a good way into the 
mountains, a powerful cazique appeared in a narrow pass, with a numerous 
body of his subjects, to obstruct their progress. But men who. had sur- 
mounted so many obstacles, despised the opposition of such feeble enemies. 
They attacked them with impetuosity, and, having dispersed them with 
much ease and great slaughter, continued their march. Though their 
guides had represented the breadth of the isthmus to be only a journey of 
six days, they had already spent twenty-five in forcing their way through 
the woods and mountains. Many of them were ready to sink under such 
uninterrupted fatigue in that sultry climate, several were taken ill of the 
dysentery and other diseases frequent in that country, and all became 
impatient to reach the period of their labours and sufferings. At length 
the Indians assured them, that from the top of the next mountain they 
should discover the ocean which was the object of their wishes. When, 
with infinite toil, they had climbed up the greater part of that steep ascent, 
Balboa commanded his men to halt, and advanced alone to the summit, 
that he might be the first who should enjoy a spectacle which he had so 
long desired. As soon as he beheld the bouth Sea stretching in endless 
prospect below him, he fell on his knees, and, lifting up his hands to 
heaven, returned thanks to God, who had conducted him to a discovery so 
beneficial to his country, and so honourable to himself. His followers, 
observing his transports of joy, rushed forward to join in his wonder^ 
exultation, and gratitude. They held on their course to the shore with 
great alacrity, when Balboa, advancing up to the middle in the waves with 
his buckler and sword, took possession of that ocean in the name of the 
king his master, and vowed to defend it with these arms, against all his 
enemies.* 

That part of the great Pacific or Southern Ocean which Balboa first 
discovered, still retains the name of the Gulf of St. Michael, which he 
gave to it, and is situated to the east of Panama. From several of the 
petty princes, who governed in the districts adjacent to that gulf, he extorted 
provisions and gold by force of arms. Others sent them to him volun- 
tarily. To these acceptable presents, some of the caziques added a 
considerable quantity of pearls ; and he learned from them, with much 
satisfaction, that pearl oysters abounded in the sea which he had newly 
discovered. 

Together with the acquisition of this wealth, which served to soothe 
and encourage his followers, he received accounts which confirmed his 
sanguine hopes of future and more extensive benefits from the expedition. 
All the people on the coast of the South Sea concurred in informing him 
that there was a mighty and opulent kingdom situated at a considerable 
distance towards the south-east, the inhabitants of which had tame animals 
to carry their burdens. In order to give the Spaniards an idea of these, they 
drew upon the sand the figure of the llamas or sheep, afterwards found in 
Peru, which the Peruvians had taught to perform such services as they 
described. As the llama in its form nearly resembles a camel, a beast of 
burden deemed peculiar to Asia, this circumstance, in conjunction with the 
discovery of the pearls, another noted production of that country, tended to 
confirm the Spaniards in their mistaken theory with respect to the vicinity 
of the New World to the East Indies.! 

But though the information which Balboa received from the people on the 
coast, as well as his own conjectures and hopes, rendered him extremely 
impatient to visit this unknown country, his prudence restrained him from 

* Herrera, dee. 1. lib. x. c. 1, tec. Gomara, c. 62, &c. P. Martyr, dec. p. 205. &c. t Ibid, 

dec. Mib. s. c S. 



AMERICA. 105 

attemptinff to invade it with a handful of men exhausted by fatigue and 
weakened by diseases. [24] He determined to lead back his followers, at 
present, to their settlement of Santa Maria in Darien, and to return next 
season with a force more adequate to such an arduous enterprise. In order 
to acquire a more extensive knowledge of the isthmus, he marched back by 
a different route, which he found to be no less dangerous and difficult tlian 
that which he had formerly taken. But to men elated with success, and 
animated with hope, nothing is insurmountable. Balboa returned to Santa 
Maria [1514], from which he had been absent four months, with greater 
glory and more treasure than the Spaniards had acquired in any expedition 
in the New World. None of Balboa's officers distinguished themselves 
more in this service than Francisco Pizarro, or assisted with greater courage 
and ardour in opening a communication with those countries in which he • 
was destined to act soon a more illustrious part.* 

Balboa's first care was to send information to Spain of the important dis- 
covery which he had made : and to demand a reinforcement of a thousand 
men, in order to attempt the conquest of that opulent country concerning 
which he had received such inviting intelligence. The first account of the 
discovery of the New World hardly occasioned greater joy than the unex- 
pected tidings that a passage was at last found to the great southern ocean. 
The communication with the East Indies, by a course to the westward of 
the line of demarcation drawn by the Pope, seemed now to be certain. 
The vast wealth which flowed into Portugal, from its settlements and 
conquests in that country, excited the envy and called forth the emulation 
of other states. Ferdinand hoped now to come in ibr a share in this lucra- 
tive commerce, and, in his eagerness to obtain it, was willing to make an 
effiart beyond what Balboa required. But even in this exertion, his jealous 
policy, as well as the fatal antipathy of Fonseca, now Bishop of Burgos, to 
every man of merit who distinguished himself in the New World, was con- 
spicuous. Notwithstanding Balboa's recent services, which marked him 
out as the most proper person to finish that great undertaking which he had 
begun, Ferdinand was so ungenerous as to overlook these, and to appoint 
Pedrarias Davila governor of Darien. He gave him the command of 
fifteen stout vessels and twelve hundred soldiers. These were fitted out 
at the public expense, with a liberality which Ferdinand had never dis- 
played in any former armament destined for the New World ; and such 
was the ardour of the Spanish gentlemen to follow a leader who was about 
to conduct them to a country where, as fame reported, they had only to 
throw their nets into the sea and draw out gold,t that fifteen hundred 
embarked on board the fleet, and, if they had not been restrained, a much 
greater number would have engaged in the service.^ 

Pedrarias reached the Gulf of Darien without any remarkable accident, 
and immediately sent some of his principal officers ashore to inform Balboa 
of his arrival, with the king's commission to be governor of the colony. 
To their astonishment, they found Balboa, of whose great exploits they 
had heard so much, and of whose opulence they had formed such high ideas, 
clad in a canvass jacket, and wearing coarse hempen sandals used only by 
the meanest peasants, employed, together with some Indians, in thatcning- 
his own hut with reeds. Kven in this simple garb, which corresponded so 
ill with the expectations and wishes of his new guests, Balboa received 
them with dignity. The fame of his discoveries had drawn so many adven- 
turers from the islands, that he could now muster tour hundred and fifty men. 
At the head of those daring veterans, he was more than a match for the 
forces which Pedrarias brought with him. But, though his troops mur- 
mured loudly at the injustice of the king in superseding their commander, 

• Herrera, dec. 1. lib. x. c. 3—6. Gomara, c.C4. P. Mnrtvr, dec. p. 220, &.C. t Ibid. e. 14. 
X Ihid. c. 6, 7. P. Martyr, dec. p. 177. 296. 

Vol. k— 14 



106 HISTORY OF [Book m. 

and complained that strangers would now reap the fruits of their toil and 
success, Balboa submitted with implicit obedience to the will of his sove- 
reign, and received Pedrarias with all the deference due to his character.* 

Notwithstanding this moderation, to which Pedrarias owed the peaceable 
possession of his government, he appointed a judicial inquiry to be made 
into Balboa's conduct, while under the command of Nicuessa, and imposed 
a considerable tine upon him, on account of the irregularities of which he had 
then been guilty. Balboa felt sensibly the inortilication of being subjected 
to trial and to punishment in a place where he had so lately occupied the firs? 
station. Pedrarias could not conceal his jealousy of his superior merit ; so 
that the resentment of the one and the envy of the other gave rise to dissen- 
sions extremely detrimental to the colony. It was threatened with a cala- 
mity still more fatal. Pedrarias had landed in Darien at a most unlucky time 
of the year [July], about the middle of the rainy season, in that part of the 
torrid zone where the clouds pour down such torrents as are unknown in 
more temperate climates-t The village of Santa Maria was seated in a 
rich plain, environed with marshes and woods. The constitution of Euro- 
peans was unable to withstand the pestilential influence of such a situation, 
in a climate naturally so noxious, and at a season so peculiarly unhealthy. 
A violent and destructive malady carried off many of the soldiers who 
accompanied Pedrarias. An extreme scarcity of provision augmented this 
distress, as it rendered it impossible to find proper refreshment for the sick, 
or the necessary sustenance tor the healthy. J In the space ofa month, above 
six hundred persons perished in the utmost misery. Dejection and despair 
spread through the colony. Many principal persons solicited their dismis- 
sion, and were glad to relinquish all their hopes of wealth, in order to 
escape from that pernicious region. Pedrarias endeavoured to divert those who 
remained from brooding over their misfortunes, by finding them employment. 
With this view, he sent several detachments into the interior parts of the 
country, to levy gold among the natives, and to search for the mines in 
which it was produced. Those rapacious adventurers, more attentive to 
present gain than to the means of facilitating their future progress, plun- 
dered without distinction wherever they marched. Regardless of the 
alliances which Balboa had made with several of the caziques, they stripped 
them of every thing valuable, and treated them, as well as their subjects, 
with the utmost insolence and cruelty. By their tyranny and exactions, 
which Pedrarias, either from want of authority or inclination, did not restrain, 
all the country from the Gulf of Darien to the lake of Nicaragua was deso- 
lated, and the Spaniards were inconsiderately deprived of the advantages 
which they might have derived from the friendship of the natives, in extend- 
ing their conquests to the South Sea. Balboa, who saw with concern that 
such ill-judged proceedings retarded the execution of his favourite scheme, 
sent violent remonstrances to Spain against the imprudent government of 
Pedrarias, who had ruined a happy and flourishing colony. Pedrarias, 
on the other hand, accused him of having deceived the King, by magnifying 
his own exploits, as well as by a false representation of the opulence and 
value of the country.§ 

Ferdinand became sensible at length of his imprudence in superseding 
the most active and experienced officer he had in the New World, and, by 
way of compensation to Balboa, appointed him Adelantado, or Lieutenant- 
Governor of the countries upon the South Sea, with very extensive privi- 
leges and authority. At the same time he enjoined Pedrarias to support 
Balboa in all his operations, and to consult with him concerning every 
measure which he himself pursued. [1515] But to effect such a sudden 

• Herrera, dec. 1. Ub. x. c. 13, 14. f Richard, Hist. Nalurelle de r Air, torn. 1, p. 204. 

} Herrera, dec. 1. lib. x. c. 14. P. Martyr, decad. p. 272. $ Ibid. dec. 1. lib. x. c. 15. dec. 2. 

c. 1, &e. Gomara, e. 66. P. Martvr, dec. 3. c. 10. Relacion dc B. de las Casas. p. 12. 



AMERICA. 107 

transition from inveterate enmity to perfect confidence, exceeded Ferdinand's 

?)ower. Pedrarias continued to treat his rival witji neglect ; and Balboa's 
brtune being exhausted by the payment of his fine, and other exactions of 
Pedrarias, he could not make suitable preparations for taking possession of 
his new government. At length, by the interposition and exhortations of the 
Bishop of Darien, they were brought to a reconciliation ; and, in order to 
cement this union more firmly, Pedrarias agreed to give his daughter in 
marriage to Balboa. [1516.] The first effect of their concord was, that 
Balboa was permitted to make several small incursions into the country. 
These he conducted with such prudence, as added to the reputation which 
he had already acquired. Many adventurers resorted to him, and, with 
the countenance and aid of Pedrarias, he began to prepare for his expedi- 
tion to the South Sea. In order to accomplish this, it was necessary to 
build vessels capable of conveying his troops to those provinces which he 
purposed to invade. [1317. J After surmounting many obstacles, and 
enduring a variety of those hardships which were the portion of the con- 
querors of America, he at length finished four small brigantines. In these, 
with three hundred chosen men, a force superior to that with which Pizarro 
afterwards undertook the same expedition, he was ready to sail towards 
Peru, when he received an unexpected message from Pedrarias.* As his 
reconciliation with Balboa had never been cordial, the progress which his 
son-in-law was making revived his ancient enmity, and added to its rancour. 
He dreaded the prosperity and elevation of a man whom he had injured 
so deeply. He suspected that success would encourage him to aim at inde- 
pendence upon his jurisdiction ; and so violently did the passions of hatred, 
fear, and jealousy operate upon his mind, that, in order to gratify his 
vengeance, he scrupled not to defeat an enterprise of the greatest moment 
to his country. Under pretexts which were false, but plausible, he desired 
Balboa to postpone his voyage for a short time, and to repair to Ada, in 
order that he might have an interview with him. Balboa, with the unsus- 
picious confidence of a man conscious of no crime, instantly obeyed the 
summons; but as soon as he entered the place, he was arrested by order of 
Pedrarias, whose impatience to satiate his revenge did not suflfer him to 
languish long in confinement. Judges were inunediately appointed to pro- 
ceed to his trial. An accusation of disloyalty to the king, and of an intention 
to revolt against the governor was preferred against him. Sentence of death 
was pronounced ; and though the judges who passed it, seconded by the 
whole colony, interceded warmly for his pardon, Pedrarias continued inex- 
orable ; and the Spaniards beheld, with astonishment and sorrow, the public 
execution of a man whom they universally deemed more capable than any 
one who had borne command in America, of forming and accomplishing 
great designs.! Upon his death, the expedition which he had planned was 
relinquished. Pedrarias, notwithstanding the violence and injustice of his 
proceedings, was not only screened from punishment by the powerful patron- 
age of the Bishop of Buigos and other courtiers, but continued in power. 
Soon after he obtained permission to remove the colony from its unwhole- 
some station of Santa Maria to PaJiama,on the opposite side of the isthmus ; 
and though jt did not gain much in point of healthfulness by the change, 
the commodious situation of this new settlement contributed greatly to 
facilitate the subsequent conquests of the Spaniards in the extensive countries 
situated upon the Southern Ocean.t 

During these traasactions in Darien [1515], the history of which it was 
proper to carry on in an uninterrupted tenour, several important events 
occurred with respect to the discovery, the conquest, and government of 
other provinces in the New World. Ferdinand was so intent upon opening 

» Horrera, dec. 2. lib. i. c. 3, lib. U. c. 11. 13, 21. f Ibid. dec. 2. lib. ii. o. 91, 23. J Ibid. lib. 
tv. I. 



108 HISTORY OF [BookIII. 

a communication with the Molucca or Spice Islands by the west, that in the 
year one thousand five hundred and fifteen he fitted out two ships at his own 
expense, in order to attempt such a voyage, and gave the command of them 
to Juan Diaz de Solis, who was deemed one of the most skilful navigators 
in Spain. He stood along the coast of South America, and on the first of 
January, one thousand five hundred and sixteen, entered a river which he 
called Janeiro, where an extensive commerce is now carried on. From 
thence he proceeded to a spacious bay, which he supposed to be the entrance 
into a strait that communicated with the Indian Ocean ; but, upon advancing 
further, he found it to be the mouth of llio de Plata, one of the vast rivers 
by which the southern continent of America is watered. In endeavouring 
to make a descent in this country, De Solis and several of his crew were 
slain by the natives, who, in sight of the ships, cut their bodies in pieces, 
roasted and devoured them. Discouraged with the loss of their commander, 
and terrified at this shocking spectacle, the surviving Spaniards set sail for 
Europe, without aiming at any further discovery.* Though this attempt 
proved abortive, it was not without benefit. It turned the attention of 
ingenious men to this course of navigation, and prepared the way for a more 
fortunate voyage, by w4iich, a few years posterior to this period, the great 
design that Ferdinand had in view was accomplished. 

1 hough the Spaniards were thus actively employed in extending their 
discoveries and settlements in America, they still considered Hispaniola as 
their principal colony, and the seat of government. Don Diego Columbus 
wanted neither inclination nor abilities to have rendered the members of this 
colony, who were most immediately under his jurisdiction, prosperous and 
happy. But he was circumscribed in all his operations by the suspicious 
policy of Ferdinand, who on every occasion, and under pretexts the most 
frivolous, retrenched his privileges, and encouraged the treasurer, the judges, 
and other subordinate otncers to counteract his measures, and to dispute his 
authority. The most valuable prerogative which the governor possessed 
was that of distributing Indians among the Spaniards settled in the island. 
The rigorous servitude of those unhappy men having been but little mitigated 
by all the regulations in their favour, the power of parcelling out such 
necessary instruments of labour at pleasure, secured to the governor great 
influence in the colony. In order to strip him of this, Ferdinand created 
a new office, with the power of distributing the Indians, and bestowed it 
upon Rodrigo Albuquerque, a relation of Zapata, his confidential minister. 
Mortified with the injustice as well as indignity of this invasion upon his 
rights, in a point so essential, Don Diego could no longer remain in a place 
where his power and consequence were almost annihilated. He repaired 
to Spain with the vain hopes of obtaining redress.j Albuquerque entered 
upon his office with all the rapacity of an indigent adventurer impatient to 
amass wealth. He began with taking the exact number of Indians in the 
island, and found that from sixty thousand, who in the year one tliousand 
five hundred and eight survived after all their sufferings, they were now 
reduced to fourteen thousand. These he threw into separate divisions or 
lots, and bestowed them upon such as were willing to purchase them at the 
highest price. By this arbitrary distribution several of the natives were 
removed from their original habitations, many were taken from their ancient 
masters, and all of them subjected to heavier burdens, and to more intolerable 
labour, in order to reimburse their new proprietors. — Those additional 
calamities completed the misery, and hastened on the extinction of this 
wretched and innocent race of men.! 

The violence of these proceedings, together with the fatal consequences 
■which attended them, not only excited complaints among such as thought 

• Herrera, dec. 9. lib. i. c. 7. P. Martvr, deo. p. 317. t Ibid. dec. 1. lib. ix. c. 5. lib. x. c. 12. 
t Ibid. dec. 1. lib. x. c, 1«. 



AMERICA. 109 

themselves aegrieved, but touched the hearts of all who retained any 
sentiments of humanity. From the time that ecclesiastics were sent as 
instructors into America, they perceived that the rigour with which their 
countrymen treated the natives, rendered their minist^ altogether fruitless. 
The missionaries, in conformity to the mild spirit of that religion which 
they were employed to publish, eaily remonstrated against the maxims of 
the planters with respect to the Americans, and condemned the repartimi- 
entos, or distributions, by which they were given up as slaves to their 
conquerors, as no less contrary to natural justice and the precepts of 
Christianity than to sound policy. The Dominicans, to whom the instruction 
of the Americans was originally committed, were most vehement in testi- 
fying against the repartimientos. In the year one thousand five hundred 
and eleven, Montesino,one of their most eminent preachers, inveighed against 
this practice, in the great church of St. Domingo, with all the impetuosity 
of popular eloquence. Don Diego Columbus, the principal officers of the 
colony, and all the laymen who had been his hearers, complained ot the 
monk to his superiors ; but they, instead of condemning, applauded his 
doctrine as equally pious and seasonable. The Franciscans, influenced by 
the spirit of opposition and rivalship which subsists between the two orders, 
discovered some inclination to take part with the laity, and to espouse the 
defence of the repartimientos. But as they could not with decency give 
their avowed approbation to a system of oppression so repugnant to the 
spirit of religion, they endeavoured to palliate what they could not justify, 
and alleged, in excuse for the conduct of their countrymen, that it was 
impossible to carry on any improvement in the colony, unless the Spaniards 

1)ossessed such dominion over the natives that they could compel them to 
abour.* 

The Dominicans, regardless of such political and interested considerations, 
would not relax in any degree the rigour of their sentiments, and even 
refused to absolve, or admit to the sacrament, such of their countrymen as 
continued to hold the natives in servitude.! Both parties applied to the 
king for his decision in a matter of such importance. Ferdinand empowered 
a committee of his privy council, assisted by some of the most eminent 
civilians and divines in Spain, to hear the deputies sent from Hispaniola in 
support of their respective opinions. After a long discussion, the speculative 

fioint in controversy was determined in favour of the Dominicans, the 
ndians were declared to be a free people entitled to all the natural rights 
of men ; but notwithstanding this decision, the repartimientos were continued 
upon their ancient footing.J As this determination admitted the principle 
upon which the Dominicans founded their opinion, they renewed their eftbrts 
to obtain relief for the Indians with additional boldness and zeal. At 
length, in order to quiet the colony, which was alarmed by their remon- 
strances and censures, Ferdinand issued a decree of his privy council [1513], 
declaring, that after mature consideration of the Apostolic Bull, and other 
titles by which the crown of Castile claimed a right to its possessions in the 
New World, the servitude of the Indians was warranted both by the laws 
of God and of man; that unless they were subjected to the dominion of 
the Spaniards, and compelled to reside under their inspection, it would be 
impossible to reclaim them from idolatry, or to instruct them in the principles 
of the Christian faith ; that no further scruple ou2:ht to be entertained con- 
cerning the lawfulness of the repartimientos, as the king and council were 
willing to take the charge of that upon their own consciences ; and that 
therefore the Dominicans and monks of other religious orders should abstain 
for the future from those invectives which, from an excess of charitable but 
ill-informed zeal, they had uttered against that practice. § 
That his intention of adhering to this decree might be fully understood, 

• Herrera, dec. J lib. viii. e. 11. Oviedo, lib. iii. c. 6. p. 97. f Oviedo, lib. iii c 6. p. 97. 

X Herrera, dec. 1. lib. viii. c. 13. lib ix. c. 5. ^ Ibid. dec. 1. lib. iz. c. 14. 



no HISTORY OF [Book 111. 

Ferdinand conferred new grants of Indians upon several of his courtiers [25], 
But, in order that he might not seem altogether inattentive to the rights of 
humjinity, he published an edict, in which he endeavoured to provide for 
the mild treatment of the Indians under the yoke to which he subjected 
them ; he regulated the nature of the work which they should be required 
to perform ; he prescribed the mode in which they should be clothed and 
fed, and gave directions with respect to their instructions in the principles of 
Christianity.* 

But the Dominicans, who from their experience of what was past judged 
concerning the future, soon perceived the inefficacy of those provisions, and 
foretold, that as long as it was the interest of individuals to treat the Indians 
with rigour, no public regulations could render their servitude mild or 
tolerable. They considered it as vain, to waste their own time and strength 
in attempting to communicate the sublime truths of religion to men whose^ 
spirits were broken and their faculties impaired by oppression. Some of 
them in despair, requested the permission of their superiors to remove to 
the continent, and to pursue the object of their mission among such of the 
natives as were not hitherto corrupted by the example of the Spaniards, or 
alienated by their cruelty from the Christian faith. Such as remained in 
Hispaniola continued to remonstrate, with decent firmness, against the ser- 
vitude of the Indians.! . 

The violent operations of Albuquerque, the new distributor of Indians, 
revived the zeal of the Dominicans against the repartimientos, and called 
forth an advocate for that oppressed people, who possessed all the courage, 
the talents, and activity requisite in supporting such a desperate cause. 
This was Bartholomew de las Casas, a native of Seville, and one of the 
clergymen sent out with Columbus in his second voyage to Hispaniola, in 
order to settle in that island. He early adopted the opinion prevalent 
among ecclesiastics, with respect to the unlawfulness of reducing the 
natives to servitude ; and that he might demonstrate the sincerity of his 
conviction, he relinquished all the Indians who had fallen to his own share 
in the division of the inhabitants among their conquerors, declaring that he 
should ever bewail his own misfortune and guilt, in having exercised for a 
moment this impious dominion over his t'ellow-creatures.| From that time 
he became the avowed patron of the Indians ; and by his bold interpositions 
in their behalf, as well as by the respect due to his abilities and character, 
he had often the merit of setting some bounds to the excesses of his coun- 
trymen. He did not fail to remonstrate warmly against the proceedings 
of Albuquerque ; and though he soon found that attention to his own 
interest rendered this rapacious officer deaf to admonition, he did not aban- 
don the wretched people whose cause he had espoused. He instantly 
set out for Spain, with the most sanguine hopes of opening the eyes and 
softening the heart o( Ferdinand, by that striking picture of the oppression 
of his new suljjects which he would exhibit to his view.§ 

He easily obtained admittance to the King, whom he found in a declining 
state of health. With much freedom, and no less eloquence, he repre- 
sented to him all the fatal effects of the njjartimientos in the New World, 
boldly chaining him with the guilt of having authorized this impious 
measure, which had brought miserj' and destruction upon a numerous and 
innocent race of men, whom Providence had placed under his protection. 
Ferdinand, whose mind as well as body was much enfeebled by his dis- 
temper, was greatly alarmed at this charge of impiety, which at another 
juncture he would have despised. He listened with deep compunction to 
the discourse of Las Casas, and promised to take into serious consideration 

* Herrera, dec. 1. lib. ix. c. 14. t M. ibid. Touron. Histoire Gen^rale de TAm^rique, torn. i. 

p. 252. * Fr. Aug. Davila Padilla Hist, dela Fund.-uionde laProvincia de St. Jago de Mexico, 

p 303, 304. Herrnra, dec. 1. Ub. x. c. )?. ^ Hmcra. dec. 1. lib .x. c. 12. Dec. 2. lib. i. C. 11. 

Davila Padilla Hist. p. 304. 



AMERICA. Ill 

the means of redi'essine: the evil of which he complained. But death pre- 
vented him from executing his resolution. Charles of Austria, to whom all 
his crowns devolved, resided at that time in his paternal dominions in the 
Low Countries. Las Casas, with his usual ardour, prepared immediately 
to set out for Flanders, in-order to occupy the ear of the young monarch, 
when Cardinal Ximenes, who, as regent, assumed the reins of government 
in Castile, commanded him to desist from the journey, and engaged to hear 
his complaints in person. 

He accordingly weighed the matter with attention equal to its importance ; 
and as his impetuous mind delighted in schemes bold and uncommon, he soon 
fixed upon a plan which astonished the ministers trained up under the formal 
and cautious administration of Ferdinand. Without regarding either the rights 
of Don Diego Columbus, or the regulations established by the late King, he 
resolved to send three persons toAmericaassuperintendentsof all the colonies 
there, with authority, after examining all circumstances on the spot, to decide 
finally with respect to the point in question. It was a matter of delibera- 
tion and delicacy to choose men qualified for such an important station. 
As all the laymen settled in America, or who had been consulted in the 
administration of that department, had given their opinion that the Spaniards 
could not keep possession of their new settlements, unless they were allowed 
to retain their dominion over the Indians, he saw that he could not rely on 
their impartiality, and determined to commit the trust to ecclesiastics. As 
the Dominicans and Franciscans had already espoused opposite sides in the 
controversy, he, from the same principle of impartiality, excluded both these 
fraternities from the commission. He confined his choice to the monks of 
St. Jerome, a small but respectable order in Spain. With the assistance of 
their general, and in concert with Las Casas, he soon pitched upon three 
persons whom he deemed equal to the charge. To them he joined Zuazo, 
a private lawyer of distinguished probity, with unbounded power to regu- 
late all judicial proceedings in the colonies. Las Casas was appointed to 
accompany them, with the title of protector of the Indians.* 

To vest such extraordinaiy powers, as might at once overturn the system 
of government established m the New World, in four persons, who, from 
their humble condition in life, were little entitled to possess this high autho- 
rity, appeared to Zapata, and other ministers of the late king, a measure so 
wild and dangerous, that they refused to issue the despatches necessary for 
carrying it into execution. But Ximenes was not of a temper patiently to 
brook opposition to any of his schemes. He sent for the refractorjr minis- 
ters, and addressed them in such a tone that in the utmost consternation they 
obeyed his orders.! The superintendents, with their associate Zuazo and 
Las Casas, sailed for St. Domingo. Upon their arrival, the first act of their 
authority was to set at liberty all the Indians who had been granted to the 
Spanish courtiers, or to any person not residing in America. This, together 
with the information which had been received from Spain concerning the 
object of the commission, spread a general alarm. The colonists concluded 
that they were to be deprived at once of the hands with which they 
carried on their labour, and that, of consequence, ruin was unavoidable. 
But the fathers of St. Jerome proceeded with such caution and prudence as 
soon dissipated all their fears. They discovered, in every step of their 
conduct, a knowledge of the world, and of affairs, which is seldom acquired 
in a cloister ; and displayed a moderation as well as gentleness still more 
rare among persons trained up in the solitude and austerity of a monastic 
life. Their ears were open to information from every quarter ; they com- 
pared the different accounts which they received ; and, after a mature 
consideration of the whole, they were fully satisfied that the state of the 
colony rendered it impossible to adopt the plan proposed by Las Casas. 

• HeiTeTS, dec. 2. lib. ii. c. 8 ♦ Ihid. dec. 0. lib. it. e «. 



112 HISTORY OF [Book III. 

and recommended by the Cardinal. They plainly perceived that the Spaniards 
settled in America were so few in number, that they could neither work the 
mines which had been opened, nor cultivate the country; that they depended 
for eflfecting both upon the labour of the natives, and, if deprived of it, they 
must instantly relinquish their conquests, or give up all the advantages which 
they derived from them ; that no allurement was so powerful as to surmount 
the natural aversion of the Indians to any laborious effort, and that nothing 
but the auttiority of a master could compel them to work ; and if they were 
not kept constantly under the eye and discipline of a superior, so great was 
their natural listlessness and .ndifference, that they would neither attend to 
religious instruction, nor observe those rites of Christianity which they had 
been already taught. Upon all those accounts, the superintendents found 
it necessary to tolerate the repartimientos, and to suffer the Indians to remain 
under subjection to their Spanish masters. They used their utmost endea- 
vours, however, to prevent the fatal effects of this establishment, and to 
secure to the Indians the consolation of the best treatment compatible with 
a state of servitude. For this purpose, they revived former regulations, 
they prescribed new ones, they neglected no circumstance that tended to 
mitigate the rigour of the yoke ; and by their authority, their example, and 
their exhortations, they laboured to inspire their countiymen with sentiments 
of equity and gentleness towards the unhappy people upon whose industiy 
they depended. Zuazo, in his department, seconded the endeavours of the 
superintendents. He reformed the courts of justice in such a manner as to 
render their decisions equitable as well as expeditious, and introduced 
various regulations which greatly improved the interior policy of the colony. 
The satistaction which his conduct and that of the superintendents gave 
was now universal among the Spaniards settled in the New World ; and all 
admired the boldness ot Ximenes in having departed from the ordinary 
path of business in forming his plan, as well as his sagacity in pitching upon 
persons whose wisdom, moderation, and disinterestedness rendered them 
worthy of this high trust.* 

Las Casas alone was dissatisfied. The prudential consideration which 
influenced the superintendents made no impression upon him. He regarded 
their idea of accommodating their conduct to the state of the colony, as the 
maxim of an unhallowed timid policy, which tolerated what was unjust 
because it was beneficial. He contended that the Indians were by nature 
free, and, as their protector, he required the superintendents not to bereave 
them of the common privilege of humanity. They received his most virulent 
remonstrances without emotion, but adhered firmly to their own system. 
The Spanish planters did not bear with him so patiently, and were ready 
to tear him in pieces for insisting in a requisition so od.ious to them. Las 
Casas, in order to screen himself irom their rage, found it necessary to take 
shelter in a convent ; and perceiving that all his efforts in America were 
fruitless, he soon set out for Europe, with a fixed resolution not to abandon 
the protection of a people whom he deemed to be cruelly oppressed.! 

Had Ximenes retained that vigour of mind with which he usually applied 
to business. Las Casas must have met with no very gracious reception upon 
his return to Spain. But he found the Cardinal languishing under a mortal 
distemper, and preparing to resig;n his authority to the young king, who was 
daily expected from the Low Countries. Charles arrived, took possession 
of the government, and, by the death of Ximenes, lost a minister whose 
abilities and integrity entitled him to direct his affairs. Many of the Flemish 
nobility had accompanied their sovereign to Spain. From that warm pre- 
dilection to his countrymen, which was natural at his age, he consulted them 
with respect to all the transactions in his new kingdom ; and they, with 

* Herrera, dec. 3. lib. ii. c. 15. Remesal, Hint. Gcncr. lib. ii. c. H, 15, 16. t Ibid. dec. 2. lib; 
U. c. 16. 



AMERICA. 113 

an indiscreet eagerness, inlruded themselves into every business, and seized 
almost every department of administration.* The direction of American 
affairs was an object too alhiring to escape their attention. Las Casas 
observed their growing influence ; and though projectors are usually too 
sanguine to conduct their schemes with much dexterity, he possessed a 
busUing, indefatigable activity, which sometimes accomplishes its purposes 
with greater success than the most exquisite discernment and address. He 
courted the Flemish ministers with assiduity. He represented to them the 
absurdity of all the maxims hitherto adopted with respect to the govern- 
ment of America, particularly during the administration of Ferdinand, and 
pointed out the defects of those arrangements which Ximenes had in- 
troduced. The memory of Ferdinand was odious to the Flemings. The 
superior virtues and abilities of Ximenes had long been the object of their 
envy. They fondly wished to have a plausible pretext for condemning the 
measures both of the monarch and of the minister, and of reflecting some 
discredit on their political wisdom. The friends of Don Diego Columbus, 
as well as the Spanish courtiers who had been dissatisfied with the Cardi- 
nal's administration, joined Las Casas in censuring the scheme of sending 
superintendents to America. This union of so many interests and passions 
was irresistible ; and inconsequence of it the fathers of St. Jerome, together 
with their associate Zuazo, were recalled. Roderigo de Figueroa, a 
lawj'er of some eminence, was appointed chief judge of the island, and 
received instructions, in compliance with the request of Las Casas, to 
examine once more, with the utmost attention, the point in controversy 
between him and the people of the colony, with respect to the treatment 
of the natives ; and in the mean time to do every thing in his power to 
alleviate their sufferings, and prevent the extinction of the race.j 

This was all that the zeal of Las Casas could procure at that juncture in 
favour of the Indians. The impossibility of carrying on any improvements 
in America, unless the Spanish planters could command the labour of the 
natives, was an insuperable objection to his plan of treating them as free 
subjects. In order to provide some remedy for this, without which he 
found it was in vain to mention his scheme. Las Casas proposed to purchase 
a sufficient number of negroes from the Portuguese settlements on the coast 
of Africa, and to transport them to America, in ordei' that they might be 
employed as slaves in working the mines and cultivating the ground. One 
of the first advantages which the Portuguese had derived from their disco- 
veries in Africa arose from the trade in slaves. Various circumstances 
concurred in reviving this odious commerce, which had been long abolished 
in Europe, and which is no less repugnant to the feelings of humanity than 
to the principles of religion. As early as the year one thousand five hundred 
and three, a few negro slaves had been sent into the New World. | In the 
year one thousand five hundred and eleven, Ferdinand permitted the impor- 
tation of them in greater numbers.^ They were found to be a more robust 
and hardy race than the natives of America. They were more capable of 
enduring fatigue, more patient under servitude, and the labour of one negro 
was computed to be equal to that of four Indians. || Cardinal Ximenes, 
however, when solicited to encourage this commerce, peremptorily rejected 
the proposition, because he perceived the iniquity of^ reducing one race of 
men to slavery, while he was consulting about the means of restoring liberty 
to another. IF But Las Casas, from the inconsistency natural to men who 
hurry with headlong impetuosity towards a favourite point, was incapable 
of making this distinction. While he contended earnestly for the liberty oi 
the people bom in one quarter of the globe, he laboured to enslave the 

• History of Charles V. t Herrera, dec. 3. lib. ii. c. 16. 19. 21. lib. iii. c. 7, 8. 

t Ibid. dec. 1. lib. v. c. JO. ^ Ibid. lib. vill. c. 9. || Ibid. lib. ii c. .'>. " Ibid, dec.2. lib. 

li. c. 8. 
"\'or.. I.— 15 



114 i i 1 S r O K Y O F [Book III. 

inhabitants ol' anotlier region ; and in the warmth ol his zeal to save the 
Americans Irom the yoke, pronounced it to be lawful and expedient to impose 
one still heavier upon the Africans. Unfortunately for the latter, Las Casas's 
plan was adopted. Charles granted a patent to one of his Flemish favour- 
ites, containing an exclusive right of importing four thousand negroes into 
America. The favourite sold his patent to some Genoese merchants for 
twenty-five thousand ducats, and they were the first who brought into a 
regular form that commerce for slaves between Africa and America, which 
has since been carried on to such an amazing extent.* 

But the Genoese merchants [1518], conducting their operations, at first, 
with the rapacity of monopolists, demanded such a high price for negroes, 
that the number imported into Hispaniola made no great change upon the 
state of the colony. Las Casas, whose zeal was no less inventive than inde- 
fatigable, had recourse to another expedient for the relief of the Indians. 
He observed, that most of the persons wlio had settled hitherto in America, 
were sailors and soldiers employed in the discovery or conquest of the 
country ; the younger sons of noble families, allured by the prospect of 
acquiring sudden wealth ; or desperate adventurers, whom their indigence 
or crimes forced to abandon their native land. Instead of such men, who 
were dissolute, rapacious, and incapable of that sober persevering industry 
which is requisite in forming new colonies, he proposed to supply the set- 
tlements in Hispaniola and other parts of the New World with a sulficient 
number of labourers and husbandmen, who should be allured by suitable 
premiums to remove thither. These, as they were accustomed to fatigue, 
would be able to perform the work to which the Indians, from the feebleness 
of their constitution, were unequal, and might soon become useful and 
opulent citizens. But though Hispaniola stood much in need of a recruit 
of inhabitants, having been visited at this time with the small-pox, which 
.swept off almost all the natives who had survived their long continued op- 
pression ; and though Las Casas had the countenance of the Flemish 
ministers, this scheme was del'eatedby the bishop of Burgos, who thwarted 
all his projects.! 

Las Casas now despaired of procuring any relief for the Indians in those 
places where the Spaniards were already settled. The evil was become 
so inveterate there as not to admit of a cure. But such discoveries were 
daily making in the continent as gave a high idea both of its extent and 
populousness. In all those vast regions there was but one feeble colony 
planted; and except a small spot on the isthmus of Darien, the natives stiil 
occupied the whole countiy. This opened a new and more ample field for 
the humanity and zeal of Las Casas, who flattered himself that he might 
prevent a pernicious system from being introduced there, though he had 
failed of success in his attempts to overturn it where it was already esta- 
blished. Full ol this idea, he applied tor a grant of the unoccupied country 
stretching along the seacoast from the Gulf of Paria to the western frontier 
of that province now known by the name of Santa Martha. He proposed 
to settle there with a colony composed of husbandmen, labourers, and 
ecclesiastics. He engaged in the space of two years to civilize ten thousand 
of the natives, and to instruct them so thoroughly in the arts of social life, 
that from the fruits of their industry an annual revenue of fifteen thousand 
ducats should arise to the king. In ten years he expected that his improve- 
ments w(juld be so tar advanced as to yield annually sixty thousand ducats. 
He stipulated, that no soldier or sailor should ever be permitted to settle 
in this district ; and that no Spaniard whatever should enter it without his 
permission. He even projected to clothe the people whom he took alone^ 
with him in some distinguishing garb, which did not resemble the Spanish 
dress, that they might appear to the natives to be a ditferent race of men 

* Jlerrera, dec. 1. lil). ii. c. 2l> t Ibid. dec. 2. lib ii. c. 9), 



A31KK1CA, 115 

from ihose who had brought so many calamities upon their country.* From 
this scheme, of which I have traced only the great lines,< it is manifest that 
Las Casas had formed ideas concerning the method of treating the Indians, 
similar to those by which the Jesuits afterwards carried on their great 
operations in another part of the same continent. He supposed that the 
Europeans, by avaihng themselves of that ascendant which they possessed 
in consequence of their superior progress in science and improvement, might 
gradually form the minds of the Americans to relish those comforts of which 
they were destitute, might train them to the arts of civil life, and render them 
capable of its functions. 

But to the bishop of Bui^os, and the council of the Indies, this project; 
appeared not only chimerical, but dangerous in a high degree. They deemed 
the faculties of the Americans to be naturally so limited, and their indolence 
so excessive, that every attempt to instruct or to improve them would be 
fruitless. They contended, that it would be extremely imprudent to give 
the command of a country extending above a thousand miles along the coast, 
to a tanciful presumptuous enthusiast, a stranger to the affairs of the world, 
and unacquainted with the arts of government. Las Casas, far from being 
discouraged with a repulse, which he had reason to expect, had recourse 
once more to the Flemish favourites, who zealously patronized his scheme 
merely because it had been rejected by the Spanish ministers. They pre- 
vailed with their master, who had lately been raised to the Imperial 
dimity, to refer the consideration of this measure to a select number of his 
privy counsellors ; and Las Casas having excepted against the members ot 
the council of the Indies, as partial and interested, they were all excluded. 
The decision of men chosen by recommendation of the Flemings was 
perfectly conformable to their sentiments. They wannly approved of Las 
Casas's plan, and gave orders for carrying it into execution, fciut restricted 
the territory allotted him to three hundred miles along the coast of Cumana ; 
allowing him, however, to extend it as far as he pleased towards the interior 
part of the country.! 

This determination did not pass uncensured. Almost every person who 
had been in the West Indies exclaimed against it, and supported their 
opinion so confidently, and with such plausible reasons, as made it advisable 
to pause and to review the subject more deliberately. Charles himself, 
though accustomed, at this early period of his life, to adopt the sentiments 
of his ministers with such submissive deference as did not promise that 
decisive vigour of mind which distinguished his riper years, could not help 
suspecting that the eagerness with which the Flemings took part in every 
affair relating to America flowed from some improper motive, and began to 
discover an inclination to examine in person into the state of the question 
concerning the character of the Americans, and the proper manner of 
treating them. An opportunity of making this inquiiy with great advantage 
soon occurred [June 20]. Quevedo, the bishop of Darien, who had accom- 
panied Pedrarias to the continent in the year one thousand five hundreci 
and thirteen, happened to land at Barcelona, where the court then resided. 
It was quickly known that his sentiments concerning the talents and dis- 
position of tne Indians differed from those of Las Casas : and Charles 
naturally concluded that by confronting two respectable persons, ■who, 
during their residence in America, had full leisure to observe the manners 
of the people whom they pretended to describe, he might be able to 
discover which of them had formed his opinion with the greatest discern- 
ment and accuracy. 

A day for this solemn audience was appointed. The emperor appeared 
with extraordinary pomp, and took his seat on a throne in the great hall of 

* Herrera, dec. 2. lib. iv. c. 3. ' Goniara Hist. G'Mifrf-c. 77. }U:nern, dec. % lib, iv e 3. 

Oviedo, lib. lii. c. 5. 



116 HISTORY OF IBookUI. 

the palace. His principal courtiers attended. Don Diego Columbus, 
admiral of the Indies, was summoned to be present. The bishop of Darien 
was called upon first to deliver his opinion. He, in a short discourse, 
lamented the fatal desolation of America hy the extinction of so many of 
its inhabitants; he acknowledged that this must be imputed, in some 
degree, to the extensive rigour and inconsiderate proceedings of the 
Spaniards ; but declared that all the people of the New World whom he 
had seen, either in the continent or in the islands, appeared to him to be a 
race of men marked out, by the inferiority of their talents, for servitude, 
and whom it would be impossible to instruct or improve, unless they were 
kept under the continual inspection of a master. Las Casas, at greater 
length and with more fervour, defended his own system. He rejected with 
indignation the idea that any race of men was born to servitude as irreligious 
and inhuman. He asserted that the faculties of the Americans were not 
naturally despicable, but unimproved ; that they were capable of receiving 
instruction in the principles of religion, as well as of acquiring the industry 
and arts which would qualify them for the various offices of social life ; 
that the mildness and timidity of their nature rendered them so submissive 
and docile, that they might be led and formed with a gentle hand. He 
professed that his intentions in proposing the scheme now under considera- 
tion were pure and disinterested ; and though from the accomplishment of 
his designs inestimable benefits would result to the crown ol Castile, he 
never had claimed, nor ever would receive, any recompense on that 
account. 

Charles, after hearing both, and consulting with his ministers, did not 
think himself sufficiently informed to establish any general arrangement 
with respect to the state of the Indians ; but as he had perfect confidence in 
the integrity of Las Casas, and as even the bishop of Darien admitted his 
scheme to be of such importance that a trial should be made of its effects, 
he issued a patent [1522], granting him the district of Cumana formerly 
mentioned, with full power to establish a colony there according to his 
own plan.* 

Las Casas pushed on the preparations for his voyage with his usual 
ardour. But, either from his own inexperience in the conduct of affairs, 
or from the secret opposition of the Spanish nobility, who universally 
dreaded the success of^ an institution that might rob them of the industrious 
and useful hands which cultivated their estates, his progress in engagmg 
husbandmen and labourers was extremely slow, and he could not prevail 
on more than two hundred to accompany him to Cumana. 

Nothing, however, could damp his zeal. With this slender train, hardly 
sufficient to take possession of such a lai^e territory, and altogether unequal 
to any effectual attempt towards civilizing its inhabitants, he set sail. The 
first place at which he touched was the island of Puerto Rico. There he 
received an account of a new obstacle to the execution of his scheme, 
more insuperable than any he had hitherto encountered. When he left 
America, m the year one thousand five hundred and sixteen, the Spaniards 
had little intercourse with any part of the continent except the countries 
adjacent to the Gulf of Darien. But as every species of internal industry 
began to stagnate in Hispaniola, when, by the rapid decrease of the natives, 
the Spaniards were deprived of those hands with which they had hitherto 
carried on their operations, this prompted them to try various expedients 
lor supplying that loss. Considerable numbers of negroes were imported ; 
but, on account of their exorbitant price, many of the planters could not 
afford to purchase them. In order to procure slaves at an easier rate, some 
of the Spaniards in Hispaniola fitted cut vessels to cruise along the coast 

* Herrera, dec. 2. lib. iv. c. 3, 4, 5. Ar»cnsnla Annalts d'Araguii. 74. 97. RetnUal Hist. Gcner. 
lib. ii t. 19, 20 



AMERICA. 117 

of Uie continent. In places where they found themselves inferior in strength, 
they traded vv ith the natives, and gave European toys in exchange for the 
plates of gold worn by them as ornaments ; but, wherever they could 
surprise or overpower tne Indians, they carried them off by force, and sold 
them as slaves.* In those predatory excursions such atrocious acts ot 
violence and cruelty had been committed, that the Spanish name was 
held in detestation all over the continent. Whenever any ships appeared, 
the inhabitants either fled to the woods, or rushed down to the shore in arms 
to repel those hated disturbers of their tranquillity. They forced some 
parties of the Spaniards to retreat with precipitation ; they cut ofif others ; 
and in the violence of their resentment against the whole nation, they 
murdered two Dominican missionaries, whose zeal had prom.pted them to 
settle in the province of Cumana.t This outrage against persons revered 
for their sanctity excited such indignation among the people of Hispaniola, 
who, notwithstanding all their licentious and cruel proceedings, were 
possessed with a wonderful zeal for religion, and a superstitious respect 
for its ministers, that they determined to inflict exemplary punishment, 
not only upon the perpetrators of that crime, but upon the whole race. 
With this view, they gave the command of five ships and three hundred 
men to Diego Ocampo, with orders to lay waste the country of Cumana 
with fire and sword, and to transport all the inhabitants as slaves to His- 
paniola. This armament Las Casas found at Puerto Rico, in its way to 
the continent ; and as Ocampo refused to defer his voyage, he immediately 
■perceived that it would be impossible to attempt the execution of his 
pacific plan in a country destined to be the seat ot war and desolation.^ 

In order to provide against the effects of this unfortunate incident, he 
set sail directly for St. Domingo [April 12], leaving his followers cantoned 
out among the planters in Puerto Rico. From many concurring causes, 
the reception which Las Casas met with in Hispaniola was very unfavour- 
able. In his negotiations for the relief of the Indians, he had censured 
the conduct of his countrymen settled there with such honest severity as 
rendered him universally odious to them. They considered their own 
ruin as the inevitable consequence of his success. They were now elated 
with hope of receiving a large recruit of slaves from Cumana, which must 
be relinquished if Las Casas were assisted in settling bis projected colony 
there. Figueroa, in consequence of the instructions which he had recei ved 
in Spain, had made an experiment concerning the capacity of the Indians, 
that was represented as decisive against the system of Las Casas. He 
collected in Hispaniola a good number of the natives, and settled them 
in two villages, leaving them at perfect liberty, and with the uncontrolled 
direction of their own actions. But that people, accustomed to a mode 
of lite extremely different from that which takes place wherever civiliza- 
tion has made any considerable progress, were incapable of assuming 
new habits at once. Dejected with their own misfortunes as well as those 
of their country, they exerted so little industry in cultivating the ground, 
appeared so devoid of solicitude or foresight in providing Tor their own 
wants, and were such strangers to arrangement in conducting their affairs, 
that the Spaniards pronounced them incapable of being formed to live 
like men in social life, and considered them as children, who should be 
kept under the perpetual tutelage of persons superior to themselves iu 
wisdom and sagacity. § 

Notwithstanding all those circumstances, which alienated the persons 
in Hispaniola to whom Las Casas applied from himself and from his 
measures, he, by his activity and perseverance, b^ some concessions and 
many threats, obtained at length a small body of troops to protect him 

• Herrera, dec. 3. lib. ii. e. 3. f Oviedo, Hist. lib. xii. p. 3. t Herr«ra, dec. 2. lib. it. 

t. 8, 9. $ Ibid. dec. 2. lib. x. c. 5. 



118 HISTORY OF [Book III. 

and his colony at their first landing. But upon his return to Puerto Rico, 
he found that the diseases of the climate had been fatal to several of his 
people ; and that others having got employment in that island, refused to 
follow him. With the handful that remained, he set sail and landed in 
Cumana. Ocampo had executed his commission in that province with 
such barbarous rage, having massacred many of the inhabitants, sent others 
in chains to Hispaniola, and forced the rest to fly for shelter to the woods, 
that the people of a small colony, which he had planted at a place which 
he named Toledo, were ready to perish for want in a desolated country. 
There, however. Las Casas was obliged to tix his residence, though 
deserted both by the troops appointed tb protect him, and by those under 
the command of Ocampo, who foresaw and dreaded the calamities to 
which he must be exposed in that wretched station. He made the best 
provision in his power for the safety and subsistence of his followers ; but 
as his utmost efforts availed little towards securing either the one or the 
other, he returned to Hispaniola, in order to solicit more effectual aid for 
the preservation of men who, from confidence in him, had ventured into 
a post of so much danger. Soon after his departure, the natives, having 
discovered the feeble and defenceless state ot the Spaniards, assembled 
secretly, attacked them with the fury natural to men exasperated by many 
injuries, cut off a good number, and compelled the rest to fly in the utmost 
consternation to the island of Cubagua. The small colony settled there 
on account of the pearl fishery, catching the panic with which their coun- 
trymen had been seized, abandoned the island, and not a Spaniard remained 
in any part of the continent, or adjacent islands, from the Gulf of Paria 
to the borders of Darien. Astonished at such a succession of disasters. 
Las Casas was ashamed to show his face after this fatal termination of all 
his splendid schemes. He shut himself up in the convent of the Domini- 
cans at St. Domingo, and soon after assumed the habit of that order.* 

Though the expulsion of the colony from Cumana happened in the year 
one thousand five hundred and twenty -one, 1 have chosen to trace the progress 
of Las Casas's negotiations from their first rise to their final issue without 
interruption. His system was the object of long and attentive discussion; and 
though his efforts in behalf of the oppressed Americans, partly from his own 
rashness and imprudence, and partly from the malevolent opposition of his 
adversaries, were not attended with that success which he promised with 
too sanguine confidence, great praise is due to his humane activity, which 
gave rise to various regulations that were of some benefit to that unhappy 
people. I return now to the history of the Spanish discoveries as they 
occur in the order of time.j 

Diego Velasquez, who conquered Cuba in the year one thousand five 
hundred and eleven, still retained the government of that island, as the 
deputy of Don Diego Columbus, though he seldom acknowledged his supe- 
rior, and aimed at rendering his own authority altogether independent.;^ 
Under his prudent administration, Cuba became one of the most flourishing 
of the Spanish settlements. The fame of this allured thither many persons 
from the other colonies, in hopes of finding either some permanent establish- 
ment or some employment for their activity. As Cuba lay to the west of 
all the islands occupied by the Spaniards, and as the ocean which stretches 
beyond it towards that quarter had not hitherto been explored, these circum- 
stances naturally invited the inhabitants to attempt new discoveries. An 
expedition for this purpose, in which activity and resolution might conduct 
to sudden wealth, was more suited to the genius of the age than the patient 
industry requisite in clearing ground and manufacturing sugar. Instigated 

• Henera, dec. 2. lib. x. c. 5. dec. 3. lib. ii. e. 3, 4, 5. Oviedo, Hist. lib. lii. e. 5. Gomnra, c. 77. 
Pavjla Fadilla, lib. i. c. 97. Reroisal Hist, Gen, lib. xi. c. 25, 2;i. + Herrer3. <Ipc. 2. lib, x, c. 5. p. 
9M. : Ibid, lib. ii. c. JO. 



AMERICA. 119 

by this spirit, several officers, who had served under Pedrarias in Darien, 
entered into an association to undertake a voyage of discovery. They 
persuaded Franscisco Hernandez Cordova, an opulent planter in Cuba, 
and a man of distinguished courage, to join with them in the adventure, and 
chose him to be their commander. Velasquez not only approved of the 
design, but assisted in carrying it on. As the veterans from Darien were 
extremely indigent, he and Cordova advanced money for purchasing three 
small vessels, and furnished them with eveiy thing requisite either for 
traffic or for war. A hundred and ten men embarked on board of them, 
and sailed from St. Jago de Cuba, on the eighth of February, one thou- 
sand five hundred and seventeen. By the advice of their chief pilot, 
Antonio Alaminos, who had served under the first admiral Columbus, they 
stood directly west, relying on the opinion of that great navigator, who 
uniformly maintained that a westerly course would lead to the most 
important discoveries. 

On the twenty -first day after their departure from St. Jago, they saw land, 
which proved to be Cape Catoche, the eastern point of that large peninsula 
projecting trom the continent of America, which still retains its original name 
of Yucatan. As they approached the shore, five canoes came off full of 
people decently clad in cotton garments ; an astonishing spectacle to the 
Spaniards, who had found every other part of America possessed by naked 
savages. Cordova endeavoured by small presents to gain the good will 
of these people. They, though amazed at the strange objects now pre- 
sented for the first time to their view, invited the Spaniards to visit their 
habitations, with an appearance of cordiality. They landed accordingly, 
and as they advanced into the country, they observed with new wonder 
some large houses built with stone. But they soon found that, if the 
people of Yucatan had made progress in improvement beyond their coun- 
trymen, they were likewise more artful and warlike. For though the 
cazique had received Cordova with many tokens of friendship, he had 
posted a considerable body of his subjects in ambush behind a thicket, 
who, upon a signal given by him, rushed out and attacked the Spaniards 
with great boldness, and some degree of martial order. At the first flight 
of their arrows, fifteen of the Spaniards were wounded ; but the Indians 
•were struck with such terror by the sudden explosion of the fire arms, and 
so surprised at the execution done by them, by the cross bows, and by the 
other weapons of their new enemies, that they fled precipitately. Cordova 
quitted a country where he had met with such a fierce reception, carrying 
off two prisoners, together with the ornaments of a small temple which he 
plundered in his retreat. 

He continued his course towards the west, without losing sight of the coast, 
and on the sixteenth day arrived at Campeachy. There the natives re- 
ceived them more hospitably; but the Spaniards were much surprised, that on 
all the extensive coast along which they had sailed, and which they imagined 
to be a large island, they had not observed any river [26]. As their water had 
began to fail, they advanced, in hopes of finding a supply ; and at length 
they discovered the mouth of a river at Potonchan, some leagues beyond 
Campeachy. 

Cordova landed all his troops, in order to protect the sailors while em- 
ployed in filling the casks ; but notwithstanding this precaution, the natives 
rushed down upon them with such fury and in such numbers, that forty- 
seven of the Spaniards were killed upon the spot, and one man only of the 
whole body escaped unhurt. Their commander, though wounded in 
twelve different places, directed the retreat with presence of mind equa] 
to the courage with which he had led them on in the engagement, and 
with much difficulty they regained their ships. After this fatal repulse, 
nothing remained but to hasten back to Cuba with their shattered forces. 
In their passage thither they suffered the most exquisite distress for want 



1CJ0 HISTORY OF [Book III. 

of water, that men, wounded and sickly, shut up in small vessels, and ex- 
posed to the heat of the torrid zone, can be supposed to endure. Some of 
them, sinking under these calamities, died by the way ; Cordova, their 
commander, expired soon after they landed in Cuba.* 

Notwithstanding the disastrous conclusion of this expedition, it con- 
tributed rather to animate than to damp a spirit of enterprise among^ 
the Spaniards. They had discovered an extensive country, situated 
at no great distance from Cuba, fertile in appearance, and possessed 
by a people far superior in improvement to any hitherto known in Ame- 
rica. Though they had carried on little commercial intercourse with 
the natives, they had brought off some ornaments of gold, not conside- 
rable in value, but of singular fabric. These circumstances, related 
with the exaggeration natural to men desirous of heightening the merit 
of their own exploits, were more than sufficient to excite romantic hopes 
and expectations. Great numbers offered to engage in a new expedi- 
tion. Velasquez, solicitous to distinguish himself by some service so 
meritorious as might entitle him to claim the government of Cuba in- 
dependent of the admiral, not only encouraged their ardour, but at his 
own expense fitted out four ships for the voyage. Two hundred and 
forty volunteers, among whom were several persons of rank and fortune, 
embarked in this enterprise. The command of it was given to Juan de 
Grijalva, a young man of known merit and courage, with instructions to 
observe attentively the nature of the countries which he should discover, 
to barter for gold, and, if circumstances were inviting, to settle a colony in 
some proper station. He sailed from St. Jago de Cuba on the eighth of 
April, one thousand five hundred and eighteen. The pilot, Alaminos, 
held the same course as in the former voyage ; but the violence of the 
currents carrying the ships to the south, the first land which they made 
was the island of Cozumel, to the east of Yucatan. As all the inhabitants 
fled to the woods and mountains at the approach of the Spaniards, they 
made no long stay there, and without any remarkable occurrence they 
reached Potonchan on the opposite side of the peninsula. The desire of 
avenging their countrymen, who had been slain there, concurred with their 
ideas of good policy, in prompting them to land, that they might chastise 
the Indians of that district with such exemplary rigour as would strike 
terror into all the people round them. But though they disembarked all 
their troops, and carried ashore some field pieces, the Indians fought Avith 
such courage, that the Spaniards gained the victory with difficulty, and 
were confirmed in their opinion that the inhabitants of this countiy would 
prove more formidable enemies than any they had met with in other parts of 
America. From Potonchan they contmued their voyage towards the west, 
keeping as near as possible to the shore, and casting anchor every evening, 
from dread of the dangerous accidents to which they might be exposed in 
an unknown sea. During th6 day their eyes were turned continually 
towards land, with a mixture of surprise and wonder at the beauty of the 
country, as well as the novelty of the objects which they beheld. Many 
villages were scattered along the coast, in which they could distinguish 
houses of stone that appeared white and lofty at a distance. In the warmth 
of their admiration, they fancied these to be cities adorned with towers 
and pinnacles ; and one of the soldiers happening to remark that this 
country resembled Spain in appearance, Grijalva, with universal applause, 
called it JYew Spain, the name which still distinguishes this extensive and 
opulent province of the Spanish empire in America [27]. They landed 
in a river which the natives called Tabasco [June 9] ; and the fame of their 

* Herrcra, dec. 3. lib. ii. c. 17, 18. Hist. Vprdadera lie la Conqnista de la Nueva Espana por 
Bernal Diaz, del Uoslillo, cap, 1—7. Oviedo. lib. ivii, c. X Gomara, c 51. P. Martyr de Insulis 
impcr invcntia p ;i29. 



AMERICA. 121 

victory at Potonchan having reached this place, the cazique not only 
received them amicably, but bestowed presents upon them of such value, 
as confirmed the high ideas which the Spaniards had formed with respect 
to the wealth and fertility of the country. These ideas were raised still 
higher by what occurred at the place where they next touched. This was 
considerably to the west of Tabasco, in the province since known by the 
name of Guaxaca. There they were received with the respect paid to 
superior beings. The people perfumed them, as they landed, with incense 
of gum copal, and presented to them as offerings the choicest delicacies of 
their country. They were extremely fond of trading with their ne%v 
visitants, and in six days the Spaniards obtained ornaments of gold of 
curious workmanship, to the value of fifteen thousand pesos, in exchange 
for European toys ot small price. The two prisoners whom Cordova had 
brought from Yucatan, had hitherto served as interpreters ; but as they did 
not understand the language of this country, the Spaniards learned from 
the natives by signs, that they were subjects of a great monarch called 
Montezuma, whose dominions extended over that and many other provinces. 
Leaving this place, with which he had so much reason to be pleased. 
Grijalva continued his course towards the west. He landed on a small 
island [June 19], which he named the Isle of Sacrifices, because there the 
Spaniards beheld, for the first time, the horrid spectacle of human victims, 
which the barbarous superstition of the natives offered to their gods. He 
touched at another small island, which he called St. Juan de Ulua. From this 
place he despatched Pedro de Alvarado, one of his officers, to Velasquez, 
with a full account of the important discoveries which he had made, and 
with all the treasure that he acquired by trafficking with the natives. 
After the departure of Alvarado, he himself, with the remaining vessels, 
proceeded along the coast as far as the river Panuco, the country still ap- 
pearing to be well peopled, fertile, and opulent. 

Several of Grijalva's officers contended that it was not enough to have 
discovered those delightful regions, or to have performed, at their different 
landing-places, the empty ceremony of taking possession of them for the 
crown of Castile, and that their glorj' was incomplete, unless they planted 
a colony in some proper station, which might not only secure the Spanish 
nation a footing in the country, but, with the reinforcements which they 
were certain of receiving, might gradually subject the whole to the 
dominion of their sovereign. But the squadron had now been above five 
months at sea ; the greatest part of their provisions was exhausted, and 
what remained of their stores so much corrupted by the heat of the 
climate, as to be almost unfit for use ; they had lost some men by death ; 
others were sickly ; the country was crowded with people who seemed 
to be intelligent as well as brave; and they were under the government 
of one powerful monarch, who could bring them to act against their invaders 
with united force. To plant a colony under so many circumstances of 
disadvantage, appeared a scheme too perilous to be attempted. Grijalva, 
though possessed both of ambition and courage, was destitute of the 
superior talents capable of forming or executing such a great plan. He 
judged it more prudent to return to Cuba, having fulfilled the purpose of 
his voyage, and accomplished all that the armament which he commanded 
enabled him to perform. He returned to St. Jago de Cuba, on the 
twenty-sixth of October, from which he had taken his departure about 
six months before.* 

This was the longest as well as the most successful voyage which the 
Spaniards had hitherto made in the New World. They had discovered 
that Yucatan was not an island as they had supposed, but part of the great 

♦ Herrera, dec. 11. lib. iii. c. 1, 2. 9, 10. BernRl Diaz, e. 8. 17. Oviedo Hiot. lib. xvii. o. 9 20. 
Gomara, c. 49 

Vol. 1.-16 



122 HISTORY OF [BooKn. 

continent of America. From Potonchan they had pursued their course 
for many hundred miles along a coast formerly unexplored, stretching at 
first towards the west, and then turning to the north ; all the country which 
they had discovered appeared to be no less valuable than extensive. As 
soon as Alvarado reached Cuba, Velasquez, transported with success so 
far beyond his most sanguine expectations, immediately despatched a 
person of confidence to carry this important intelligence to Spain, to 
exhibit the rich productions of the countries which had been discovered 
by his means, and to solicit such an increase of authority as might enable 
and encourage him to attempt the conquest of them. Without waiting 
for the return of his messenger, or for the arrival of Grijalva, of whom 
he was become so jealous or distrustful that he was resolved no longer to 
employ him, he began to prepare such a powerful armament as might 
prove equal to an enterprise of so much danger and importance. 

But as the expedition upon which Velasquez was now intent terminated 
in conquests of greater moment than what the Spaniards had hitherto 
achieved, and led them to the knowledge of a people, who, if compared 
with those tribes of America with whom they were hitherto acquainted, 
may be considered as highly civilized ; it is proper to pause before we 

Eroceed to the history of events extremely different from those which we 
ave already related, in order to take a view of the state of the New 
World when first discovered, and to contemplate the policy and manners 
of the rude uncultivated tribes that occupied all the parts oi it with which 
the Spaniards were at this time acquainted. 



BOOK rv. 

Twenty-six years bad elasped since Columbus had conducted the 
people of Europe to the New World. During that period the Spaniards 
had made great progress in exploring its various regions. They had 
visited all the islands scattered in different clusters through that part of 
the ocean which flows in between North and South America. They had 
sailed along the eastern coast of the continent from the river De la Plata 
to the bottom of the Mexican Gulf, and had found that it stretched without 
interruption through this vast portion of the globe. They had discovered 
the great Southern Ocean, which opened new prospects in that quarter. 
They had acquired some knowledge of the coast of Florida, which led 
them to observe the continent as it extended in an opposite direction; 
and though they pushed their discoveries no further towards the North, 
other nations had visited those parts which they neglected. The English, 
in a voyage the motives and success of which shall be related in another 
part of this History, had sailed along the coast of America from Labrador 
to the confines of Florida ; and the Portuguese, in quest of a shorter 
passage to the East Indies, had ventured into the northern seas, and 
viewed the same regions.* Thus, at the period where I have chosen to 
take a view of the state of the New World, its extent was known almost 
from its northern extremity to thirty-five degrees south of the equator. The 
countries which stretch from thence to the southern boimdary of America, 
the great empire of Peru, and the interior state of the extensive dominions 
subject to the sovereigns of Mexico, were still undiscovered. 

* Horrora. dre. 1. lib. vi c. 16 



AMERICA. 123 

When we contemplate the New World, the first circumstance that 
strikes us is its immense extent. It was not a small portion of the earth, 
so inconsiderable that it might have escaped the observation or research of 
fonner ages, which Columbus discovered. He made known a new 
hemisphere, lai^er than either Europe, or Asia, or Africa, the three noted 
divisions of the ancient continent, and not much inferior in dimensions to a 
third part of the habitable globe. 

America is remarkable, not only for its magnitude, but for its position. 
It stretches from the northern polar circle to a high southern latitude, 
above fifteen hundred miles beyond the furthest extremity of the old 
continent on that side of the line. A country of such extent passes through 
all the climates capable of becoming the habitation of man, and fit lor 
yielding the various productions peculiar either to the temperate or to the 
torrid regions of the earth. 

Next to the extent of the New World, the grandeur of the objects which 
it presents to view is most apt to strike the eye of an observer. Nature 
seems here to have carried on her operations upon a larger scale and with 
a bolder hand, and to have distinguished the features ol this country by a 
peculiar magnificence. The mountains in America are much superior in 
height to those in the other divisions of the globe. Even the plain of 
Quito, which may be considered as the base of the Andes, is elevated 
further above the sea than the top of the Pyrenees. This stupendous 
ridge of the Andes, no less remarkable for extent than elevation, rises in 
different places more than one-third above the Peak of Teneriffe, the 
highest land in the ancient hemisphere. The Andes may literally be said 
to hide their heads in the clouds ; the storms often roll, and the thunder 
bursts below their summits, which, though exposed to the rays of the sun 
in the centre of the torrid zone, are covered with everlasting snows [28], 

From these lofty mountains descend rivers, proportionably large, with 
which the streams in the ancient continent are not to be compared, either 
for length of course, or the vast body of water which they roll towards 
the ocean. The Maragnon, the Orinoco, the Plata in South America, the 
Mississippi and St. Laurence in North America, flow in such spacious 
channels, that long before they feel the influence of the tide, they resemble 
arms of the sea rather than rivers of fresh water [29], 

The lakes of the New World are no less conspicuous for grandeur than 
its mountains and rivers. There is nothing in other parts of the globe 
which resembles the prodigious chain of lakes in North America. They 
may properly be termed inland seas of fresh water ; and even those of the 
second or third class in magnitude are of larger circuit (the Caspian Sea 
excepted) than the greatest lake of the ancient continent. 

The New World is of a form extremely favourable to commercial inter- 
course. When a continent is formed, like Africa, of one vast solid mass, 
unbroken by arms of the sea penetrating into its interior parts, with few 
large rivers, and those at a considerable distance from each other, the 
greater part of it seems destined to remain for ever uncivilized, and to be 
debarred from any active or enlarged communication with the rest of 
mankind. When,like Europe, a continent is opened by inlets of the ocean 
of great extent, such as the Mediterranean and Baltic ; or when, like 
Asia, its coasts is broken by deep bays advancing far into the countiy, such 
as the Black Sea, the Gulfs of Arabia, of Persia, of Bengal, of Siam, and of 
Leotang; when the surrounding seas are filled with large and fertile 
islands, and the continent itself watered with a variety of navigable rivers, 
those regions may be said to possess whatever can ficilitate the progress 
of their inhabitants in commerce and improvement. In all these respects 
America may bear a comparison with the other quarters of the globe. The 
Gulf of Mexico, which flows in between North and South America, may 
be considered as a Meditciranean sea, which opens a maritime commerce 



124 HISTORY OF [Book IV.. 

with all the fertile countries by which it is encircled. The islands 
scattered in it are inferior only to those in the Indian Archipelago, in 
number, in magnitude, and in value. As we stretch along the northern 
division of the American hemisphere, the Bay of Chesapeak presents a 
spacious inlet, which conducts the navigator far into the interior parts of 
provinces no less fertile than extensive ; and if ever the progress of culture 
and population shall mitigate the extreme rigour of the climate in the more 
northern districts of America, Hudson's Bay may become as subservient 
to commercial intercourse in that quarter of the globe, as the Baltic is in 
Europe. The other great portion of the New World is encompassed on 
every side by the sea, except one narrow neck which separates the Atlantic 
from the Pacific Ocean ; and though it be not opened by spacious bays 
or arms of the sea, its interior parts are rendered accessible by a number of 
large rivers, fed by so many auxiliary streams, flowing in such various 
directions, that almost without any aid from the hand of industry and 
art, an inland navigation may be carried on through all the provinces from 
the river De la Plata totheGulfof Paria. Nor is this bounty of nature confined 
to the southern division of America ; its northern continent abounds no less in 
rivers which are navigable almost to their sources, and by its immense 
chain of lakes provision is made for an inland communication, more extensive 
and commodious than in any quarter of the globe. The countries stretching 
from the Gulf of Darien on one side, to that of California on the other, 
which form the chain that binds the two parts of the American continent 
together, are not destitute of peculiar advantages. Their coast on one 
side is washed by the Atlantic Ocean, on the other by the Pacific. Some 
of their rivers flow into the former, some into the latter, and secure to them 
all the commercial benefits that may result from a communication with 
both. 

But what most distinguishes America from other parts of the earth is the 
peculiar temperature of its climate, and the different laws to which it is 
subject with respect to the distribution of heat and cold. We cannot 
determine with precision the portion of heat felt in any part of the globe, 
merely by measuring its distance from the equator. The climate of a 
country is aCFected, in some degree, by its elevation above the sea, by the 
extent of continent, by the nature of the soil, the height of adjacent moun- 
tains, and many other circumstances. The influence of these, however, 
is from various causes less considerable in the greater part of the ancient 
continent ; and from knowing the position of any country there, we can 
pronounce with greater certainty what will be the warmth of its climate, 
and the nature of its productions. 

The maxims which are founded upon observation of our hemisphere 
will not apply to the other. In the New World, cold predominates. The 
rigour of the frigid zone extends over half of those regions which should 
be temperate by their position. Countries where the grape and the fig 
should ripen, are buried under snow one half of the year ; and lands 
situated in the same parallel with the most fertile and best cultivated 
provinces in Europe, are chilled with perpetual frosts, which almost 
destroy the power of vegetation [301. As we advance to those parts of 
America which lie in the same parallel with provinces of Asia and Africa, 
blessed with a uniform enjoyment of such genial warmth as is most friendly 
to life and to vegetation, the dominion of^cold continues to be felt, and 
winter reigns, though during a short period, with extreme severity. If we 
proceed along the American continent into the torrid zone, we shall find^ 
the cold prevalent in the New World extending itself also to this region of 
the globe, and mitigating the excess of its fervour. While the negro on 
the coast of Africa is scorched with unremitting heat, the inhabitant ot 
Peru breathes an air equally mild and temperate, and is perpetually shaded 
under a canopy of gray clouds, which intercepts the fierce beams of the 



AxMERICA. 12S 

sun, without obstructing his friendly influence.* Along; the eastern coast 
of America, the climate, though more similar to that of the torrid zone in 
other parts of the earth, is nevertheless considerably milder than in those 
countnes of Asia and Africa which lie in the same latitude. If from the 
southern tropic we continue our progress to the extremity of the American 
continent, we meet with frozen seas, and countries horrid, barren, and 
scarcely habitable for cold, much sooner than in the north. t 

Various causes combine in rendering the climate of America so extremely 
different from that of the ancient contment. Though the utmost extent of 
America towards the north be not yet discovered, we know that it advances 
much nearer to the pole than either Europe or Asia. Both these have 
large seas to the north, which are open during part of the year ; and even 
when covered with ice, the wind that blows over them is less intensely 
cold than that which blows over land in the same high latitudes. But in 
America the land stretches from the river St. Laurence towards the pole, 
and spreads out immensely to the west. A chain of enormous mountains 
covered with snow and ice, runs through all this dreary region. The 
wind, in passing over such an extent of high and frozen land, becomes so 
impregnated with cold, that it acquires a piercing keenness, which it 
retains in its progress through warmer climates, and it is not entirely 
mitigated until it reach the Gulf of Mexico. Over all the continent of 
North America, a north-westerly wind and excessive cold are synonymous 
terms. Even in the most sultry weather, the moment that the wind veers 
to that quarter, its penetrating influence is felt in a transition from heat to 
cold no less violent than sudden. To this powerful cause we may ascribe 
the extraordinary dominion of cold, and its violent inroads into the southern 
provinces, in that part of the globe. J 

Other causes, no less remarkable, diminish the active power of heat in 
those parts of the American continent which lie between the tropics. In 
all that portion of the globe, the wind blows in an invariable direction 
from east to west. As this wind holds its course across the ancient con- 
tinent, it arrives at the countries which stretch along the western shores of 
Africa, inflamed with all the fiery particles which it hath collected from the 
sultiy plains of Asia, and the burning sands in the African deserts. The 
coast of Africa is, accordingly, the region of the earth which feels the most 
fervent heat, and is exposed to the unmitigated ardour of the torrid zone 
But this same wind, which brings such an accession of warmth to the 
countries lying between the river of Senegal and Cafraria, traverses the 
Atlantic Ocean before it reaches the American shore. It is cooled in its 
passage over this vast body of water, and is felt as a refreshing gale alon^ 
the coast of Brazil [31], and Guiana, rendering these countries, though 
among the warmest in America, temperate, when compared with those 
which lie opposite to them in Africa [32]. As this wind advances in its 
course across America, it meets with mimense plains covered with impe- 
netrable forests, or occupied by large rivers, marshes, and stagnating 
waters, where it can recover no considerable degree of heat. At length 
it arrives at the Andes, which run from north to south through the whole 
continent. In passing over their elevated and frozen summits, it is so 
thoroughly cooled, that the gjreater part of the countries beyond them 
hardly feel the ardour to which they seem exposed by their situation.^ 
In the other provinces of America, from Tierra Ferme westward to the 
Mexican empire, the heat of the climate is tempered, in some places, by 
the elevation of the land above the sea, in others, by their extraordinary 

* Voyage de Ulloa, torn. i. p. 433. Anson's Voyage, p. 184. 1 Anson'n VoyJizf, p. 74 ; and 

Voyage de Quires, che7,. Hist. Gfn. dt's Voyages, torn. xiv. p. 83. Richard Hist. Naturj de I'Air, 
ii. 305, &.C. } Oiarlevoix Hial. do Noiiv. I'r. lii. 165. Hist General* de.f Voyages, torn, ir 

515, tc. ■ 5 Acosta Hint. Novi Orbin. lib. ii. c. II. Buffon Hij^t. Naturcllp, &c. torn. ij. 512, Ac. 
ii. 107, tie. Osborn'B Collect, of Voyazes, ii. p. 8()3. 



126 HISTORY OF LBook1\. 

humidity, and in all, by the enormous mountains scattered over this tract. 
The islands of America in the torrid zone are either small or mountainous, 
and are fanned alternately by refreshing sea and land breezes. 

The causes of the extraordinary cold towards the southern limits of 
America, and in the seas beyondi it, cannot be ascertained in a manner 
equally satisfying. It was long supposed that a vast continent, distin- 
guished by the name of Terra Australis Incognita, lay between the 
southern extremity of America and the Antarctic pole. The same prin- 
ciples which account for the extraordinary degree of cold in the northern 
regions of America, were employed in order to explain that which is felt 
at Cape Horn and the adjacent countries. The immense extent of the 
southern continent, and the large rivers which it poured into the ocean, 
were mentioned and admitted by philosophers as causes sufficient to occa- 
sion the unusual sensation of cold, and the still more uncommon appearances 
of frozen seas in that region of the globe. But the imaginary continent to 
which such influence was ascribed, having been searched for in vain, and 
the space which it was supposed to occupy having been found to be an open 
sea, new conjectures must be formed with respect to the causes of a tem- 
perature of climate, so extremely diiferent from that which we experience 
in countries removed at the same distance from the opposite pole [33]. 

After contemplating those permanent and characteristic qualities of the 
American continent, which arise from the peculiarity of its situation, and 
the disposition of its parts, the next object that merits attention is its condition 
when first discovered, as far as that depended upon the industry and operations 
of man. The efilects of human ingenuity and labour are more extensive 
and considerable than even our own vanity is apt at first to imagine. When 
we survey the face of the hal;itabie globe, no small part of that fertility and 
beauty which we ascribe to the hand of nature, is the work of man. His 
efibrts, when continued through a succession of ages, change the appearance 
and improve the qualities of the earth. As a great part of the ancient 
continent has long been occupied by nations far advanced in arts and 
industry, our eye is accustomed to view the earth in that form which it 
assumes when rendered fit to be the residence of a numerous race of men, 
and to supply thein with nourishment. 

But in the New World, the state of mankind was ruder, and the aspect 
of nature extremely different. Throughout all its vast regions, there were 
only two monarchies remarkable for extent of territory, or distinguished 
by any progress in improvement. The rest of this continent was possessed 
by small independent tribes, destitute of arts and industry, and neither 
capable to correct the detects nor desirous to meliorate the condition of 
that part of the earth allotted to them for their habitation. Countries 
occupied by such people were almost in the same state as if they had 
been without inhabitants. Immense forests covered a great part of the, 
uncultivated eaith ; and as the hand of industry had not taught the rivers 
to run in a proper channel, or drained off the stagnating water, many of 
the most fertile plains were overflowed with inundations, or converted into 
marshes. In the southern provinces, where the warmth of the sun, the 
moisture of the climate, and the fertility of the soil, combine in calling 
forth the most vigorous powers of vegetation, the woods are so choked 
with its rank luxuriance as to be almost impervious, and the surface 
of the ground is hid from the eye under a thick covering of shrubs and 
herbs and weeds. In this state of wild unassisted nature, a great part of 
the large provinces in South America, which extend from the bottom of 
the Andes to the sea, still remain. The European colonies have cleared and 
cultivated a few spots along the coast ; but the original race of inhabitants, 
as rude and indolent as ever, have done nothing to open or improve a 
country possessing almost every advantage of situation and climate. As 
we advance towards the northern provinces of America, nature continues 



AMERICA. 1-27 

to wear the same uncultivated aspect, and, in proportion as the rigour of 
the climate increases, appears more desolate and horrid. There the forests, 
though not encumbered with the same exuberance of vegetation, are of 
immense extent ; prodigious marshes overspread the plains, and few marks 
appear of human activity in any attempt to cultivate or embellish the 
earth- No wonder that the colonies sent from Europe were astonished at 
their first entrance into the New World. It appeared to them waste, 
solitary', and uninviting. When the English began to settle in America, 
they termed the countries of which they took possession, The Wilderness. 
Nothing but their eager expectation of'^finding mines of gold could have 
induced the Spaniards to penetrate through the woods and marshes of 
America, where at every step they observed the extreme difference 
between the uncultivated face of nature, and that which it acquires under 
the forming hand of industry and art ['34]. 

The labour and operations of man not only improve and embellish the 
earth, but render it more wholesome and friendly to life. When any 
region lies neglected and destitute of cultivation, the air stagnates in the 
woods ; putrid exhalations arise from the waters ; the surface of the earth, 
loaded with rank vegetation, feels not the purifying influence of the sun 
or of the wind ; the malignity of the distempers natural to the climate 
increases, and new maladies no less noxious are engendered. Accordingly, 
all the provinces pf America, when first discovered, were found to be 
remarkably unhealthy. This the Spaniards experienced in every expedi- 
tion into the New World, whether destined for conquest or settlement. 
Though by the natural constitution of their bodies, their habitual tem- 

f)erance, and the persevering vigour of their minds, they were as much 
brmed as any people in Europe for active service in a sultrj^ climate, they 
felt severely the fatal and pernicious qualities of those uncultivated regions 
through which they marched, or where they endeavoured to plant colonies. 
Great' numbers were cut off by the unknown and violent diseases with 
which they were infected. Such as survived the destructive rage of those 
maladies, were not exempted from the noxious influence of the climate. 
They returned to Europe, according to the description of the early Spanish 
historians, feeble, emaciated, with languid looks, and complexions of such 
a sickly yellow colour as indicated the unwholesome temperature of the 
countries where they had resided.* 

The uncultivated state of the New World affected not only the tem- 

f)erature of the air, but the qualities of its productions. The principle of 
ife seems to have been less active and vigorous there than in the ancient 
continent. Notwithstanding the vast extent of America, and the variety 
of its climates, the different species of animals peculiar to it are much 
fewer in proportion than those of the other hemisphere. In the islands 
there were only four kinds of quadrupeds known, the largest of which 
did not exceed the size of a rabbit. On the continent, the variety was 
greater ; and though the individuals of each kind could not fail of multi- 
plying exceedingly when almost unmolested by men, who were neither so 
numerous, nor so united in society, as to be formidable enemies to the 
animal creation, the number of distinct species must still be considered 
as extremely small. ^^ Of two hundred different kinds of animals spread 
over the face of the earth, only about one-third existed in America at the 
time of its discovery •f''^ Nature was not only less prolific in the New 
World, but she appears likewise to have been less vigorous in her pro- 
ductions. The animals originally belongmg to this quarter of the globe 
appear to be of an inferior race, neither so robust nor so fierce as those of 
tne other continent. America gives birth to no creature of such bulk as 

• Goinara Hist c. iM. 22. Ovicdo Hist lib. ii. c. 13. lib.v. c. 10. P. Martyr, Epist. 54.5. Perad. 
p. 176. t BufTon Hist. Naturclle, torn. ix. p. 8C. 



12S HISTORY OF f Book IV. 

to be compared with the elephant or rhinoceros, or that equals the lion 
and tiger in strength and ferocity [35]. The Tapyr of Brazil, the lai^est 
quadruped of the ravenous tribe in the New World, is not larger than a 
calf of six months old. The Puma and Jaguar, its fiercest beasts of 
prey, which Europeans have inaccurately denominated lions and tigers, 
possess neither the undaunted courage of the former, nor the ravenous 
cruelty of the latter.* They are inactive and timid, hardly formidable 
to man, and often turn their backs upon the least appearance of resistance.! 
The same qualities in the climate of America which stinted the growth, 
and enfeebled the spirit, of its native animals, have proved pernicious to 
such as have migrated into it voluntarily from the other continent, or have 
been transported thither by the Europeans.]; The bears, the wolves, the 
deer of America, are not equal in size to those of the Old World.§ Most 
of the domestic animals, with which the Europeans have stored the pro- 
vinces wherein they settled, have degenerated with respect either to bulk 
or quality, in a country whose temperature and soil seem to be less favour- 
able to the strength and perfection of the animal creation [36]. 

The same causes which checked the growth and the vigour of the 
more noble animals, were friendly to the propagation and increase of 
reptiles and insects. Though this is not peculiar to the New World, and 
those odious tribes, nourished by heat, moisture, and corruption, infest 
every part of the torrid zone ; they multiply faster, perhaps, in America, 
and grow to a more monstrous bulk. As this country is on the whole less 
cultivated and less peopled than the other quarters of the earth, the active 
principle of life wastes its force in productions of this inferior form. The 
air is often darkened with clouds of insects, and the ground covered with 
shocking and noxious reptiles. The country around Porto Bello swarms 
with toads in such multitudes as hide the surface of the earth. At Guaya- 
quil, snakes and vipers are hardly less numerous. Carthagena is infested 
with numerous flocks of bats, which annoy not only the cattle but the 
inhabitants.il In the islands, legions of ants have at different times con- 
sumed every vegetable production [37], and left the earth entirely bare 
as if it had been burned with fire. The damp forests and rank soil of 
the countries on the banks of the Orinoco and Maragnon teem with 
almost every offensive and poisonous creature which the power of a sultry 
sun can quicken into life. IT 

The birds of the New World are not distinguished by qualities so con- 
spicuous and characteristical as those which we have observed in its quad- 
rupeds. Birds are more independent of man, and less affected by the 
changes which his industry and labour make upon the state of the earth. 
They have a greater propensity to migrate from one country to another, and 
can gratify this instinct of their nature without difficulty or danger. Hence 
the number of birds common to both continents is much greater than that 
of quadrupeds ; and even such as are peculiar to America nearly resemble 
those with which mankind were acquainted in similar regions of the ancient 
hemisphere. The American birds of the tonid zone, like those of the 
same climate in Asia and Africa, are decked in plumage which dazzles 
the eye with the beauty of its colours ; but nature, satisfied with clothing 
them in this gay dress, has denied most of them that melody of sound and 
variety of notes which catch and delight the ear. The birds of the tem- 
perate climates there, in the same manner as in our continent, are less 

* Buffon Hist. Natur. torn. ix. p. 87. Maregravii Hwt. Nat. Brazil, p. 229. t Buffon Hist. 

Natur. i.\. 13. 203. Acosta Hist. lib. iv.c. 34. Pisonis Hist. p. 6. Herrera.dec. 4. lib. iv. c. 1. lib. 
X. c. 13. t Clmrcliill, V. p. 691. Ovalle Relat. of Cnili, Church, iii. p. 10. Somario de Oviedo, 
r. 14—22. Voyage du Oes Marchais, iii. 299. $ Buffon Hist. Natur. ix. J03. Kalm's Travels 

1. 102. Biet. voy. de France Equinox, p. 339. || Voyage de Ulloa, torn. i. p. 89. lb. p 147. 

Herrera, dec. ll.lib. iii. C..3. 19. '^ Voyage de Condamine, p. 167. Gumilla, iii. 120, &c. Hist. 
Gener. des Voyages, liv. 317. Dumont IViemoires sur la Loiiisiane, i. 108. Somario de Oviedo, c. 
.'<2— 62, 



AMERICA. 129 

splendid in their appearance ; but, in compensation for that dttecf, they 
have voices of greater compass, and more melodious. In some districts 
of America, the unwholesome temperature of the air seems to be un- 
favourable even to this part of the creation. The number of birds is less 
than in other countries, and the traveller is struck with the amazing solitude 
and silence of its forests.* ^^It is remarkable, however, that America, 
where the quadrupeds are so dwarfish and dastardly, should produce the 
Condor which is entitled to pre-eminence over all the flying tribe, in bulk, 
in strength, and in courage.! 

The soil in a continent so extensive as America must, of course, be 
extremely various. In each of its provinces we find some distinguishing 
peculiarities, the description of which belongs to those who write their 
particular history. In general we may observe, that the moisture and 
cold, which predominate so remarkably in all parts of America, must 
have great influence upon the nature of its soil ; countries lying in the 
same parallel with those regions which never feel the extreme rigour of 
winter in the ancient continent, are frozen over in America during a great 
part of the year. Chilled by this intense cold, the ground never acquires 
Avarmth sufficient to ripen the fruits which are found in the corresponding 
parts of the other continent. If we wish to rear in America the productions 
which abound in any particular district of the ancient world, we must 
advance several degrees nearer to the line than in the other hemisphere, as 
it requires such an increase of heat to counterbalance the natural frigiditj' 
of the soil and climate [38]. At the Cape of Good Hope, several of the 
plants and fruits peculiar to the countries within the tropics are cultivated 
with success ; whereas, at St. Augustine in Florida, and Charles Town in 
South Carolina, though considerably nearer the line, they cannot be brouo:ht 
to thrive with equal certainty [39]. But, if allowance be made for tnis 
diversity in the degree of heat, the soil of America is naturally as rich 
and fertile as in any part of the earth. As the country was thinly inhabited, 
and by a people of little industry, who had none ot the domestic animals 
which civilized nations rear in such vast numbers, the earth was not ex- 
hausted by their consumption. The vegetable productions, to which the 
fertility of the soil gave birth, often remained untouched, and, being suffered 
to corrupt on its surface, returned with increase into its bosom. J As trees 
and plants derive a great part of their nourishment from air and water ; if 
they were not destroyed by man and other animals, they would render to 
the earth more, perhaps, than they take from it, and feed rather than impoverish 
it. Thus the unoccupied soil of America may have gone on enriching 
for many ages. The vast number as well as enormous size of the trees in 
America, indicate the extraordinary vigour of the soil in its native state. 
When the Europeans first began to cultivate the New World, they were 
astonished at the luxuriant power of vegetation in its virgin mould ; and in 
several places the ingenuity of the planter is still employed in diminishing 
and wasting its superfluous fertility, in order to bring it down to a state fit 
for profitable culture§ [40]. 

Having thus surveyed tlie state of the New World at the time of its 
discovery, and considered the peculiar features and qualities vvhich dis- 
tinguish and characterize it, the next inquiry that merits attention is. How 
was America peopled ? By what course diu mankind migrate from the one 
continent to the other ? And in what quarter is it most probable that a 
communication was opened between them ? 

We know, with infallible certainty, that all the human race spring from 

♦ IJougurr Voy. an Perou, 17. Chnn\ alon Voyaoe a la MarliiiiqiiP, p. 9fi. VVarron's Descript- 
Suriniim, ORbor'n's Collect, ii. 934. Lcttri's Edif" xxiv. p. X^9. Charlev. Hist, dc la Nmiv. France, 
«i. 155. T Vova-ic lit; Ulliia, i. ;«>;». Voyase de Coiidainiiic, 175. nufToii Hint. Nat. xvi. 184. 

Voyasp dii l)»-s Mafchais, iii. 320. J Bufloii, HJHt. Natur. i. 243. Kalin, i. 151. ^ Charlevoii, 
in?t <lu Noiiv. Frjui. iii. 405 Vovape du Dhs Marchais, iil. 229. Ltrvap de Brv. part iii p. 174. 

Vol.. I.— 17 



130 ]f 1 S T O R Y OF [Book IV. 

the same source, and that the descendants of one man, under the protection, 
as well as in obedience to the command of Heaven, multiplied and 
replenished the earth. But neither the annals nor the traditions of nations 
reach back to those remote ages, in which they took possession of the 
different countries where they are now settled. We cannot trace the 
branches of this first family, or point out with certainty the time and 
manner in which they divided and spread over the face of the globe. 
Even among the most enlightened people, the period of authentic history 
is extremely short ; and every thing prior to that is fabulous or obscure. 
It is not surprising, then, that the unlettered inhabitants of America, who 
have no solicitude about futurity, and little curiosity concerning what is 
passed, should be altogether unacquainted with their own original. The 
people on the two opposite coasts of America, who occupy those 
countries in America which approach nearest to the ancient continent are 
so remarkabljr rude, that it is altogether vain to search among them for 
such information as might discover the place from whence they came, or 
the ancestors of whom they are descended.* Whatever light has been 
thrown on this subject is derived not from the natives of America, but 
from the inquisitive genius of their conquerors. 

When the people of Europe unexpectedly discovered a New World, 
removed at a vast distance from eveiy part of the ancient continent which 
was then known, and filled with inhabitants whose appearance and manners 
differed reinarkably from the rest of the human species, the question con- 
cerning their original became naturally an object of curiosity and atten- 
tion. The theories and speculations of ingenious men with respect to 
this subject, would fill many volumes; but are often so wild and chi- 
merical, that I should offer an insult to the understanding of my readers, if 
I attempted either minutely to enumerate or to refute them. Some have 
presumptuously imagined, that the people of America were not the offspring 
of the same common parent with the rest of mankind, but that they formed 
a separate race of men, distinguishable by peculiar features in the consti- 
tution of their bodies, as well as in the characteristic qualities of their 
minds. Others contend, that they are descended from some remnant of 
the antediluvian inhabitants of the earth, who survived the deluge which 
swept away the greatest part of the human species in the days of Noah ; 
and preposterously suppose rude, uncivilized tribes, scattered over an un- 
cultivated co;:tinent, to be the most ancient race of people on the earth. 
There is hardly any nation from the north to the south pole, to which some 
antiquary, in the extravagance of conjecture, has not ascribed the honour 
of peopling America. The Jews, the Canaanites, the Phoenicians, the 
Carthaginians, the Greeks, the Scythians, in ancient times, are supposed to 
have settled in this western world. The Chinese, the Swedes, the Nor- 
wegians, the Welsh, the Spaniards, are said to have sent colonies thither 
in later ages, at different periods and on various occasions. Zealous advo- 
cates stand forth to support the respective claims of those people ; and 
though they rest upon no better foundation than the casual resemblance of 
some customs, or the supposed affinity between a few words in their dif- 
ferent languages, much erudition and more zeal have been employed, to 
little purpose, in defence of the opposite systems. Those regions of conjec- 
ture and controversy belong not to the historian. His is a more limited 
province, confined by what is established by certain or highly probable 
evidence. Beyond this I shall not venture, in offering a few observations 
which may contribute to throw some light upon this curious and much 
agitated question 

1. There are authors who have endeavoured by mere conjecture 
to account for the peopling of America. Some have supposed that it was 

* Vinegas'8 Hist, of California, i. 60. 



AMERICA. 131 

originally united to the ancient continent, and disjoined trom it by the 
shock ot an earthquake, or the irruption of a deluge. Others have ima- 
gined, that some vessel being forced from its course by the violence of a 
westerly wind, might be driven by accident towards the American coast, 
and have given a beginning to population in that desolate continent.* 
But with respect to all those systems, it is in vain either to reason or inquire, 
because it is impossible to come to any decision. Such events as they 
suppose are barely possible, and may have happened. That they ever did 
happen, we have no evidence, either from the clear testimony of history, 
or from the obscure intimations of tradition. 

2. Nothing can be more frivolous or uncertain than the attempts to dis- 
cover the original of the Americans merely by tracing the resemblance 
between their manners and those of any particular people in the ancient 
continent. If we suppose two tribes, though placed in the most remote 
regions of the globe, to live in a climate nearly of the same temperature, 
to be in the same state of society, and to resemble each other in the 
degree of their improvement, they must feel the same wants, and exert 
the same endeavours to supply them. The same objects will allure, the 
same passions will animate them, and the same ideas and sentiments will 
arise in their minds. The character and occupations of the hunter in Ame- 
rica must be little diiferent from those of an Asiatic who depends for sub- 
sistence on the chase. A tribe of savages on the banks of the Danube must 
nearly resemble one upon the plains washed by the Mississippi. Instead 
then of presuming from this similarity, that there is any affinity between 
them, we should only conclude that the disposition and manners of men are 
formed by their situation, and arise from the state of society in which they 
live. The moment that begins to vary, the character of a people must 
change. In proportion as it advances in improvement, their manners refine, 
their powers and talents are called forth. In every part of the earth, the 
progress of man hath been nearly the same ; and we can trace him in his 
career from the rude simplicity of savage life, until he attains the industry, 
the arts, and the elegance of polished society. There is nothing wonder- 
ful, then, in the similitude between the Americans and the barbarous 
nations of our continent. Had Lafitau, Garcia, and many other authors 
attended to this, they would not have perplexed a subject, which they 
pretend to illustrate, by their fruitless endeavours to establish an affinity 
between various races of people, in the old and new continents, upon no 
other evidence than such a resemblance in their manners as necessarily 
arises from the similarity of their condition. There are, it is true, among 
every people, some customs which, as they do not flow from any natural 
want or desire peculiar to their situation, may be denominated usages of 
arbitrary institution. If between two nations settled in remote parts of the 
earth, a perfect agreement with respect to. any of these should be discovered, 
, one mignt be led to suspect that tliey were connected by some affinity. 
If, for example, a nation were found in America that consecrated the 
seventh day to religious worship and rest, we might justly suppose that it 
had derived its knowledge of this usage, which is of arbitrary institution, 
from the Jews!' But, if it were discov-ered that mother nation celebrated 
the first appearance of every new moon with extraordinary demonstrations 
of joy, we should not be entitled to conclude th:t the observation of this 
monthly festival was borrowed from the Jews, but ought to consider it merely 
as the expression of that joy which is natural to man on the return of the 
planet which guides and cheers him in the night. The instances of customs, 
merely arbitraiy, common to the inhabitants of both hemispheres, are, 
indeed, so few and so eciuivocal, that no theory concerning the population of 
the New World ought to be founded upon them. 

* Paiwm'8 Remains of .Japlict, p. 'J40. Aiiriont iTnivera. Hist. vol. .\x. p. IfMi P. FeyjooTcs^ 
»o Criiif.o. loin. v. p. 304, *c AcosU Hisl Mora!. Novi Orljis, lil'. i. Hi. c iO 



132 li I S T O R Y O F [Book IV. 

5. The theories which have been formed with respect to the original of 
the Americans, from observation of their reh^ious rites and practices, are 
no less fanciful and destitute of solid foundation. When the religious 
opinions of any people are neither the result of rational inquiry, nor derived 
from the instructions of revelation, they must needs be wild and extravagant. 
Barbarous nations are incapable of the former, and have not been blessed 
with the advantages arising from the latter. Still, however, the human 
mind, even where its operations appear most wild and capricious, holds a 
course so regular, that in eveiy age and country the dominion of particular 
passions will be attended with similar effects. The savage of Europe or 
America, when filled with superstitious dread of invisible beings, or with 
inquisitive solicitude to penetrate into the events of futurity, trembles alike 
with fear, or glows with impatience. He has recourse to rites and practices 
of the same kind, in order to avert the vengeance which he supposes to be 
impending over him, or to divine the secret which is the object of his 
ciiriosity. Accordingly, the ritual of superstition in one continent seems, 
in many particulars, to be a transcript of that established in the other, and 
both authorize similar institutions, sometimes so frivolous as to excite pity, 
sometimes so bloody and barbarous as to create horror. But without 
supposing any consanguinity between such distant nations, or imagining 
that their religious ceremonies were conveyed by tradition from the one to the 
other, we may ascribe this uniformity, which in many instances seems very 
amazing, to tne natural operation of superstition and enthusiasm upon the 
■weakness of the human mind. 

4. We may lay it down as a certain principle in this inquiry, that 
America was not peopled by any nation of the ancient continent which had 
made considerable progress in civilization. The inhabitants of the New 
World were in a state of society so extremely rude as to be unacquainted 
with those arts which are the first essays of human ingenuity in its advance 
towards improvement. 'Even the most cultivated nations of America were 
strangers to many of those simple inventions which were almost coeval with 
societ)^ in other parts of the world, and were known in the earliest periods 
of civil life with which we have any acquaintance. From this it is 
manifest, that the tribes which originally migrated to America, came off 
from nations which must have been no less barbarous than their posterity, 
at the time when they were first discovered by the Europeans. '^ For, 
although the elegant or refined arts may decline or perish, amidst the violent 
shocks of those revolutions and disasters to which nations are exposed, the 
necessary arts of life, when once they have been introduced among any 
people, are never lost. None of the vicissitudes in human affairs affect 
these, and they continue to be practised as long as the race of men exists. 
If ever the use of iron had been known to the savages of America, or to 
their progenitors ; if ever tliey had employed a plough, a loom, or a foi^e, 
the utility of those inventions would have preserved them, and it is impos- 
sible that they should have been abandoned or forgotten. We may conclude, 
then, that the Americans sprung from some people, who were themselves 
in such an early and unimproved stage of society, as to be unacquainted 
with all those necessary arts, which continued to be unknown among their 
posterity when first visited by the Spaniards. - 

5. It appears no less evident that America was not peopled by any 
colony from the more southern nations of the ancient continent. None of 
the rude tribes settled in that part of our hemisphere can be supposed to 
have visited a country so remote. They possessed neither enterprise, nor 
ingenuity, nor power that could prompt them to undertake, or enable them 
to perform such a distant voyage. That the more civilized nations in Asia 
or Africa are not the progenitors of the Americans, is manifest not only from 
the observations which 1 have already made concerning their ignorance of 
the most simple and necessary art*^ but from an additional circumstance. 



AxHERlCA. 133 

Whenever any people have experienced the advantages which men enjoy 
by their dominion over the inferior animals, they can neither subsist without 
the nourishment which these afford, nor carry on any considerable operation 
independent of their ministry and labour. Accordingly, the first care of 
the Spaniards, when they settled in America, was to stock it with all the 
domestic animals of Europe ; and if, prior to them, the Tyrians, the 
Carthaginians, the Chinese, or any other polished people, had taken 
possession of that continent, we should have found there the animals peculiar 
to those regions of the globe where they were originally seated. ^'^In all 
America, however, there is not one animal, tame or wild, which properly 
belongs to the warm or even the more temperate countries of the ancient 
continent. The camel, the dromedary, the horse, the cow, were as much 
unknown in America as the elephant or the lion.'^ From which it is obvious, 
that the people who first settled in the western world did not issue from 
the countries where those animals abound, and where men, from having 
been long accustomed to their aid, would naturally consider it not only as 
beneficial, but as indispensably necessary to the improvement, and even the 
preservation of civil society. 

6. From considering the animals with which America is stored, we may 
conclude that the nearest point of contact between the old and new con- 
tinents is towards the northern extremity of both, and that there the 
communication was opened, and the intercourse carried on between them. 
All the extensive countries in America which lie within the tropics, or 
approach near to them, are filled with indigenous animals of various kinds, 
fntirely different from those in the corresponding regions of the ancient 
continent. But the northern provinces of the New World abound with 
msLny of the wild animals which are common in such parts of our hemisphere 
as he in a similar situation. The bear, the wol^ the fox, the hare, the 
deer, the roebuck, the elk, and several other species, frequent the forests of 
North America, no less than those in the north of Europe and Asia.* It 
seems to be evident, then, that the two continents approach each other in 
this quarter, and are either united, or so nearly adjacent that these animals 
might pass from the one to the other. 

7. The actual vicinity of the two continents is so clearly established by 
modern discoveries, that the chief difficulty with respect to the peopling 
of America is removed. While those immense regions which stretch 
eastward from the river Oby to the sea of Kamchatka were unknown or 
imperfectly explored, the north-east extremities of our hemisphere were 
supposed to be so far distant from any part of the New World, that it was 
not easy to conceive how any communication should have been carried on 
between them. But the Russians, having sulijected the western part of 
Siberia to their empire, gradually extended their knowledge of that vast 
country, by advancing towards the east into unknown provinces. These 
were discovered by hunters in their excursions after game, or by soldiers 
employed in levying the taxes ; and the court of Moscow estimated the 
importance of those countries, only by the small addition which they made to 
its revenue. At length Peter the Great ascended the Russian throne. His 
enlightened, comprehensive mind, intent upon every circumstance that could 
aggrandize his empire, or render his reign illustrious, discerned consequences 
of those discoveries which had escaped the observation of his ignorant 
predecessors. He perceived that in proportion as the regions of Asia 
extended towards the east, they must approach nearer to America ; that the 
communication between the two continents, which had long been searched 
for i[i vain, would probably be found in this quarter ; and that by opening 
it, some part of the wealth and commerce of the western world might be 
made to flow into his dominions by a new channel. Such an object suited 

* Rufrao, IIi«t Nat, ix. p. 97, &c 



134 HISTORY OF [Book IV. 

a genius that delighted in grand schemes. Peter drew up instructions with 
his own hand for prosecuting this design, and gave orders for carrying it 
into execution.* 

His successors adopted his ideas and pursued his plan. The officers 
whom the Russian court employed in this service had to struggle with so 
many dilficulties, that their progress was extremely slow. Encouraged 
by some faint traditions among the people of Siberia, concerning a successful 
voyage in the year one thousand six hundred and forty-eight, round the 
north-east promontory of Asia, they attempted to follow the same course. 
Vessels were fitted out, with this view, at different times, from the rivers 
Lena and Kolyma ; but in a frozen ocean, which nature seems not to have 
destined for navigation, they were exposed to many disasters, without being 
able to accomplish their purpose. No vessel fitted out by the Russian 
court ever doubled this formidable Cape [41] ; we are indebted for what 
is known of those extreme regions of Asia, to the discoveries made in 
excursions by land. In all those provinces an opinion prevails, that there 
are countries of great extent and fertility which lie at no considerable 
distance from their own coasts. These the Russians imagined to be part 
of America ; and several circumstances concurred not only in confirming 
them, in this belief, but in persuading them that some portion of that con- 
tinent could not be very remote. Trees of various kinds unknown in those 
naked regions of Asia, are driven upon the coast by an easterly wind. By 
the same wind, floating ice is brought thither in a few days ; flights of birds 
arrive annually from the same quarter ; and a tradition obtains among the 
inhabitants, of an intercourse formerly carried on with some countries 
situated to the east. 

After weighing all these particulars, and comparing the position of the 
countries in Asia which had been discovered, with such parts in the north- 
west of America as were already known, the Russian court formed a 
plan, which would have hardly occurred to a nation less accustomed to 
engage in arduous undertakings, and to contend with great difficulties. 
Orders were issued to build two vessels at the small village of Ochotz, 
situated on the sea of Kamchatka, to sail on a voyage of discovery. Though 
that dreary uncultivated region furnished nothing that could be of use in 
constructing them, but some larch trees : though not only the iron, the 
cordage, the sails, and all the numerous articles requisite for their equipment, 
but the provisions for victualling them were to be carried through the 
immense deserts of Siberia, down rivers of difficult navigation, and along 
roads almost impassable, the mandate of the sovereign, and the perseverance 
of the people, at last surmounted every obstacle. Two vessels were 
finished, and, under the command of the Captains Behring and Tschirikow, 
sailed from Kamchatka, in quest of the New World in a quarter whtere it 
had never been approached. They shaped their course towards the east ; 
and though a storm soon separated the vessels, which never rejoined, and 
many disasters befell them, the expectations from the voyage were not 
altogether frustrated. Each of the commanders discovered land, which to 
them appeared to be part of the American continent ; and, according to 
their observation, it seems to be situated within a few degrees of the 
north-west coast of California. Each set some of his people ashore : but 
in one place the inhabitants fled as the Russians approached ; in another, 
they carried oft" those who landed, and destroyed their boats. The violence 
of the weather, and the distress of their crews, obliged both captains to 
quit this inhospitable coast. In their return they touched at several islands 
which stretch in a chain from east to west between the countrj- which they 
had discovered and the coast of Asia. They had some intercourse with 
the natives, who seemed to them to resemble the North Americans. They 

♦ MuJIor, Voyages el D^rouverteg pnr les Riisses. torn. i. p. 4, 5, 141. 



AMERICA. 135 

presented to the Russians the calumet, or pipe of peace, which is a symbol 
of friendship universal amor^ the people of North America, and a usage of 
arbitrary institution peculiar to them. 

Though the islands of this New Archipelago have been frequented since 
that time by the Russian hunters, the court of St. Petersburgh, during a 
period of more than forty years, seems to have relinquished every thought 
of prosecuting discoveries in that quarter. But in the year one thousand 
seven hundred and sixty-eight it was unexpectedly resumed. The 
sovereign who had been lately seated on the throne of Peter the Great, 
possessed the genius and talents of her illustrious predecessor. During the 
operations of the most arduous and extensive war in which the Russian 
empire was ever engaged, she formed schemes and executed undertakings, 
to which more limited abilities would have been incapable of attending 
but amidst the leisure of pacific times. A new voyage of discovery from 
the eastern extremity of Asia was planned, and Captain Krenitzm and 
Lieutenant Levasheff were appointed to command the two vessels fitted out 
for that purpose. In their voyage outward they held nearly the same course 
with the former navigators, they touched at the same islands, observed 
their situation and productions more carefully, and discovered several new 
islands with which Bebring and Tschirikow had not fallen in. Though 
they did not proceed so far to the east as to revisit the country which 
Behring and Tschirikow supposed to be part of the American continent, 
yet, by returning in a course considerably to the north of theirs, they cor- 
rected some capital mistakes into which their predecessors had fallen, and 
have contributed to facilitate the progress of future navigators in those 
seas [42]. 

Thus the possibility of a communication between the continents in this 
quarter rests no longer upon mere conjecture, but is established by undoubted 
evidence.* Some tribe, or some families of wandering Tartars, from the 
restless spirit peculiar to their race, might migrate to the nearest islands, 
and, rude as their knowledge of navigation was, might, by passing from one 
to the other, reach at length the coast of America, and give a beginning to 
population in that continent. The distance between the Marian or Ladrone 
islands and the nearest land in Asia, is greater than that between the part of 
America which the Russians discovered, and the coast of Kamchatka ; and 
yet the inhabitants of those islands are manifestly of Asiatic extract. If, 
notwithstanding their remote situation, we admit that the Marian islands 
were peopled from our continent, distance alone is no reason why we should 
hesitate about admitting that the Americans may derive their original from 
the same source. It is probable that future navigators in those seas, by 
steering further to the north, may find that the continent of America ap- 
proaches still nearer to Asia. According to the information of the barbarous 
people who inhabit the country about the north-east promontory of Asia, 
there lies, off the coast, a small island, to which they sail in less than a day. 
From that they can descry a large continent which, according to their 
description, is covered with forests, and possessed by people whose language 
they do not understand.! By them they are supplied with the skins of 
martens, an animal unknown in the northern parts of Siberia, and which is 
never found but in countries abounding with trees. If we could rely on 
this account, we might conclude that the American continent is separated 
from ours only by a narrow strait, and all the difficulties with respect to the 
communication between them would vanish. What could be offered only 
as a conjecture, when this History was first published, is now known to be 
certain. The near approach of the two continents to each other has been 
discovered and traced in a voyage undertaken upon principles so pure and 
90 liberal, and conducted with so much professional skill, as reflect lustre 

• MulIft'B Voyagfis, torn. i. p. 248. &.C, 367, 276. t Ihid. tom. i. p. 166. 



1-36 HISTORY OF [BookU. 

upon the reign of the sovereign by whom it was planned, and do honour to 
the officers intrusted with the execution of it [43]. 

It is likewise evident from recent discoveries, that an intercourse between 
our continent and America mie:ht be carried on with no less facility from 
the north-west extremities of Europe. As early as the ninth centurj' [A. D. 
830], the Norwegians discovered Greenland, and planted colonies there. 
The conuiiunication Avith that country, after a long interruption, was renewed 
in the last century. Some Lutheran and Moravian missionaries, prompted 
by zeal for propagating the Christian faith, have ventured to settle in this 
frozen and uncultivated region.* To them we are indebted for much 
curious information with respect to its nature and inhabitants. We learn 
that the north-west coast of Greenland is separated from America by a very 
narrow strait ; that, at the bottom of the bay into which this strait conducts, 
it is highly probable that they are united ;t that the inhabitants of the two 
countries have some intercourse with one another; that the Esquimaux of 
America perfectly resemble the Greenlanders in their aspect, dress, and 
mode of living; that some sailors who had acquired the knowledge of a 
few words in the Greenlandish language, reported that these were under- 
stood by the Esquimaux ; that, at length [A. D. 1764], a Moravian mis- 
sionary, well acquainted with the language of Greenland, having visited 
the country of the Esquimaux, found, to his astonishment, that they spoke 
the same language with the Greenlanders ; that they were in every respect 
the same people, and he was accordingly received and entertained by 
them as a triend and a brother.| 

By these decisive facts, not only the consanguinity of the Esquimaux and 
Greenlanders is established, but the possibility of peopling America from 
the north of Europe is demonstrated. If the Norwegians, in a barbarous 
age, when science had not begun to dawn in the north of Europe, possessed 
such naval skill as to open a communication with Greenland, their ancestors, 
as much addicted to roving by sea, as the Tartars are to wandering by 
land, might, at some more remote period, accomplish the same voyage, 
and settle a colony there, whose descendants might, in progress of time, 
migrate into America. But if, instead of venturing to sail directly from 
their own coast to Greenland, we suppose that the Norwegians held a more 
cautious course, and advanced from Shetland to the Feroe islands, and from 
them to Iceland, in all which they had planted colonies ; their progress 
may have been so gradual, that this navigation cannot be considered as 
either longer or more hazardous than those voyages which that hardy and 
enterprising race of men is known to have performed in every age. 

8. Though it be possible that America may have received its first inhabit- 
ants from our continent, either by the north-west of Europe or the north- 
east of Asia, there seems to be good reason for supposing that the progenitors 
of all the American nations from Cape Horn to the southern confines of 
Labrador, migrated from the latter rather than the former. The Esquimaux 
are the only people in America, who in their aspect or character bear any 
resemblance to the northern Europeans. They are manifestly a race of 
men distinct from all the nations of the American continent, in language, 
in disposition, and in habits of lite. Their original, then, may warrantably 
he traced up to that source which I have pointed out. But among all the 
other inhabitants of America, there is such a striking similitude in the form 
of their bodies and the qualities of their minds, that, notwithstanding the 
diversities occasioned by the influences of climate, or unequal progress in 
improvement, we must pronounce them to be descended from one source. 
There may be a variety in the shades, but we can every where trace the 
same original colour. Each tribe has something peculiar which distinguislies 

* Crantz" Hist, of Grccnl. i. 240. 344. Prevot, Hist. V.in. des Voyages, torn. xv. 152. note (06'. 
T Eggedc, p. 2, 3, { Cianta' Hist, of Greeul. p. 361, Wi, 



AMERICA. 137 

it, but in all of them we discern certain features common to the whole race. 
It is remarkable, that in every peculiarity, whether in their persons or 
dispositions, which characterize the Americans, they have some resemblance 
to me rude tribes scattered over the north-east of Asia, but almost none to 
the nations settled in the northern extremities of Europe. We may, there- 
fore, re'df them to the former origin, and conclude that their Asiatic 
progenitors, having settled in those parts of America where the Russians 
have discovered the proximity of the two continents, spread gradually over 
its various regions. This account of the progress of population m America 
coincides with the traditions of the Mexicans concerning their own origin, 
which, imperfect as they are, were preserved with more accuracy, and 
'merit greater credit, than those of any people in the New World. Ac- 
cording to them, their ancestors came from a remote country situated to the 
north-west of Mexico. The Mexicans point out their various stations as 
they advanced from this into the interior provinces, and it is precisely the 
same route which they must have held if they had been emigrants from 
Asia. The Mexicans, in describing the appearance of their progenitors, 
their manners and habits of life at tnat period, exactly delineate those of 
the rude Tartars from whom I suppose them to have sprung.* 

Thus have I finished a Disquisition which has been deemed of so much 
importance that it would have been improper to omit it in writing the his- 
tory of America. I have ventured to inquire, but without presuming to 
decide. Satisfied with offering conjectures, 1 pretend not to establish any 
system. When an investigation is, from its nature, so intricate and obscure, 
that it is impossible to arrive at conclusions which are certain, there may 
be some merit in pointing out such as are probable.! 

The condition and character of the American nations, at the time when 
they became known to the Europeans, deserve more attentive considera- 
tion than the inquiry concerning their original. The latter is merely an 
object of curiosity ; the former is one of the most important as well as 
instructive researches which can occupy the philosopher or historian. In 
order to complete the history of the human mind, and attain to a perfect 
knowledge of its nature and operations, we must contemplate man in all 
those various situations wherein he has been placed. We must follow him 
in his progress through the different stages of society, as he gradually ad- 
vances from the infant state of civil life towards its maturity and decline. 
We must observe, at each period, how the faculties of his understanding 
unfold ; we must attend to the efforts of his active powers, watch the va- 
rious movements of desire and affection, as they rise in his breast, and 
mark whither they tend, and with what ardour they are exerted. The 
philosophers and historians of ancient Greece and Rome, our guides in 
this as well as every other disquisition, had only a limited view of this 
subiect, as they had hardly any opportunity of surveying man in his rudest 
ana most early state. In all those regions of the earth with which they 
were well acquainted, civil society had made considerable advances, and 
nations had finished a good part of their career before they began to ob- 
serve them. The Scythians and Germans, the rudest people of whom 
any ancient author has transmitted to us an authentic account, possessed 
flocks and herds, had acquired property of various kinds, and, when com- 
pared with mankind in their primitive state, may be reckoned to have 
attained to a great degree of civilization. 

But the discovery of the New World enlai^ed the sphere of contem- 
plation, and presented nations to our view, in stages of their progress, 
much less advanced than those wherein they have been observed in our 
continent. In America, man appears under the rudest form in which we 

* AcosCa, Hist. Nat. et Mor. lib. vii. c. 2, &c. Garcia, Origen delos Indios, lib. v. c. 3. Tot- 
quemada Monar Ind. lib. i. c. 2. &c. Roturini Renaduci Idea de una Hist, de la Amer. Septentr. 
■ect. xvli. p. 127. t Memoires Mr la Louisiane, par Dumoiit, torn. I. p. 119. 

Vol. I.—lfi 



138 HISTORY OF [Book IV. 

can conceive him to subsist. We behold communities just beginning to 
unite, and may examine the sentiments and actions of human beings in 
the infancy of social life, while they feel but imperfectly the force of its 
ties, and have scarcely relinquished their native liberty. That state of 
primeval simplicity, which was known in our continent only by the fanci- 
ful description of poets, really existed in the other. The greater part of 
its inhabitants were strangers to industry and labour, ignorant of arts, im- 
perfectly acquainted with the nature of property, and enjoying almost 
without restriction or control the blessings which flowed spontaneously 
from the bounty of nature. There were only two nations in this vast 
continent which had emerged from this rude state, and had made any 
considerable progress in acquiring the ideas, and adopting the institutions, 
which belong to polished societies. Their government and manners will 
fall naturally under our review in relating the discovery and conquest of 
the Mexican and Peruvian empires ; and we shall have there an oppor- 
tunity of contemplating the Americans in the state of highest improve- 
ment to which they ever attained. 

At present, our attention and researches shall be turned to the small in- 
dependent tribes which occupied eveiy other part of America. Among 
these, though with some diversity in their character, their manners, and 
institutions, the state of society was nearly similar, and so extremely rude, 
that the denomination of savage may be applied to them all. In a gene- 
ral history of America, it would be highly improper to describe the con- 
dition of each petty community, or to investigate every minute circum- 
stance which contributes to form the character of its members. Such an 
inquiry would lead to details of immeasurable and tiresome extent. The 
qualities belonging to the people of all the different tribes have such a 
near resemblance, that they may be painted with the same features. 
Where any circumstances seem to constitute a diversity in their charac- 
ter and manners worthy of attention, it will be sufficient to point these 
out as they occur, and to inquire into the cause of such peculiarities. 

It is extremely difficult to procure satisfying and authentic information 
concerning nations while they remain uncivilized. To discover their true 
character under this rude form, and to select the features by which they 
are distinguished, requires an observer possessed of no less impartiality 
than discernment. For, in every stage of society, the faculties, the sen- 
timents, and desires of men are so accommodated to their own state, that 
they become standards of excellence to themselves, they affix the idea of 
perfection and happiness to those attainments which resemble their own, 
and, wherever the objects and enjoyments to which they have been ac- 
customed are wanting, confidently pronounce a people to be barbarous 
and miserable. Hence the mutual contempt with which the members of 
communities, unequal in their degrees of improvement, regard each other. 
Polished nations, conscious of the advantages which they derive from their 
knowledge and arts, are apt to view rude nations with peculiar scorn, and, 
in the pride of superioiity, will hardly allow either their occupations, their 
feelings, or their pleasures, to be worthy of men. It has seldom been the 
lot of communities, in their early and unpolished state, to fall under the ob- 
servation of persons endowed with force of mind superior to vulgar preju- 
dices, and capable of contemplating man, under whatever aspect he appears, 
with a candid and discerning eye. 

The Spaniards, who first visited America, and who had opportunity of 
beholding its various tribes while entire and unsubdued, and before any 
change had been made in their ideas or manners by intercourse with a race 
of men much advanced beyond them in improvement, were far from pos- 
sessing the qualities requisite for observing the striking spectacle presented 
to their view. Neither the age in which they lived, nor the nation to which 
they belonged, had made such progress in true science, as inspires enlarged 



AMERICA. 139 

nnd liberal sentiments. The conquerors of the New World were mostly 
illiterate adventurei-s, destitute of all the ideas which should have directed 
them in contemplating objects so extremely different from those with which 
they were acquainted. Surrounded continually with danger or struggling 
with hardships, they had little leisure, and less capacity, for any speculative 
inquiry. Eager to take possession of a country of such extent and opu- 
lence, and happy in finding it occupied by inhabitants so incapable to de- 
fend it, they hastily pronounced them to be a wretched order of men, form- 
ed merely for servitude ; and were more employed in computing the profits 
of their labour, than in inquiring into the operations of their minds, or the 
reasons of their customs and institutions. The persons who penetrated at 
subsequent periods into the interior provinces, to which the knowledge and 
devastations of the first conquerors did not reach, were generally of a simi- 
lar character ; brave and enterprising in a high degree, but so uninformed 
as to be little qualified either for observing or describing what they beheld. 

Not only the incapacity but the prejudices of the Spaniards rendered 
their accounts of the people of America extremely defective. Soon after 
they planted colonies in their new conquests, a diftierence in opinion arose 
with respect to the treatment of the natives. One party, solicitous to ren- 
der their servitude perpetual, represented them as a brutish, obstinate race, 
incapable either of acquiring religious knowledge, or of being trained to 
the functions of social life. The other, full of pious concern for their con- 
version, contended that, though rude and ignorant, they were gentle, affec- 
tionate, docile, and by proper instructions and regulations might be formed 
gradually into good Christians and useful citizens. This controversy, as 1 
have already related, was carried on with all the warmth which is natural, 
when attention to interest on the one hand, and religious zeal on the other, 
animate the disputants. Most of the laity espoused the former opinion ; 
all the ecclesiastics were advocates for the latter ; and we shaH uniformly 
find that, accordinglj' as an author belonged to either of these parties, he 
is apt to magnify the virtues or aggravate the defects of the Americans 
far beyond truth. Those repugnant accounts increase the difficulty of 
attaining a perfect knowledge of their character, and render it necessary 
to peruse all the descriptions of them by Spanish writers with distrust, 
and to receive their information with some grains of allowance. 

Almost two centuries elapsed after the discovery of America, before 
the manners of its inhabitants attracted, in any considerable degree, the 
attention of philosophers. At length they discovered that the contemplation 
of the condition and character of the Americans, in their original state, tend- 
ed to complete our knowledge of the human species ; might enable us to 
■fill up a considerable chasm in the history of its progress ; and lead to spe- 
culations no less curious than important. They entered upon this new 
field of study with great ardour ; but, instead of throwing light upon the 
subject, they have contributed in some degree to involve it in additional 
obscurity. Too impatient to inquire, they hastened to decide ; and began 
to erect systems, when they should have been searching for facts on which 
to establish their foundations. Stioick with the appearance of degene- 
racy in the human species throughout the New World, and astonished at 
beholding a vast continent occupied by a naked, feeble, and ignorant race 
of men, some authors, of great name, have maintained that this part of 
the globe had but lately emerged from the sea, and become fit for the 
residence of man ; that every thing in it bore marks of a recent orisfinal ; 
and that its inhabitants, lately called into existence, and still at the Begin- 
ning of their career, were unworthy to be compared with the people of 
a more ancient and improved continent.* Others have imagined, that, 
under the influence of an unkindly climate, which checks and enervates 

* M. dc Buffon Hist. Xat. ili. 484, &c. ii. 103. 111. 



140 HISTORY OF [BookIV. 

the principle of life, man never attained in America the perfection which 
belongs to his nature, but remained an animal of an inferior order, defec- 
tive in the vigour of his bodily frame, and destitute of sensibility, as well 
as of force, in the operations of his mind.* In opposition to both these, 
other philosophers have supposed that man arrives at his highest dignity 
and excellence long before he reaches a state of refinement ; and, in the 
rude simplicity of savage life, displays an elevation of sentiment, an in- 
dependence of mind, and a warmth of attachment, for which it is vain to 
search among the members of polished societies.! They seem to consi- 
der that as the most perfect state of man which is the least civilized. 
They describe the manners of the rude Americans with such rapture, as 
if they proposed them for models to the rest of the species. These con- 
tradictory theories have been proposed with equal confidence, and un- 
common powers of genius and eloquence have been exerted, in order to 
clothe them with an appearance of truth. 

As all those circumstances concur in rendering an inquiry into the state 
of the rude nations in America intricate and obscure, it is necessary to carry 
it on with caution. When guided in our researches by the mtelligent 
observations of the few philosophers who have visited this part of the 
globe, we may venture to decide. When obliged to have recourse to the 
superficial remarks of vulgar travellers, of sailors, traders, buccaneers, and 
missionaries, we must often pause, and, comparing detached facts, endeavour 
to discover what they wanted sagacity to observe. Without indulging 
conjecture, or betraying a propensity to either system, we must study with 
equal care to avoid the extremes of extravagant admiration, or of supercilious 
contempt for those manners which we describe. 

In order to conduct this inquiry with greater accuracy, it should be 
rendered as simple as possible. Man existed as an individual before he 
became the member of a community ; and the qualities which belong to 
him under his former capacity should be known, before we proceed to 
examine those which arise from the latter relation. This is peculiarly 
necessary in investigating the manners of rude nations. Their political 
union is so incomplete, their civil institutions and regulations so few, so 
simple, and of such slender authority, that men in this state ought to be 
viewed rather as independent agents, than as members of a regular societ}'. 
The character of a savage results almost entirely from his sentiments or 
feelings as an individual, and is but little influenced by his imperfect 
subjection to government and order. I shall conduct my researches 
concerning the manners of the Americans in this natural order, proceeding 
gradually from what is simple to what is more complicated. 

I shall consider, I. The bodily constitution of the Americans in those 
regions now under review. 11. The qualities of their minds. III. Their 
domestic state. IV. Their political state and institutions. V. Their 
system of war, and public security. VI. The arts with which they were 
acquainted. VII. Their religious ideas and institutions. VIII. Such 
singular detached customs as are not reducible to any of the former heads. 
IX. I shall conclude with a general review and estimate of their virtues 
and defects. 

I. The bodily constitution of the Americans. — The human body is less 
affected by climate than that of any other animal. Some animals are 
confined to a particular region of the globe, and cannot exist beyond it ; 
others, though they may be brought to bear the injuries of a climate 
foreign to them, cease to multiply when carried out of that district which 
nature destined to be their mansion. Even such as seem capable of being 
naturalized in various climates feel the effect of every remove from their 
proper station, and gradually dwindle and degenerate from the vigour and 

* M. de P. Reclierchea Philos. aur les Am^ric. passim. t M. Rousseau. 



AMERICA. 141 

perfection peculiar to their species. Man is the only living creature 
whose frame is at once so hardy and so flexible, that he can spread oyer 
the whole earth, become the inhabitant of every region, and thrive and 
multiply under every climate. Subject, however, to the general law oi 
Nature, the human body is not entirely exempt from the operation of 
climate ; and when exposed to the extremes either of heat or cold, its 
size or vigour diminishes. 

The first appearance of the inhabitants of the New World filled the 
discoverers with such astonishment that they were apt to imagine them a 
race of men different from those of the other hemisphere. Their com- 
plexion is of a reddish brown, nearly resembling the colour of copper.* 
The hair of their heads is always black, long, coarse, and uncurled. They 
have no beard, and every part of their body is perfectly smooth. Their 
persons are of a full size, extremely straight, and well proportioned [44]. 
Their features are regular, though often distorted by absurd endeavours 
to improve the beauty of their natural form, or to render their aspect more 
dreadful to their enemies. In the islands, where four-footed animals were 
both few and small, and the earth yielded her productions almost spon- 
taneously, the constitution of the natives, neither braced by the active 
exercises of the chase, nor invigorated by the labour of cultivation, was 
extremely feeble and languid. On the continent, where the forests abound 
with game of various kinds, and the chief occupation of many tribes was 
to pursue it, the human frame acquired greater firmness. Still, however, 
the Americans were more remarkable for agility than strength. They 
resembled beasts of prey, rather than animals formed for labour [45]. 
They were not only averse to toil, but incapable of it ; and when roused 
by force from their native indolence, and compelled to work, they sunk 
under tasks which the people of the other continent would have performed 
with ease.t This feebleness of constitution was universal among the 
inhabitants of those regions in America which we are surveying, and may 
be considered as characteristic of the species there. J 

The beardless countenance and smooth skin of the American seems to 
indicate a defect of vigour, occasioned by some vice in his frame. He is 
destitute of one sign of manhood and of strength. This peculiarity, by 
which the inhabitants of the New World are distinguished from the 
people of all other nations, cannot be attributed, as some travellers have 
supposed, to their mode of subsistence.§ f'or though the food of many 
Americans be extremely insipid, as they are altogether unacquainted with 
the use of salt, rude tribes in other parts of the earth have subsisted on 
aliments equally simple, without this mark of degradation, or any apparent 
symptom of a diminution in their vigour. 

As the external form of the Americans leads us to suspect that there is 
some natural debility in their frame, the smallness of their appetite for 
food has been mentioned by many authors as a confirmation of this sus- 
picion. The quantity of food which men consume varies according to the 
temperature of the climate in which they live, the degree of activity 
which they exert, and the natural vigour of their constitutions. Under 
the enervating heat of the torrid zone, and when men pass their days in 
indolence and ease, they require less nourishment than the active inhabitants 
of temperate or cold countries. But neither the warmth of their climate, 
nor their extreme laziness, will account for the uncommon defect of 
appetite among the Americans. The Spaniards were astonished with 
observing this, not only in the islands, but in several parts of the continent. 
The constitutional temperance of the natives far exceeded, in their opinion, 

* Ovicdo Somario p. 4(5. n. Life of ColumbiiH, c. 24. f Oviedo Soin. p. 51. O. Voy. 

de Correal, ii. 138. Wafer's Description, u. 131. J B. Las rasas Brev. Relac. p. 4. Torqueni. 

Monar. I. 580. Oviedo Sitinario, p. 41. Uititor. lib. iii. c. 6. Hi'rrera, dec. i. lib. xi. c. S. Simon. 
p. 41. ^ Charlev. Hist, de Nouv. Fr. Ui. 310. 



142 HISTORY OF [Book IV. 

the abstinence of the most mortified hermits * while, on the other hand, 
the appetite of the Spaniards appeared to tlie Americans insatiably 
voracious ; and they affirmed, that one Spaniard devoured more food in a 
day than was sufficient for ten Americans.! 

A proof of some feebleness in their frame, still more striking, is the 
insensibility of the Americans to the charms of beauty, and the power of 
love. That passion which was destined to perpetuate life, to be the bond of 
social union, and the source of tenderness and joy, is the most ardent in 
the human breast. Though the perils and hardships of the savage state, 
though excessive fatigue on some occasions, and the difficulty at all times 
of procuring subsistence, may seem to be adverse to this passion, and to 
have a tendency to abate its vigour, yet the rudest nations in every other 
part of the globe seem to feel its influence more powerfully than the 
inhabitants of the New World. The negro glows with all the warmth of 
desire natural to his climate ; and the most uncultivated Asiatics discover 
that sensibility, which, from their situation on the globe, we should expect 
them to have felt. But the Americans are, in an amazing degree, strangers 
to the force of this first instinct of nature. In every part of the New 
World the natives treat their women with coldness and indifference. 
They are neither the objects of that tender attachment which takes place 
in civilized society, nor of that ardent desire conspicuous among rude 
nations. Even in climates where this passion usually acquires its greatest 
vigour, the savage of America views his lemale with disdain, as an animal 
of a less noble species. He is at no pains to win her favour by the 
assiduity of courtship, and still less solicitous to preserve it b}' indulgence 
and gentleness.| Missionaries themselves, notwithstanding the austerity 
of monastic ideas, cannot refrain from expressing their astonishment at the 
dispassionate coldness of the American young men in their intercourse 
with the other sex.§ Nor is this reserve to be ascribed to any opinion 
which they entertain with respect to the merit of female chastity. That 
is an idea too refined for a savage, and suggested by a delicacy of sentiment 
and affection to which he is a stranger. 

But in inquiries concerning either the bodily or mental qualities of 
particular races of men, there is not a more common or more seducing 
error, than that of ascribing to a single cause, those characteristic 
peculiarities which are the effect of the combined operation of many 
causes. The climate and soil of America differ in so many respects from 
those of the other hemisphere, and this difference is so obvious and striking, 
that philosophers of great eminence have laid hold on this as sufficient to 
account for what is peculiar in the constitution of its inhabitants. They 
rest on physical causes alone, and consider the feeble frame and languid 
desire of the Americans, as consequences of the temperament of that 
portion of the globe which they occupy. But the influences of political 
and moral causes ought not to have been overlooked. These operate with 
no less effect than that on which many philosophers rest as a full explanation 
of the singular appearances which have been mentioned. Wherever the 
state of society is such as to create manjr wants and desires, which cannot 
be satisfied without regular exertions of industry, the body accustomed to 
labour becomes robust and patient of fatigue. In a more simple state, 
where the demands of men are so few and so moderate that they may be 
gratified, almost without any effort, by the spontaneous productions of 
nature, the powers of the body are not called forth, nor can they attain their 
proper strength. The natives of Chili and of North America, the two 

* Ramusio, iii. 304. F. 306. A. Simon Conquista, &c. p. 39. Hakluyt, iii. 468. 508. t Herrera, 
dec. 1. lib. ii. c. 16. t Hennepin MosurB des Sauvages, 32, &c. Rochefort Hist, des Islec 

Antilles, p. 461. Voyage de Correal, ii. 141. Ramusio, iii. 300. F. Lozano Descr. del Gran Chaco, 
71. Falkner's Descr. of Patagon, p. 125. Letiere di P. Cataneo ap Muralori II Christian. Felicp, 
i. 305. « Chanvalon, p. 51. I.ettr. Edif. torn, xxiv. 318. Tertre, ii. 3, .. Venegns. i. 81. 

Ribas Hist, de los Triiiinf. p. 11. 



AMERICA. 143 

temperate regions in the New World, who live by hunting, may be deemed 
an active and vigorous race, when compared with the inhabitants of the 
isles, or of those parts of the continent where hardly any labour is requisite 
to procure subsistence. The exertions of a hunter are not, however, so 
regular, or so continued, as those of persons employed in the culture of 
the earth, or in the various arts of civilized life ; and though his agility 
may be greater than theirs, his strength is on the whole inierior. If 
another direction were given to the active powers of man in the New 
World, and his force augmented by exercise, he might acquire a degree 
of vigour which he does not in his present state possess. The truth of 
this is confirmed by experience. Wherever the Americans have been 
gradually accustomed to hard labour, their constitutions become robust, 
and they have been found capable of performing such tasks, as seemed 
not oniy to exceed the powers of such a leeble frame as has been deemed 
peculiar to their country, but to equal any effort of the natives either of 
Africa or of Europe [46]. 

The same reasoning will apply to what has been observed concerning 
their slender demand for food. As a proof that this should be ascribed 
as much to their extreme indolence, and often total want of occupation, as 
to any thing peculiar in the physical structure of their bodies, it has been 
observed, that in those districts where the people of America are obliged 
to exert any unusual effort of activity, in order to procure subsistence, or 
wherever they are employed in severe labour, their appetite is not inferior 
to that of other men, and in some places, it has struck observers as remark- 
ably voracious.* 

The operation of political and moral causes is still more conspicuous in 
modifying the degree of attachment between the sexes. In a state of high 
civilization, this passion, inflamed by restraint, refined by delicacy, and 
cherished by fashion, occupies and engrosses the heart. It is no longer a 
simple instinct of nature ; sentiment heightens the ardour of desire, and 
the most tender emotions of which our trame is susceptible soothe and 
agitate the soul. This description, however, applies only to those, who, 
by their situation, are exempted from the cares and labours of life. Among 
persons of inferior order, who are doomed by their condition to incessant 
toil, the dominion of this passion is less violent ; their solicitude to procure 
subsistence, and to provide for the first demand of nature, leaves little 
leisure for attending to its second call. But if the nature of the intercourse 
between the sexes varies so much in persons of different rank in polished 
.societies, the condition of man while he remains uncivilized must occasion 
a variation still more apparent. We may well suppose, that amidst the 
hardships, the dangers, and the simplicity of domestic life, where subsist- 
ence is always precarious and often scanty, where men are almost con- 
tinually engaged in the pursuit of their enemies, or in guarding against their 
attacks, and where neither dress nor reserve are employed as arts of 
female allurement, that the attention of the Americans to their women 
would be extremely feeble, without imputing this solely to any physical 
defect or degradation in their frame. 

It is accordingly observed, that in those countries of America where, 
from the fertility of the soil, the mildness of the climate, or some further 
advances which the natives have made in improvement, the means of 
subsistence are more abundant, and the hardships of savage life are less 
severely felt, the animal passion of the sexes becomes more ardent. 
Striking examples of this occur among some tribes seated on the banks of 
great rivers well stored with food, among others who are masters of 
hunting grounds abounding so much with game, that they have a regular 
and plentiful supply of nourishment with little labour. The superior degree 

* Gumilla, ii. 12. 70.2-17. Laflti»u, i. .^I'i. Ovnile Cluirch. ii. 8). Mtiratori, i. 20.5. 



144 HISTORY OF [Book J V. 

of security and affluence which those trihes enjoy is followed by their 
natural effects. The passions implanted in the human frame by the hand 
of nature acquire additional force ; new tastes and desires are formed; the 
women, as they are more valued and admired, become more attentive to 
dress and ornament ; the men beginning to fee! how much of their own 
happiness depends upon them, no longer disdain the arts of winning their 
favour and affection. The intercourse of the sexes becomes very different 
from that which takes place among their ruder countrymen ; and as hardly 
any restraint is imposed on the gratification of desire, either by religion or 
laws or decency, the dissolution of their manners is excessive.* 

Notwithstanding the feeble make of the Americans, hardly any of them 
are deformed, or mutilated, or defective in any of their senses. All 
travellers have been struck with this circumstance, and have celebrated 
the uniform symmetry and perfection of their external figure. Some 
authors search for the cause of this appearance in their physical condition. 
As the parents are not exhausted or over fatigued with hard labour, they 
suppose that their children are born vigorous and sound. They imagine 
that, in the liberty of savage life, the human body, naked and unconmied 
from its earliest age, preserves its natural form ; and that all its limbs and 
members acquire a juster proportion than when fettered with artificial 
restraints, which stint its growth and distort its shape.j Something, without 
doubt, may be ascribed to the operation of these causes ; but the true 
reasons of this apparent advantage, which is common to all savage nations, 
lie deeper, and are closely interwoven with the nature and genius of that 
state. The infancy of man is so long and so helpless, that it is extremely 
difficult to rear children among rude nations. Their means of subsistence 
are not only scanty, but precarious. Such as live by hunting must range 
over extensive countries, and shift often from place to place. The care of 
children, as well as every other laborious task, is devolved upon the women. 
The distresses and hardships of the savage life, which are often such as 
can hardly be supported by persons in full vigour, must be fatal to those 
of more tender age. Afraid of undertaking a task so laborious, and of such 
long duration, as that of rearing their offspring, the women, in some parts of 
America, procure frequent abortions by the use of certain herbs, and extin- 
guish the first sparks of that life which they are unable to cherish.J Sen- 
sible that only stout and well formed children have force of constitution to 
struggle through such a hard infancy, other nations abandon and destroy 
such of their progeny as appear feeble or defective, as unworthy of attention.^ 
Even when they endeavour to rear all their children without distinction, so 
great a proportion of the whole number perishes under the rigorous treat- 
ment which must be their lot in the savage state, that few of those who 
laboured under any original frailty attain the age of manhood. || Thus- 
in polished societies, where the means of subsistence are secured with 
certainty, and acquired with ease ; where the talents of the mind are 
often ot more importance than the powers of the body ; children are pre- 
served notwithstanding their defects or deformity, and grow up to be useful 
citizens. In rude nations, such persons are either cut off as soon as they 
are born, or, becoming a burden to themselves and to the community, 
cannot long protract their lives. But in those provinces of the New 
World, where, by the establishment of the Europeans, more regular pro- 
vision has been made tor the subsistence of its inhabitants, and they are 
restrained from laying violent hands on their children, the Americans are 
so far from being eminent for any superior perfection in their form, that 
one should rather suspect some peculiar imbecility in the race, from the 

• Bift. 389. Cliarlev. iii. 423. Dumoiit. Mem. sur Louisinne, i. 155. t Tiso, p. 6; 

i Ellis's Vovajieto Hudson'sBay, 198. Hcrrera, dec. 7. lib. U. c. 4. ^ Gumilla Hist.ii. 32J. 

'J'erlio's Hist. ()f I'aiagiiiiT, &c. fhurchiU's Oollwt. vi. 108. |! OouiUi. Hint. Canad, p. ."iT. 



AiMKHrCA. 14c, 

exlraordinary number ol" individuals who are deformed, dwarfish, mutilated, 
blind, or deaf.* 

How feeble soever the constitution of the Americans may be, it is re- 
markable that there is less variety in the human form throughout the New 
World than in the ancient continent. When Columbus and the other 
discoverers first visited the different countries of America which lie within 
the torrid zone, they naturally expected to find people of the same 
complexion with those in the corresponding regions oi the other hemi- 
sphere. To their amazement, however, they discovered that Americsi, 
contained no negroes ;t and the cause of this singular appearance became 
as much the object of curiosity as the fact itself was of wonder. In what 
part or membrane of the body that humour resides which tinges the 
coinplexion of the negro with a deep black, it is the business of anatomists 
to inquire and describe. The powerful operation of heat appears mani- 
lestly to be the cause which produces this striking variety in the human 
species. All Europe, a great part of Asia, and the temperate countries of 
Africa, are inhabited by men of a white complexion. All the torrid zone 
in Africa, some of the warmer regions adjacent to it, and several countries 
in Asia, are filled with people oi a deep black colour. If we survey the 
nations of our continent, making our progress from cold and temperate 
countries towards those parts which are exposed to the influence of vehe- 
ment and unremitting heat, we shall find that the extreme whiteness of 
their skin soon begins to diminish ; that its colour deepens gradually as we 
advance ; and, after passing through all the successive gradations of shade, 
terminates in a uniform unvarying black. But in America, where the 
agency of heat is checked and abated by various causes, which I have 
already explained, the climate seems to be destitute of that force which 
produces such wonderful effects on the human frame. The colour of the 
natives of the torrid zone in America is hardly of a deeper hue than that 
of the people in the more temperate parts of their continent. Accurate 
observers, who had an opportunity of viewing the Americans in very 
different climates, and in provinces far removed from each other, have 
been struck with the amazing similarity of their figure and aspect [47]. 

But though the hand of nature has deviated so little from one standard 
in fashioning the human form in America, the creation of fancy hath been 
various and extravagant. The same fables that were current in the ancient 
continent, have been revived with respect to the New World, and America 
too has been peopled with human beings of monstrous and fantastic 
appearance. The inhabitants of certain provinces were described to be 
pigmies of three feet high ; those of others to be giants of an enormous 
size. Some travellers published accounts of people with only one eye ; 
others pretended to have discovered men without heads, whose eyes and 
mouths were planted in their breasts. The variety of Nature in her pro- 
ductions is indeed so great, that it is presumptuous to set bounds to her 
fertility, and to reject indiscriminately every relation that does not perfectly 
accord with our own limited observation and experience. But the other 
extreme, of yielding a hasty assent on the slighest evidence to whatever 
has the appearance of being strange and marvellous, is still more unbe- 
coming a philosophical inquirer ; as, in every period, men are more apt to 
be betrayed into error by their weakness in believing too much, than by 
their arrogance in believing too little. In proportion as science extends, 
and nature is examined with a discerning eye, the wonders which amused 
ages of ignorance disappear. The tales of credulous travellers concerning 
America are forgotten ; the monsters which they describe have been 
searched for in vain ; and Uiose provinces where they pretend to havfe 

♦ Vov. dr Ulloji. i. 032. * P. Mart^T. dec. p. 7.1. 

\'or. 1.-1^ 



146 HISTORY OF [Book IV. 

found iiihabitaiits of singular forms, are now known to be possessed by a 
people nowise different from the other Americans. 

Though those relations may, without discussion, be rejected as fabulous, 
there are other accounts of varieties in the human species in some parts of 
the New World, which rest upon better evidence, and merit more attentive 
examination. This variety has been particularly observed in three different 
districts. The first of these is situated in the isthmus of Darien, near the 
centre of America. Lionel Wafer, a traveller possessed of more curiosity 
and intelligence than we should have expected to find in an associate of 
Buccaneers, discovered there a race of men few in number, but of a 
singular make. They are of low stature, according to his description, of 
a feeble frame, incapable of enduring fatigue. Their colour is a dead 
milk white ; not resembling that of fair people among the Europeans, but 
without any tincture of a blush or sanguine complexion. Their skin is 
covered with a fine hairy down of a chalky white ; the hair of their heads, 
their eyebrows, and eye-lashes, are of the same hue. Their eyes are of 
a singular form, and so weak that they can hardly bear the fight of the 
sun ; but they see clearly by moonlight, and are most active and gay in 
the night.* No race similar to this has been discovered in any other part 
of America. Cortes, indeed, found some persons exactly resembling the 
white people of Darien among the rare and monstrous animals which 
Montezuma had collected.! But as the power of the Mexican empire 
extended to the provinces bordering on the isthmus of Darien, they were 
probably brought thence. Singular as the appearance of those people may 
be, they cannot be considered as constituting a distinct species. Among 
the negroes of Africa, as well as the natives of the Indian islands, nature 
sometimes produces a small number of individuals, with all the characteristic 
features and qualities of the white people of Darien. The former are 
called Albinos by the Portuguese, the latter Kackerlakes by the Dutch. In 
Darien the parents of those Whites are of the same colour with the other 
natives of the country ; and this observation applies equally to the anomalous 
progeny of the Negroes and Indians. The same mother who produces 
some children of a colour that does not belong to the race, brings forth the 
rest with a complexion peculiar to her country.! One conclusion may then 
be formed with respect to the people described by Wafer, the Albinos and 
the Kackerlakes; they are a degenerated breed, not a separate class of 
men ; and from some disease or delect of their parents, the peculiar colour 
and debility which mark their degradation are transmitted to them. As a 
decisive proof of this, it has been observed, that neither the white people 
of Darien, nor the Albinos of Africa, propagate their race : their children 
are of the colour and temperament peculiar to the natives of their respective 
countries§ [48], 

The second district that is occupied by inhabitants differing in appear- 
ance from the other people of America, is situated in a high northern 
latitude, extending from the coast of Labrador towards the pole, as far as 
the country is habitable. The people scattered over those dreary regions 
are known to the Europeans by the name of Esquimaux. They them- 
selves, with that idea of their own superiority, which consoles the rudest 
and most wretched nations, assume the name of Keralit or Men. They 
are of a middle size, and robust, with heads of a disproportioned bulk, 
and feet as remarkably small. Their complexion though swarthy, by being 
continually exposed to the rigour of a cold climate, inchnes to the European 
white rather than to the copper colour of America, and the men liave^ 
beards which are sometimes bushy and long.|| From these marks of 

* Wafer's Dcscript. of Isth, ap. Dampier, iii. p. 3-Jti. t fi>rtos ap. RaiiniR. iii. p. 241. E. 

+ Margrav. Hist. Rer. Nat. Bras. lib. viii. c. 4. ^ Wafer, p. 348. llcmaiiet (list. <le I'Afrique, 

ii. 2:M. Rcclierch. Pliilos. sur les Amer. il. 1, &c. I| Ellis Voy. to Huds. Bay, p. 131. 130. De 

la Potherie, torn. 1. p. 79. Wales Journ. of a Vov. to ClHiicliill lliver. Plii!. 'IViuis. vol. 1\. !(I0. 



AMEiilCA. 147 

distinction, as well as from one still less equivocal, Uie affinity of their 
language to that of the Greenlanders, which I have already mentioned, 
we may conclude, with some degree ol conhdence, that the Esquimaux 
are a race dififerent from the rest of the Americans. 

We cannot decide with equal certainty concerning the inhabitants of the 
tliird district, situated at the southern extremity of America. These are 
the famous Patagonians, who, during t\vo centuries and a half, have 
afforded a subject of controversy to the learned, and an object of wonder 
to the vulgar. They are supposed to be one of the wandering tribes 
which occupy the vast but least known region of America, which extends 
from the river de la Plata to the Straits of Magellan. Their proper 
station is in that part of the interior country which lies on the banks of the 
river Negro ; but, in the hunting season, they often roam as far as the straits 
which separate Tierra del Fuego from the main land. The first accounts 
of this people were brought to Europe by the companions of Magellan,* 
who described them as a gigantic race, above eight feet high, and of 
strength in proportion to their enormous size. Among several tribes of 
animals, a disparity in bulk as considerable may be observed. Some 
large breeds of horses and dogs exceed the more diminutive races in 
stature and strength, as far as the Patagonian is supposed to rise above the 
usual standard of the human body, out animals attain the highest per- 
fection of their species only in mild climates, or where they find the most 
nutritive food in greatest abundance. It is not then in the uncultivated 
waste of the Magellanic regions, and among a tribe of improvident savages, 
that we should expect to find man possessing the highest honours of his 
race, and distinguished by a superiority of size and vigour, far beyond 
what he has reached in any other part of the earth. The most explicit 
and unexceptionable evidence is requisite, in order to establish a fact 
repugnant to those general principles and laws, which seem to affect the 
human frame in every other instance, and to decide with respect to its 
nature and qualities. Such evidence has not hitherto been produced. 
Though several persons, to whose testimony great respect is due, have 
visited this part of America since the time of Magellan, and have had 
interviews with the natives ; though some have affirmed, that such as they 
saw were of gigantic stature, and others have formed the same conclusion 
from measuring their footsteps, or from viewing the skeletons of their dead ; 
yet their accounts vary from each other in so many essential points, and are 
mingled with so many circumstances manifestly false or fabulous, as detract 
mucn from their credit. On the other hand, some navigators, and those 
among the most eminent of their order for discernment and accuracy, have 
asserted that the natives of Patagonia, with whom they bad intercourse, 
though stout and well made, are not of such extraordinary size as to be 
distinguished from the rest of the human species [49]. The existence of 
this gigantic race of men seems, then, to be one of those points in natural 
history, with respect to which a cautious inquirer will hesitate, and will 
choose to suspend his assent until more complete evidence shall decide 
whether he ought to admit a fact, seemingly inconsistent with what reason 
and experience have discovered concerning the structure and condition of 
man, in all the various situations in which he has been observed. 

In order to form a complete idea with respect to the constitution of the 
inhabitants of this and the other hemisphere, we should attend not only t(» 
the make and vigour of their bodies, but consider what degree of health 
they enjoy, and to what period of longevity they usually arrive. In the 
simplicity of the savage state, when man is not oppressed with labour, or 
enervated by luxury, or disquieted with care, we are apt to imagine that 
this life will flow on almost untroubled by disease or suffering, until hh 

• Falfencr'p Description of ratngonia. p> 102 



lib HISTORY OF [Book IV'. 

days be terminated in extreme old age by the gradual decays of nature. 
We find, accordingly, among the Americans, as well as among other rude 
people, persons whose decrepit and shrivelled form seems to indicate aft 
extraordinary length of life. But as most of them are unacquainted with 
the art of numbering, and all of them as forgetful of what is past, as they 
are improvident of what is to come, it is impossible to ascertain their age 
with any degree of precision.* It is evident that the period of their 
longevity must vary considerably, according to the diversity of climates, 
and their different modes of subsistence. They seem, however, to be 
every where exempt from many of the distempers which afflict polished 
nations. None of the maladies, which are the immediate offspring of 
luxury, ever visited them ; and they have no names in their languages by 
which to distinguish this numerous train of adventitious evils. 

But whatever be the situation in which man is placed, he is born to 
suffer ; and his diseases in the savage state, though fewer in number, are, 
like those of the animals whom he nearly resembles in his mode of life, 
more violent and more fatal. If luxury engenders and nourishes distempers^ 
of one species, the rigour and distresses of savage life bring on those of 
another. As men in this state are wonderfully improvident, and their 
means of subsistence precarious, they often pass from extreme want to 
exuberant plenty, according to the vicissitudes of fortune in the chase, or 
in consequence of the various degrees of abundance with which the earth 
affords to them its productions in different seasons. Their inconsiderate 
gluttony in the one situation, and their severe abstinence in the other, are 
equally pernicious. For though the human constitution may be accustomed 
by habit, like that of animals of prey, to tolerate long famine, and then to 
gorge voraciously, it is not a little affected by such sudden and violent 
transitions. The strength and vigour of savages are at some seasons 
impaired by what they suffer from a scarcity of food ; at others they are 
afnicted with disorders arising from indigestion and a superfluity of gross 
aliment. These are so common, that they may be considered as the 
unavoidable consequence of their mode of subsisting, and cut off considerable 
numbers in the prime of life. They are likewise extremely subject to 
consumptions, tp pleuritic, asthmatic, and paralytic disorders,! brought on 
by the immoderate hardships and fatigue which they endure in hunting 
and in war ; or owing to the inclemency of the seasons to which they arc 
continually exposed. In the savage state, hardships and fatigue violently 
assault the constitution. In polished societies, intemperance undermines 
it. It is not easy to determine which of them operates with most fatal 
effect, or tends most to abridge human life. The influence of the former is 
certainly most extensive. The pernicious consequences of luxury reach 
only a tew members in any community ; the distresses of savage life are felt 
by all. As far as I can ju(%e, after very minute inquiry, the general period 
of human life is shorter among savages than in well regulated and industri- 
ous societies. 

One dreadful malady, the severest scourge with which, in this life, 
offended Heaven chastens the indulgence of criminal desire, seems to have 
been peculiar to the Americans. By communicating it to their conquerors, 
they have not only amply avenged their own wrongs, but, by adding this 
calamity to those which formerly imbittered human life, they have, perhaps, 
more than counterbalanced all the benefits which Europe has derived from 
the discovery of the New World. This distemper, from the country in 
which it first raged, or from the people by whom it was supposed to have 
been spread over Europe, has been sometimes called the Neapolitan, and 
sometimes the French disease. At its first appearance, the infection was 

* Ullofi Notic. Amoric. 303. Bftnrroft Jvat. IlisJ. of G liana, 33-». t f'harlev. N. Fr. iii. 264. 
Lafitau, ii. 360. De la Poilicjip, ii. ST. 



AMERICA. 149 

so malignant, its symptoms so violent, its operation so rapid and fatal, as to 
baffle all the efforts oi medical skill. Astonishment and terror accompanied 
this unknown affliction in its progress, and men began to dread the extinction 
of the human race by such a cruel visitation. Experience, and the 
ingenuity of physicians, gradually discovered remedies of such virtue as to 
cure or to mitigate the evil. During the course of two centuries and a 
half, its virulence seems to have abated considerably. At length, in the 
same manner with the leprosy, which raged in Eorope for some centuries, 
it may waste its force and disappear ; and in some happier age, this 
western infection, like that from the east, may be known only by descrip- 
tion [50]. 

n. Alter considering what appears to be peculiar in the bodily constitution 
of the Americans, our attention is naturally turned towards the powers 
and qualities of their minds. As the individual advances from the igno- 
rance and imbecility of the infant state to vigour and maturity of under- 
standing, something similar to this may be observed in the progress of the 
species. With respect to it, too, there is a period of infancy, during which 
several powers of the mind are not unfolded, and all are feeble and defective 
in their operation. In the early ages of society, while the condition of 
man is simple and rude, this reason is but little exercised, and his desires 
move within a very narrow sphere. Hence arise two remarkable charac- 
teristics of the human mind in this state. Its intellectual powers are 
extremely limited ; its emotions and efforts are few and languid. Both 
these distinctions are conspicuous among the rudest and most unimproved 
of the American tribes, and constitute a striking part of their description. 

What, among polished nations, is called speculative reasoning or research, 
is altogether unknown in the rude state of society, and never becomes the 
occupation or amusement of the hurnan faculties, until man be so far 
improved as to have secured, with certainty, the means of subsistence, as 
well as the possession of leisure and tranquillity. The thoughts and 
attention of a savage are confined within the small circle of objects imme- 
diately conducive to his preservation or enjoyment. Every thing beyond 
that escapes his observation, or is perfectly indifferent to him. Like a 
mere animal, what is before his eyes interests and affects him ; what is out 
of sight, or at a distance, makes little impression.* There are several 
people in America whose limited understandings seem not to be capable of 
forming an arrangement for futurity ; neither their solicitude nor their 
foresight extends so far. They follow blindly the impulse of the appetite 
which they feel, but are entirely regardless of distant consequences, and 
even of those removed in the least degree from immediate apprehension. 
While they highly prize such things as serve for present use, or minister 
to present enjoyment, they set no value upon those which are not the 
object of some immediate want.j When, on the approach of the evening, 
a Caribbee feels himself disposed to goto rest, no consideration will tempt 
him to sell his hammock. But, in the morning, when he is sallying out to 
the business or pastime of the day, he will part with it tor the slightest toy 
that catches his fancy .J At the close of winter, while the impression of 
what he has suffered from the rigour of the climate is fresh in the mind of 
the North American, he sets himself with vigour to prepare materials for 
erecting a comfortable hut to protect him against the inclemency of the 
succeeding season ; but, as soon as the weather becomes mild, he forgets 
what is past, abandons his work, and never thinks of it more until the return 
of cold compels him, when too late, to resume it.§ 

If in concerns the most interesting, and seemingly the most simple, the 

• Ullo Noticiaa Americ. 9W. t Venegos Hist, of Calif, i. 66. Supp. Church. Coll. v. eon. 

Borde Descr. de.s Caraibcs, p. 16. Ellis Voy. 194, t I-abat Voyages, li. 1 M, 115. Tertrp, il. 

3S3. ^ Adair'sHist. of Amor. Indians, 417. 



5oO J[l STORY OF [Book IV. 

reason ot' man, while rude and destitute of culture, differs so little from the 
thoughtless levity of children, or the improvident instinct of animals, its 
exertions in other directions cannot be very considerable. The objects 
towards which reason turns, and the disquisitions in which it engages, 
must depend upon the state in which man is placed, and are suggested 
by his necessities and desires. Disquisitions, which appear the most ne- 
cessary and important to men in one state of society, never occur to those in 
another. Among civilized nations, arithmetic, or the art of numbering, is 
deemed an essential and elementary science : and in our continent, the 
invention and use of it reaches back to a period so remote as is beyond the 
knowledge of history. But among savages, who have no property to 
estimate, no hoarded treasures to count, no variety of objects or multiplicity 
of ideas to enumerate, arithmetic is a superiluous and useless art. Ac- 
cordingly, among some tribes in America it seems to be quite unknown. 
There are many who cannot reckon further than three ; and have no 
denomination to distinguish any number above it.* Several can proceed as 
far as ten, others to twenty. When they would convey an idea of any 
number beyond these, they point to the hair of their head, intimating that 
it is equal to them, or with wonder declare it to be so great that it cannot 
be reckoned.! Not only the Americans, but all nations while extremely 
rude, seem to be unacquainted with the art of computation.^ As soon, 
however, as they acquire such acquaintance or connexion vvith a variety of 
objects, that there is frequent occasion to combine or divide them, their 
knowledge of numbers increases, so that the state of this art among any 
people may be considered as one standard by which to estimate the degree 
of their improvement. The Iroquoise,in North America, as they are much 
more civilized than the rude inhabitants of Brazil, Paraguay, or Guiana, 
have likewise made greater advances in this respect ; though even their 
arithmetic does not extend beyond a thousand, as in their petty transactions 
they have no occasion for any higher number.§ The Cherokee, a less 
considerable nation on the same .continent, can reckon only as far as a 
hundred, and to that extent have names for the several numbers ; the 
smaller tribes in their neighbourhood can rise no higher than ten|| [51]. 

In other respects, the exercise of the understanding among rude nations 
is still more limited. The first ideas of every human being must be such 
as he receives by the senses. But in the mind of man, while in the savage 
state, there seem to be hardly any ideas but what enter by this avenue. 
The objects around him are presented to his eye. Such as may be sub- 
servient to his use, or can gratify any of his appetites, attract his notice ; 
he views the rest without curiosity or attention. Satisfied with considering 
them under that simple mode in which they appear to him, as separate and 
detached, he neither combines them so as to form general classes, nor con- 
templates their qualities apart from the subject in which they inhere, nor 
bestows a thought upon the operations of his own mind concerning them. 
Thus he is unacquainted with all the ideas which have been denominated 
universal, or abstract, or of reflection. The range of his understanding 
must, of course, be very confined, and his reasoning powers be employed 
merely on what is sensible. This is so remarkably the case with the ruder 
nations of America, that their languages (as we shall afterwards find) have 
not a word to express any thing but what is material or corporeal. TYwie, 
space, substance, and a thousand terms, which represent abstract and 
universal ideas, are altogether unknown to them. IT A naked savage, 
cowering over the fire in his miserable cabin, or stretched under a few 

* Condam. p. 67. StaJius ap. de Bry, ix. 128, Lory, ibid. 251. Biet. 362. Lettr. Edit". 23. 
314. t nuinont Louis, i. 187. Herrera, dec, 1. lib. iii. c. 3. Biet. 306. Borde, 6. t This is 

th« case with the Greenlanders, Crantz, i. 2^, and with Kanichatkadales, M. I'Abb6 Chapp^, Iii. 
17. ^ Cliarlcv. Nouv. Franc, iii. 402 l| Adair's Hiet. of iXmer. Indians. 77. "^ Tondam 
p. 54- 



AMERICA. 151 

branches which aflford him a temporary shelter, has as little inclination as 
capacity for useless speculation. His thoughts extend not beyond what 
relates to animal life ; and when they are not directed towards some of 
its concerns, his mind is totally inactive. In situations where no extraor- 
dinary effort either of ingenuity or labour is requisite, in order to satisfy 
the simple demands of nature, the powers of the mind are so seldom 
roused to any exertion, that the rational faculties continue almost dormant 
and unexercised. The numerous tribes scattered over the rich plains of 
South America, the inhabitants of some of the islands, and of several 
fertile regions on the continent, come under this description. Their vacant 
countenance, their staring unexpressive eye, their listless inattention, and 
total ignorance of subjects which seemed to be the first which should 
occupy the thoughts of rational beings, made such impression upon the 
Spaniards, when they first beheld those rude people, that they considered 
them as animals of an inferior order, and could not believe that they 
belonged to the human species.* It required the authority of a papal 
bull to counteract this opinion, and to convince them that the Americans 
were capable of the functions and entitled to the privileges of humanity.! 
Since that time, persons more enlightened and impartial than the discoverers 
or conquerors ot America, have had an opportunity of contemplating the 
most savage of its inhabitants, and they have been astonished and humbled 
with observing how nearly man in this condition approaches to the brute 
creation. But in severer climates, where subsistence cannot be procured 
with the same ease, where men must unite more closely, and act with 
greater concert, necessity calls forth their talents and sharpens their inven- 
tion, so that the intellectual powers are more exercised and improved. 
The North American tribes, and the natives of Chili, who inhabit tne tem- 
perate regions in the two great districts of America, are people of cultivated 
and enlarged understandings, when viewed in comparison with some of 
those seated in the islands, or on the banks of the Maragnon and Orinoco. 
Their occupations are more various, their system of policy, as well as of 
war, more complex, their arts more numerous. But even among them, 
the intellectual powers are extremely limited in their operations, and, 
unless when turned directly to those objects which interest a savage, are 
held in no estimation. Both the North Americans and Chilese, when not 
engaged in some of the functions belonging to a warrior or hunter, loiter 
away their time in thoughtless indolence, unacquainted with any other 
subject worthy of their attention, or capable of occupying their minds. t 
If even among them reason is so much circumscribed in its exertions, ana 
never arrives, in its highest attainments, at the knowledge of those general 
principles and maxims which serve as the foundation of science, we may 
conclude that the intellectual powers of man in the savage state are destitute 
of their proper object, and cannot acquire any considerable degree of vigour 
and enlargement. 

From the same causes, the active efforts of the mind are few, and on 
most occasions languid. If we examine into the motives which rouse 
men to activity in civilized life, and prompt them to persevere in fa- 
tiguing exertions of their ingenuity or strength, we shall find that they arise 
chiefly from acquired wants and appetites. These are numerous and im- 
portunate ; they keep the mind in perpetual agitation, and, in order to 
gratify them, invention must be always on the stretch, and industry must 
be incessantly employed. But the desires of simple nature are few, and 
where a favourable climate yields almost spontaneously what suffices to 
gratify them, they scarcely stir the soul, or excite any violent emotion. 
Hence the people of several tribes in America waste their life in a listless 
indolence. To be free from occupation, seems to be all the enjoyment 

* Heirera. dec. 1. lib. ii. c. 15. t Torquem. Mon. Ind iii. 198. J Lafitau, ii. 2. 



152 HISTORY OF [Book IV. 

towards which they aspire. They will continue whole days stretched 
out in their hammocks, or seated on the earth in perfect idleness, without 
changing their posture, or raising their eyes from the ground, or uttering 
a single word.* 

Such is their aversion to labour that neither the hope of future good 
nor the apprehension of future evil can surmount it. They appear equally 
indifferent to both, discovering little solicitude, and taking no precautions 
to avoid the one or to secure the other. The cravings of hunger may 
rouse them ; but as they devour, with little distinction, whatever will ap- 
pease its instinctive demands, the exertions which these occasion are of 
short duration. Destitute of ardour, as well as variety of desire, they 
feel not the force of those powerful springs which give vigour to the 
movements of the mind, and ui^e the patient hand ot industry to perse- 
vere in its efforts. Man, in some parts of America, appears in a form so 
rude that we can discover no effects of his activity, and the principle of 
understanding, which should direct it, seems hardly to be unfolded. 
Like the other animals, he has no fixed residence ; he has erected no ha- 
bitation to shelter him from the inclemency of the weather ; he has taken 
no measures for securing certain subsistence ; he neither sows nor reaps ; 
but roams about as led in search of the plants and fruits which the earth 
brings forth in succession ; and in quest of the game which he kills in the 
forest, or of the fish which he catches in the rivers. 

This description, however, applies only to some tribes. Man cannot 
continue long in this state of feeble and uninformed infancy. He was 
made for industry and action, and the powers of his nature, as well as the 
nc'cessity of his condition, urge him to fulfil his destiny. Accordingly, 
among most of the American nations, especially those seated in rigorous 
climates, some efforts are employed, and some previous precautions are 
taken, for securing subsistence. The career of regular industry is begun, 
and the laborious arm has made the first essays of its power. Still, how- 
ever, the improvident and slothful genius of the savage state predomi- 
nates. Even among those more improved tribes, labour is deemed igno- 
minious and degrad^ing. It is only to work of a certain kind that a man 
will deign to put his hand. The greater part is devolved entirely upon 
the women. One-half of the community remains inactive, while the 
other is oppressed with the multitude and variety of its occupations. 
Thus their industry is partial, and the foresight which regulates it is no 
less limited. A remarkable instance of this occurs in the chief arrange- 
ment with respect to their manner of living. They depend for their sub- 
sistence, during one part of the year, on fishing ; during another, on hunt- 
ing; during a third, on the prod.uce of their agriculture. Though expe- 
rience has taught them to foresee the return of those various seasons, and 
to make some provision tor the respective exigencies of each, they either 
want sagacity to proportion this provision to their consumption, or are so 
incapable of any command over their appetites, that, from their inconsi- 
derate waste, they often feel the calamities of famine as severely as the 
rudest of the savage tribes. What they suffer one year does not augment 
their industry, or render them more provident to prevent similar distresses.! 
This inconsiderate thoughtlessness about futurity, the effect of ignorance 
and the cause of sloth, accompanies and characterizes man in every stage 
of savage life ;| and, by a capricious singularity in his operations, he is 
then least solicitous about supplying his wants, when the means of satis- 
fying them are most precarious, and procured with the greatest diffi- 
culty [52]. 

III. After viewing the bodily constitution of the Americans, and con- 

* Boiigmer Voy. au P^rou, 102. Borde, 15 t Cliarlev. N. Fr. iii. 338. Lettr. Edif. 23. V93. 
Dcecripl. of N. France, Osborn's Collect, ii. gW. Pe la Potherie. ii. 63. t Bancroft's Nat. Hist, 
cf Giuann, a-JC. 333. 



AMERICA. 153 

templatiii* tiie powers of their minds, we are led, in the natural order of 
inquiry, to consider them as united together in society. Hitherto our re- 
searches have been confined to the operations of understanding respecting 
themselves as individuals ; now they will extend to the degree of their 
sensibility and aflection towards their species. 

The domestic state is the first and most simple form of human associa- 
tion. The union of the sexes among different animals is of longer or 
shorter duration in proportion to the ease or difficulty of rearing their off- 
spring. Among those tribes where the season ot infancy is short, and the 
young soon acquire vigour or agility, no permanent union is formed. Na- 
ture commits the care of training up the offspring to the mother alone, and 
her tenderness, without any other assistance, is equal to the task. But 
where the state of infancy is long and helpless, and the joint assiduity of 
both parents is requisite in tending their feeble progeny, there a more mti- 
mate connexion takes place, and continues until the purpose of nature be 
accomplished, and the new race grow up to full maturity. As the infancy 
of man is more feeble and helpless than that of any other animal, and he 
is dependent during a much longer period on the care and foresight of his 
parents, the union between husband and w ife came early to be considered 
not only as a solemn but as a permanent contract. A general state of pro- 
miscuous intercourse between the sexes never existed but in the imagi- 
nation of poets. In the infancy of society, when men, destitute of arts 
and industry, lead a hard precarious life, the rearing of their progeny de- 
mands the attention and efforts of both parents ; and if their union had 
not been formed and continued with this view, the race could not have 
been preserved. Accordingly in America, even among the rudest tribes, 
a regular union between husband and wife was universal, and the rights 
of marriage were understood and recognised. In those districts where 
subsistence was scanty, and the difficulty of maintaining a family was 
great, the man confined himself to one wife. In warmer and more fertile 
provinces, the facility of procuring food concurred with the influence of 
climate in inducing the inhabitants to increase the number of their wives.* 
In some countries the marriage-union subsisted during life ; in others, the 
impatience of the Americans under restraint of any species, together with 
their natural levity and caprice, prompted them to dissolve it on very 
slight pretexts, and often without assigning any cause. t 

But in whatever light the Americans considlered the obligation of this 
contract, either as perpetual or only as temporarv, the condition of women 
was equa"y humiliating and miserable. Whether man has been improved 
by the progress of arts and civilization in society, is a question which,- in 
lhe wantonness of disputation, has been agitated among philosophers. 
That women are indebted to the refinements of polished manners, for a 
happy change in their state, is a point which can admit of no doubt. To 
despise and to degrade the female sex is a characteristic of the savage state 
in every part of the globe. Man, proud of excelling in strength and in 
courage, the chief marks of pre-eminence among rude people, treats woman, 
as an mferior, with disdain. The Americans, perhaps from that coldness 
and insensibility which has been considered as peculiar to their constitution, 
add neglect and harshness to contempt. The most intelligent travellers 
have been struck with this inattention of the Americans to their women. 
It is not, as I have already observed, by a studied display of tenderness 
and attachment that the American endeavours to gain the heart of the 
woman whom he wishes to marry. Marriage itself, instead of being a 
union of affection and interests between equals, becomes among them the 
unnatural conjunction of a master with his slave. It is the observation of 

• I>ettr. Edif. 23. 318. Lafitan Moeurs, i. .'>54. I.ory ap. dc Bry, iii. 234. Journal de Grillet et 
Recliamel, p. 88. t I^afitaii, i. 5d0. JoiilelJourn. Histor. 345. Lozano Dcsc. del Gran Cliac->, 
*0. Hennepin Mccurs defl Sauvajjt'B, p. 30. .33. 
Vor. I,— ?0 



154 HISTORY OF [BooKiV 

an author whose opinions are deservedly of great weight, that wherever 
wives are purchased their condition is extremely depressed.* They 
become the property and the slaves of those who buy them. In whatever 
part of the globe this custom prevails, the observation holds. In countries 
where refinement has made some progress, women when purchased are 
excluded from society, shut up in sequestered apartments, and kept under 
the vigilant guard of their masters. In ruder nations they are degraded 
to the meanest functions. Among many people of America the marriage 
contract is properly a purchase. The man buys his wife of her parents. 
Though unacquainted with the use of money, or with such commercial 
transactions as take place in more improved society, he knows how to give 
an equivalent for any object which he desires to possess. In some places, 
the suitor devotes his service for a certain time to the parents of the maid 
whom he courts ; in others he hunts for them occasionally, or assists in 
cultivating their fields and forming their canoes ; in others, he offers presents 
of such things as are deemed most valuable on account of their usefulness 
or rarity. t In return for these he receives his wife ; and this circumstance, 
added to the low estimation of women among savages, leads him to con- 
sider her as a female servant whom he has purchased, and whom he has 
a title to treat as an inferior. In all unpolished nations, it is true, the 
functions in domestic economy which fall naturally to the share of women 
are so many, that they are subjected to hard labour, and must bear more 
than their full portion of the common burden. But in America their con- 
dition is so peculiarly grievous, and their depression so complete, that 
servitude is a name too mild to describe their wretched state. A wife 
among most tribes is no better than a beast of burden, destined to every 
office of labour and fatigue. While the men loiter out the day in sloth, or 
spend it in amusement, the women are condemned to incessant toil. 
Tasks are imposed upon them without pity, and services are received 
without complacence or gratitude. J Every circumstance reminds women 
of this mortifying inferiority. They must approach their lords with rever- 
ence ; they must regard them as more exalted beings, and are not permitted 
to eat in their presence. § There are districts in America where this domi- 
nion is so grievous, and so sensibly felt, that some women, in a wild emo- 
tion of maternal tenderness, have destroyed their female children in their 
infancy, in order to deliver them from that intolerable bondage to which 
they knew they were doomed.ll Thus the first institution of social life is 
perverted. That state of domestic union towards which nature leads the 
human species, in order to sotten the heart to gentleness and humanity, is 
rendered so unequal as to establish a cruel distinction between the sexes, 
which forms the one to be harsh and unfeeling, and humbles the other to 
servility and subjection. 

It is owing, perhaps, in some measure, to this state of depression, that 
women in rude nations are far from being prolific. IT The vigour of their 
constitution is exhausted by excessive fatigue, and the wants and distresses 
of savage life are so numerous as to Ibrce them to take various precautions 
inorder to preventtoo rapidan increase of their progeny. Among wandering 
tribes, or such as depend chiefly upon hunting for subsistence, the mother 
cannot attempt to rear a second child until the first has attained such a 
degree of vigour as to be in some measure independent of her care. 
From this motive, it is the universal practice of the American women to 
suckle their children during several years ;** and, as they seldom many 
early, the period of theu- fertility is over before they can finish the long 

* Sketches of Hist, of Man, i. 184. t Lafltau Moeurs, Sec. i. 560, &c. Cliarlev. iii. 285, &r. 
Herrera, dec. 4. lib. iv. c. 7. Dumont, ii. 156. t Tertrn, ii. 383. Borde Rolat, des Moeurs dos 
Caraibog, p. 21. Biel. 357. Condamine, p. 110. Ferniin. i. 79. $ Gumilla, i. 153. Barrere, 
164. Labat, Voy. ii. 76. Clianvalon, 51. Teitio, ii. .300. || Cuinilla, ii. 233. 238. Herrera, 
dec 7. lib. ix. c. ir. T I.afitan. i. 590. Cliarlevoix. iii. 304. ** Herrera. dec. fi. lib. i. c. 4, 



AMERICA. 155 

but necessaiy attendance upon two or three children.* Among some of 
the least polished tribes, whose industry and foresight do not extend so far 
as to make any regular provision for th|i: own subsistence, it is a maxim 
not to burden themselves with rearing mare than two children -,1 and no 
such numerous families as are frequent in civilized societies are to be 
found among men in the savage state.| When twins are born, one of them 
commonly is abandoned, because the mother is not equal to the task of rearing 
both§ [53]. When a mother dies while she is nursing a child, all hope of 
preserving its life fails, and it is buried together with her in the same grave.H 
As the parents are frequently exposed to want by their own improvident 
indolence, the ditficulty of sustaining their children becomes so great that 
it is not uncommon to abandon or destroy them. IT Thus their experience 
of the ditficulty of training up an infant to maturity, amidst the hardships of 
savage life, often stifles the voice of nature among the Americans, and 
suppresses the strong emotions of parental tenderness. 

cut though necessity compels the inhabitants of America thus to set 
bounds to the increase of their families, they are not deficient in affection 
and attachment to their offspring. They feel the power of this instinct in 
its full force, and as long as their progeny continue feeble and helpless, no 
people exceed them in tenderness and care.** But in rude nations the 
dependence of children upon their parents is of shorter continuance than 
in polished societies. When men must be trained to the various functions of 
civil life by previous discipline and education, when the knowledge of abstruse 
sciences must be taught, and dexterity in intricate arts must be acquired, 
before a young man is prepared to begin his career of action, the attentive feel- 
ings of a parent are not confined to the years of infancy, but extend to what is 
more remote, the establishment of his child in the world. Even then his 
solicitude does not terminate. His protection may still be requisite, and 
his wisdom and experience still prove useful guides. Thus a permanent 
connection is formed ; parental tenderness is exercised, and filial respect 
returned, throughout the whole course of life. But in the simplicity of the 
savage state the affection of parents, like the instinctive fondness of animals, 
ceases almost entirely as soon as their offspjiyg attain maturity. Little in- 
struction fits them for that mode of life to A^ch they are destined. The 
parents, as if their duty were accomplished, when they have conducted 
their children through the helpless years of infancy, leave them afterwards 
at entire liberty. Even in their tender age, they seldom advise or admonish, 
they never chide or chastise them. They suffer them to be absolute masters 
of their own actions.!! In an American hut, a father, a mother, and their 
posterity, live together like persons assembled by accident, without seeming 
to feel the obligation of the duties mutually arising from this connection.|J 
As filial love is not cherished by the continuance of attention or good offices, 
the recollection of benefits received in early infancy is too faint to excite it. 
Conscious of their own liberty, and impatient of restraint, the youth of 
America are accustomed to act as if they were totally independent. Their 
parents are not objects of greater regard than other persons. They treat 
them always with neglect, and often with such harshness and insolence as 
to fill those who have been witne&scs of theirconduct with horror.§§ Thus 
the ideas which seem to be natural to man in his savage state, as they result 
necessarily from his circumstances and condition in that period of his progress, 

* Charlev. iii. 303. Dumont, M6m. sur Louiaiane, ii. 270. Dnny's Hist. Natur. de 1' Amirique, 
&c. ii. 365. Charlev. Hist, de Parag. ii. 422. t Techo's Acrount of Paraeiiay, &c. Cliurch. 
Collect, vi. 108. Lett. Edif. xxxiv. 200. Lozano Dcscr. 92. J Maccleur's .Journal, 03. ^ Lett. 
Edif. X.200. II Charlev, iii. 3tW. Lett. Ediff. x 200. P. Melch. Hernandez Memor. de Che- 
riqiii. Colbert. Collect. Orig. Pap. i. IT Venega's Hist, of Califom. i. 82. ** Giiniilla, 1.211. 
Biet. .390. tt Charlev. iii. 272. Biet. 390. Gumilla, i. 212. Lafitaii, i. fi02. Creuxii Hi.st. 

Canad. p. 71. Fernandez, Relac. Hist, de los Chequit. 33. it Charlev. Hist. N. Fr. iii. 273. 

«|J Gumilla, i. 212. Tertre, ii. 376. Charlev. Hist, de N. France, iii. 309. Charlev. HiBt. de 
Parag. i. U5. Lozano Descript. del Gran. Chaco. p. 68. 100. 101. Fornand. Relsic. Histor. de los 
Clipqult. 42fi. 



166 HISTORY OF IBookIV. 

affect the two capital relations in domestic life. They render the union 
between husband and wile unequal. They shorten the duration and weaken 
the force of the connection betwe^ parents and children. 

IV. From the doniestic state oWne Americans, the transition to the con- 
sideration of their civil government and political institutions is natural. In 
every inquiry concerning the operations of men when united together in 
society, the first object of attention should be their mode of subsistence. 
Accordingly as that varies, their laws and policy must be diflerent. The 
institution suited to the ideas and exigencies of tribes which subsist chiefly 
by tisbing or hunting, and which have as yet acquired but an imperfect con- 
ception of any species of property, will be much more simple than those 
which must take place when the earth is cultivated with regular industry ; 
and a right of property, not only in its productions, but in the soil itseli, is 
completely ascertained. 

All the people of America, now under review, belong to the former 
class. But though they may all be comprehended under the general de- 
nomination of savage, the advances which they had made in the art of pro- 
curing to themselves a certain and plentiful subsistence were very unequal. 
On the extensive plains of South America man appears in one of the rudest 
states in which he has been ever observed, or perhaps can exist. Several 
tribes depend entirely upon the bounty of nature for su];sistence. They 
discover no solicitude, they employ little foresight, they scarcely exert 
any industry to secure what is necessary for their support. The Topayers, 
of Brazil, the Guaxeros, of Tierra Firme, the Caiguas, the Moxos, and 
several other people of Paraguay, are unacquainted with every species of 
cultivation. They neither sow nor plant. Even the culture of the manioc, 
of which cassada bread is made, is an art too intricate for their ingenuity, 
or too fatiguing to their indolence. The roots which the earth produces 
spontaneously ; the truits, the berries, and the seeds which they gather in 
the woods ; together with lizards and other reptiles, which multiply ama- 
zingly with the heat of the climate in a fat soil moistened by frequent 
rains, supply them with food during some part of the year.* At other 
times they subsist by fishing ^nd nature seems to have indulged the lazi- 
ness of the South American moes by the liberality with which she minis- 
ters in this way to their wants. The vast rivers of that region in America 
abound with an infinite variety of the most delicate fish. The lakes and 
marshes formed by the annual overflowing of the waters are filled with all 
the different species, where they remain shut up, as in natural reservoirs, 
for the use of the inhabitants. They swarm in such shoals, that in some 
places they are catched without art or industiy [54]. In others, the na- 
tives have discovered a method of infecting the water with the juice of 
certain plants, by which the fish are so intoxicated that they float on the 
surface and are taken with the hand [55]. Some tribes have ingenuity 
enough to preserve them without salt, by diying or smoking them upon 
hurdles over a slow fire.t The prolific quality of the rivers in South 
America induces many of the natives to resort to their banks, and to de- 
pend almost entirely for nourishment on what their waters supply with 
such profusion.! In this part of the globe hunting seems not to have been 
the first employment of men, or the first efl'ort ot their invention and la- 
bour to obtain food. They were fishers before they became hunters ; 
and as the occupations of the former do not call for equal exertions of ac- 
tivity or talents with those of the latter, people in that state appear to 
possess neither the same degree of enterprise nor of ingenuity. The 

* Nieuhoff. Hist, of Brazil. Church. Coll. ii. 134. Simon Conquista de Tierra Firm*, p. 166. 
Techo, Account of Paraguay, &;c. Church, vi. 78. Lettr. Edif 25. 384. 10. 190. Lozano, De- 
scrip, del. Gran Chaco, p. 81. Ribas Histor. de losTriiimfos, &c p. 7. f Condam. 159. Gu- 
nulla, ii. 37. Lettr. Edif 14. 199. 33. 3^. Acupia, BclaU dc la Eiv. des Amaf. 138. J Bar 
rere. Relat. de Pr. Efjuin. p. l.^.l. 



A iM E R I C A. io7 

petty nations adjacent to the Maragnon and Orinoco are manifestly the 
most inactive and least intelligent of all the Americans. 

None but tribes contiguous to great rivers can sustain themselves in thia 
manner. The greater part of the American nations, dispersed over the 
forests with which their country is covered, do not procure subsistence 
with tht> same facility. For although these forests, especially in the 
southern continent of America, are stored plentifully with game,* consi- 
derable efforts of activity and ingenuity are requisite in pursuit of it. 
Necessity incited the natives to the one, and taught them the other. 
Hunting became their principal occupation ; and as it called forth strenu- 
ous exertions of courage, of force, and of invention, it was deemed no 
less honourable than necessary. This occupation was peculiar to the men. 
They were trained to it from their earliest youth. A bold and dexterous 
hunter ranked next in fame to the distinguished warrior, and an alliance 
with the former is often courted in preference to one with the latter.j 
Hardly any device, which the ingenuity of man has discovered for en- 
snaring or destroying wild animals, was unknown to the Americans. 
While engaged in this favourite exercise, they shake off the indolence 
peculiar to their nature, the latent powers and vigour of their minds are 
roused, and they become active, persevering, and indefatigable. Their 
sagacity in finding their prey and their address in killing it are equal. 
Their reason and their senses being constantly directed towards this one 
object, the former displays such fertility of invention and the latter acquire 
such a degree of acuteness as appear almost incredible. They discern 
the footsteps of a wild beast, which escape every other eye, and can follow 
them with certainty through the pathless forest. If they attack their game 
openly, their arrow seldom errs from the mark :| if they endeavour to 
circumvent it by art, it is almost impossible to avoid their jLoils. Among 
several tribes, their young men were not permitted to marry until they 
had given such proofs of their skill in hunting as put it beyond doubt that 
they were capable of providing for a family. Their ingenuity, always on 
the stretch, and sharpened by emulation as well as necessity, has struck 
out many inventions which greatly facilitate success in the chase. The 
most singular of these is the discovery of a poison, in which they dip the 
arrows employed in hunting. The slightest wound with those envenomed 
shafts is mortal. If they only pierce the skin, the blood fixes and congeals 
in a moment, and the strongest animal falls motionless to the ground. 
Nor does this poison, notwithstanding its violence and subtlety, infect the 
flesh of the animal which it kills. That may be eaten with perfect safety, 
and retain its native relish and qualities. All the nations situated upon the 
banksof the Maragnon andOrinocoare acquainted with this composition, the 
chief ingredient in which is the juice extracted from the root of the curare, 
a species of withe. § In other parts of America they employ the juice of 
the inanchenille for the same purpose, and it operates with no less fatal 
activity. To people possessed of those secrets the bow is a more destruc- 
tive weapon than the musket, and, in their skilful hands, does great exe- 
cution among the birds and beasts which abound in the forests of America. 

But the life of a hunter gradually leads man to a state more advanced. 
The chase, even where prey is abundant, and the dexterity of the hunter 
much improved, affords but an uncertain maintenance, and at some seasons 
it niyst be suspended altogether. If a savage trusts to his bow alone for 
food, he and his family will be often reduced to extreme distress [56]. 
Hardly any region of the earth fiirnishes man spontaneously with what his 
wants require. In the mildest climates, and most fertile soils, his own 

• p. Martyr, Dccod. p. 3iJ4. Giimilla, ii. 4, &r. Acugna, i. 156. f Charlev. Histoire dc la 
N. France, iii. 115. i Biet, Voy. de France Equin. '357. Davies's DiPcov. of the River of 
Amaz. Purchas, iv. p. 1287. ^ Giiniilla, ii. 1, tec. Condani. 208. Rerhfrch. Philos. ii. 93P 

Bancroft's Nat. Hist, of Guiana. 2.S1, (cr. 



158 H 1 S T O R Y O F LI^ook W. 

industry and foresight must be exerted in some degree to secure a regular 
supply of food. Their experience of this surmounts the abhorrence of 
labour natural to savage nations, and compels them to have recourse to 
culture, as subsidiary to hunting. In particular situations, some small 
tribes may subsist by fishing, independent of any production of the earth 
raised by their own industry. But throughout all America, we scarcely 
meet with any nation of hunters which does not practise some species of 
cultivation. 

The agriculture of the Americans, however, is neither extensive nor 
laborious. As game and fish are their principal food, all they aim at by 
cultivation is to supply any occasional defect of these. In the southern 
continent of America, the natives confined their industiy to rearing a few 
plants, which, in a rich soil and warm climate, were easily trained to ma- 
turity. The chief of these is maize, well known in Europe by the name 
of Turkey or Indian wheat, a grain extremely prolific, of simple culture, 
agreeable to the taste, and affording a strong hearty nourishment. The 
second is the manioc, which grows to the size of a large shrub or small 
tree, and produces roots somewhat resembling parsnips. After carefully 
squeezing out the juice, these roots are grated down to a fine powder, and 
formed into thin cakes called cassada bread, which, though insipid to the 
taste, proves no contemptible food.* As the juice of the manioc is a 
deadly poison, some authors have celebrated the ingenuity of the Ameri- 
cans in converting a noxious plant into wholesome nourishment. But it 
should rather be considered as one of the desperate expedients for pro- 
curing subsistence, to which necessity reduces rude nations ; or, perhaps, 
men were led to the use of it by a progress in which there is nothing 
marvellous. One species of manioc is altogether free of any poisonous 
quality, and may be eaten without any preparation but that of roasting it 
in the embers. This, it is probable, was first used by the Americans as 
food ; and, necessity having gradually taught them the art of separating 
its pernicious juice from the other species, they have by experience found 
it to be more prolific as well as more nourishing! [57]. The third is the 
plantain, which, though it rises to the height of a tree, is of such quick 
growth, that in less than a year it rewards the industry of the cultivator 
with its fruit. This, when roasted, supplies the place of bread, and is 
both palatable and nourishing [58]. The iburth is the potatoe, whose cul- 
ture and qualities are too well known to need any description. The fifth 
h pimento, a small tree yielding a strong aromatic spice. The Americans, 
who, like other inhabitants of warm climates, delight in whatever is hot 
and of poignant flavour, deem this seasoning a necessary of life, and 
mingle it copiously with every kind of food they take.| 

Such are the various productions, which were the chief object of cul- 
ture among the hunting tribes on the continent of America ; and Avith a 
moderate exertion of active and provident industiy these might have 
yielded a full supply to the wants of a numerous people, feut men, 
accustomed to the free and vagrant life of hunters, are incapable of regu- 
lar application to labour, and consider agriculture as a secondary and 
inferior occupation. Accordingly, the provision for subsistence, arising 
from cultivation, was so limited and scanty among the Americans, that, 
upon any accidental failure of their usual success in hunting, they were 
often reduced to extreme distress. 

In the islands, the mode of subsisting was considerably different. None 
of the large animals which abound on the continent were known there. 
Only four species of quadrupeds, besides a kind of small dumb dog, 

* Sloane Hist, of Jam. Introd. p. 18. Labat, i. 304. Acosta, Hist. Ind. Occid. Natur. lib. iv. c. 
17. Ulloa, i. 62. Aublet, Mem. sur le Magnioc. Hist, des Plautes, torn. ii. p. 65, &.C. t Martyr, 
Decad. 301. J.abat, i. 411. Ciunilla, iii. 102. MacJiiicha Milic. Indiana. 1P4. :t Oiirailla, iii. 
371. Arosta. lih. iv. c. CO. 



AMERICA. 159 

existed in the islands, the biggest of which did not exceed the size of a 
rabbit.* To hunt such a diminutive prey was an occupation whicli 
required no effort either of activitj^ or courage. The chief employmenr 
of a hunter in the isles was to kill birds, which on the continent are deemed 
ignoble game, and left chiefly to the pursuit of boys.j This want of 
animals, as well as their peculiar situation, led the islanders to depend 
principally upon tishing for their subsistence. | Their rivers, and the sea 
with which they are surrounded, supplied them with this species of food. 
At some particular seasons, turtle, crabs, and other shellfish abounded in 
such numbers that the natives could support themselves with a facility in 
which their indolence delighted.§ At other times, they ate lizards and 
various reptiles of odious forms.!] To fishing the inhabitants of the islands 
added some degree of agriculture. Maize [59], manioc, and other plants 
were cultivated in the same manner as on the continent. But all the fruits 
of their industry, together with what their soil and climate produced spon- 
taneously, afforded them but a scanty niaintenaiice. Though their demands 
for food were very sparing, they hardly raised what was sufficient for their 
own consumption. If a tew Spaniards settled in any district, such a small 
addition of supernumerary mouths soon exhausted their scanty stores, and 
brought on a famine. 

Two circumstances, common to all the savage nations of America, con- 
curred with those which I have already mentioned, not only in rendering 
their agriculture imperfect, but in circumscribing their power in all their 
operations. They had no tame animals ; and they were unacquainted with 
the useful metals. 

In other parts of the globe, man, in his rudest state, appears as lord of 
the creation, giving law to various tribes of animals, which he has tamed 
and reduced to subjection. The Tartar follows his prey on the horse 
which he has reared ; or tends his numerous herds, which turnish him both 
with food and clothing : the Arab has rendered the camel docile, and avails 
himself of its persevering strength : the Laplander has formed the reindeer 
to be subservient to his will ; and even the people of Kamchatka have 
trained their dogs to labour. This command over the inferior creatures is 
one of the noblest prerogatives of man, and among the greatest efforts of 
his wisdom and power. Without this his dominion is incomplete. He is 
a monarch who has no subjects, a master without servants, and must per- 
form every operation by the strength of his own arm. Such was the con- 
dition of all the rude nations in America. Their reason was so little 
improved, or their union so incomplete, that they seem not to have been 
conscious of the superiority of their nature, and suffered all the animal 
creation to retain its liberty, without establishing their own authority over 
any one species. Most oi the animals, indeed, which have been rendered 
domestic in our continent, do not exist in the New \A orld ; but those 
peculiar to it are neither so fierce nor so formidable as to have exempted 
them from servitude. There are some animals of the same species on 
both continents. But the rein-deer, which has been tamed and broken to 
the yoke in the one hemisphere, runs wild in the other. The bison of 
America is manifestly of the same species with the horned cattle of the 
other hemisphere. 1i The latter, even among the rudest nations in our con- 
tinent, have been rendered domestic ; and, in consequence of his dominion 
over them, man can accomplish ^vorks of labour with greater facilitj-, 
and has made a great addition to his means of subsistence. The inhabit- 
ants of many regions of the New W orld, where the bison abounds, might 
have derived the same advantages from it. It is not of a nature so 
indocile, but that it might have been trained to be as subservient to man 

* Oviedo, lib. xii. in proem. t Ril>as Hist, de los Triumph, p. 13. De la Potlicrie, ii. IR. 

iii. 20. i Oviedo, lib. liii. c. 1. Gomara, Hist. (Jener. c. 28. ^ Goniara, ifist. Gcuit 

9. Labat, ii. SJ21. &.C. || Oviedo, lib. xifi c 3 V Ruffon. nrtic. Hisvn. 



160 HIS T OliY OP [Book IV- 

as our cattle.* But a savage, in that uncultivated state wherein the 
Americans w^ere discovered, is the enemy of the other animals, not their 
superior. He wastes and destroys, but knows not how to multiply or to 
govern them.t 

This, perhaps, is the most notable distinction between the inhabitants of 
the Ancient and New Worlds, and a high pre-eminence of civilized men 
above such as continue rude. The greatest operations- of man in changing 
and improving the face of nature, as well as his most considerable efforts 
in cultivating the earth, are accomplished by means of the aid which he 
receives from the animals that he has tamed, and employs in labour. It is 
by their strength that he subdues the stubborn soil, and converts the desert 
or marsh into a fruitful field. But man, in his civilized state, is so 
accustomed to the service of the domestic animals, that he seldom 
reflects upon the vast benefits which he derives from it. If we were 
to suppose him, even when most improved, to be deprived of their useful 
ministry, his empire over nature must in some measure cease, and he would 
remain a teeble animal, at a loss how to subsist, and incapable of attempt- 
ing such arduous undertakings as their assistance enables him to execute 
with ease. 

It is a doubtful point, whether the dominion of man over the animal 
creation, or his acquiring the useful metals, has contributed most to extend 
his power. The era ot this important discovery is unknown, and in our 
hemisphere very remote. It is only by tradition, or by digging up some 
rude instruments of our forefathers, that we learn that mankind were 
originally unacquainted with the use of metals, and endeavoured to supply 
the' want of them by employing flints, shells, bones, and other hard sub- 
stances, for the same purposes which metals serve among polished nations. 
Nature completes the formation of some metals. Gold, silver, and copper, 
are found in their perfect state in the clefts of rocks, in the sides of 
mountains, or the channels of rivers. These were accordingly the metals 
first known, and first applied to use. But iron, the most serviceable of all, 
and to which man is most indebted, is never discovered in its perfect form ; 
its gross and stubborn ore must feel twice the force of fire, and go through 
two laborious processes, before it becomes fit for use. Man was long 
acquainted with the other metals before he acquired the art of fabricating 
iron, or attained such ingenuity as to perfect an invention, to which he is 
indebted for those instruments wherewith he subdues the earth, and com- 
mands all its inhabitants. But in this, as well as in many other respects, 
the inferiority of the Americans was conspicuous. All the savage tribes, 
scattered over the continent and islands, were totally unacquainted with 
the metals which their soil produces in great abundance, if we except 
some trifling quantity of gold, which they picked up in the torrents that 
descended from their mountains, and formed into ornaments. Their devices 
to supply this want of the serviceable metals were extremely rude and 
awkward. The most simple operation was to them an undertaking of 
immense difficulty and labour. To fell a tree with no other instruments 
than hatchets of stone, was employment for a month. | To form a canoe 
into shape, and to hollow it, consumed years ; and it frequently began to 
rot before they were able to finish it.§ Their operations in agriculture 
were equally slow and defective. In a country covered with woods of 
the hardest timber, the clearing of a small field destined for culture 
required the united efforts of a tribe, and was a work of much time and 
great toil. This was the business of the men, and their indolence Avas 
satisfied with performing it in a very slovenly manner. The labour of 
cultivation was left to the women, who, after digging, or rather stirring the 

* Nonv. Otcouveite par Hennepin, p. 192. K.-ilm, i. 207. t Buffon Hist. Nat. ix. 85. Hist. 
Pliilos. et Polit. ties Elahlissem. dus Europ. dans \Qi <ln\\ InilfiB, vi. 3*1 1 Gumilla, iii. in&< 

^ Borde Eclat, dcs Carailics, p. 2i. 



AMERICA. 161 

field, ^vilh ^vooden mattocks, and stakes Iiardened in the tire, sowed or 
planted it ; but they were more indebted for the increase to the fertility of 
the soil than to their own rude industry.* 

Agriculture, even when the strength of man is seconded by that of the 
animals which he has subjected to the yoke, and his power augmented by the 
use of the various instruments with which the discovery of metals has fur- 
nished him, is still a work of ^reat labour ; and it is with the sweat of his brow 
that he renders the earth tertile. It is not wonderful, then, that people 
destitute of both these advantages should have made so little progress in 
cultivation, that they must be considered as depending for subsistence on 
fishing and hunting, rather than on the fruits of their own labour. 

From this description of the mode of subsisting among the rude American 
tribes, the form and genius of their political institutions may be deduced, 
and we are enabled to trace various circumstances of distinction between 
them and more civilized nations. 

1. They were divided into small independent communities. While 
hunting is the chief source of subsistence, a vast extent of territory is 
requisite for supporting a small number of people. In proportion as men 
multiply and unite, the wild animals on which they depend lor food 
diminish, or fly at a greater distance from the haunts of their enemy. The 
increase of a society in this state is limited by its own nature, and the 
members of it must either disperse, like the game which they pursue, or 
fall upon some better method of procuring food than by hunting. " Beasts 
of prey are by nature solitary and unsocial, they go not forth to the chase 
in herds, but delight in those recesses of the forest where they can roam 
and destroy undisturbed. A nation of hunters resembles them both in 
occupation and in genius. They cannot form into large communities, be- 
cause it would be impossible to find subsistence ; and they must drive to 
a distance every rival who may encroach on those domains, which they 
consider as their own. This was the state of all the American tribes ; the 
numbers in each were inconsiderable, though scattered over countries ot 
great extent ; they were far removed from one another, and engaged in 
perpetual hostilities or rivalship.t In America, the word nation is not of 
the same import as in other parts of the globe. It is applied to small 
societies, not exceeding, perhaps, two or three hundred persons, but occu- 
jvying provinces, greater than some kingdoms in Europe. The country ot 
Guiana, though of larger extent than the kingdom of France, and divided 
among a greater number of nations, did not contain above twenty-five 
thousand inhabitants.| In the provinces which border on the Orinoco, one 
may travel several hundred miles in different directions, without finding a 
single hut, or observing the footsteps of a human creature. § In North 
America, where the climate is more rigorous, and the soil less fertile, the 
desolation is still greater. There, journeys of some hundred leagues liave 
))een made through uninhabited plains and forests!! [60]. As long as 
Iiunting continues to be the chief employment of man, to which he trusts 
lor subsistence, he can hardly be said to have occupied the eartli [61]. 

2. Nations which depend upon hunting are in a great measure strangers 
lo the idea of property. As the animals on which the hunter feeds are not 
bred under his inspection, nor nourished by his care, he can claim no right 
to them while they run wild in the forest. Where game is so plentiful 
that it maybe catched with little trouble, men never dream of appropriating 
what is of small value, or of easy acquisition. Where it is so rare, that the 
labour or danger of the chase requires the united efforts of a tribe, or village, 
what is killed is a common stock belonging equally to all, who, by their 

• GuiTiina, iii. Ififi, &c. Lftlr. Edif. xii. 10. t I.ozann Dcscrip. del (Vrnn Chaco, 50. f>2. 

Fernandez Relac. Hist, de los Cheyuit. Wi. t Voyngts de Marcliais, iv. S.'iX $ Guinllla, 

ii. 101. II M. Fabry, quoted by Buflbn. iii. 4-<8. Lafitaii, ii. 179. Hofsii. Travels tlirmiRh 

Louisiana,!. HI. 
Vol. I,— 21 



162 JJISTOK^ <JF [UoukU. 

skill or their courage, have contrihuted to the success of the excursion. 
The forest or hunting-grounds are deemed the property of the tribe, from 
which it has a title to exclude every rival nation. But no individual arro- 
gates a right to any district of these in pret'erence to his tellow-citizens. 
I'hey belong alike to all ; and thither, as to a general and undivided store, 
all repair in quest of sustenance. The same principles by which they 
regulate their chief occupation extend to that which is subordinate. Even 
agriculture has not introduced among them a complete idea of property. 
As the men hunt, the women labour together, and after they have shared the 
toils of the seed time, they enjoy the harvest in common.* Among some 
tribes, the increase of their cultivated lands is deposited in a public gra- 
nary, and divided among them at stated times, according to their wantsj [62]. 
Among others, though they lay up separate stores, they do not acquire 
such an exclusive right of property, that they can enjoy superfluity while 
those around them suffer want.J Thus the distinctions arising from the 
inequality of possessions are unknown. The terms rich or poor enter not 
into their language ; and being strangers to property, they are unacquainted 
with what is the great object of laws and policy, as well as the chief motive 
which induced mankind, to establish the various arrangements of regular 
government.§ 

3. People in this state retain a high sense of equality and independence. 
Wherever the idea of property is not established, there can be no distinc- 
tion among men but what arises from personal qualities. These can be 
conspicuous only on such occasions as call them forth into exertion. In times 
of danger, or in affairs of intricacy, the wisdom and experience of age are 
consulted, and prescribe the measures which ought to be pursued. When 
a tribe of savages takes the field against the enemies of their country, the 
warrior of most approved courage leads the youth to the combat. || If they 
go forth in a body to the chase, the most expert and adventurous hunter is 
foremost, and directs their motions. But during seasons of tranquillity and 
inaction, when there is no occasion to display those talents, all pre-eminence 
ceases. Every circumstance indicates that all the members of the commu- 
nity are on a level. They are clothed in the same simple garb. They feed 
on the same plain fare. Their houses and furniture are exactly similar. 
No distinction can arise from the inequality of possessions. Whatever forms 
dependence on one part, or constitutes superiority on the other, is unknown. 
All are freemen, all feel themselves to be such, and assert with firmness the 
rights which belong to that condition.^ This sentiment of independence 
is imprinted so deeply in their nature that no change of condition can era- 
dicate it, and bend their minds to servitude. Accustomed to be absolute 
masters of their own conduct, they disdain to execute the orders of another ; 
and having never known control, they will not submit to correction. [68] 
Many of the Americans, when they found that they were treated as slaves 
by the Spaniards, died of grief; many destroyed themselves in despair.** 

4. Among people in this state, government can assume little authority, 
and the sense of civil subordination must remain very imperfect. While 
the idea of property is unknown, or incompletely conceived ; while the 
spontaneous productions of the earth, as well as the fruits of industry, are 
considered as belonging to the public stock, there can hardly be any such 
subject of difference or discussion among the members of the same commu- 
nity, as will require the hand of authority to interpose in order to adjust it. 
Where the right of separate and exclusive possession is not introduced, the 

* Dr. Purgiison's Essay, 125. t Gumilla, i. 265. Bricknll, Iliat. of N. Carol. 327. J Deny'-; 
Hist. Natur. ii. 392, '.lOS. « P. Martyr, Decad. p. 45. Vent!!. Hisi. of Californ. i. GG. Lery, 
Navig. in Brazil, c. 17. || Acosta Hist. lib. vi. r. til. Ptadiiis Hist. Hrazil, lib. ii. c 13. De 

Bry, lii. p. 110. Biet, 3(i1. IT Labat, vi. 124. Brickcli. Hist, of Carol. 310. ** OviPdo, 
lib. iii. c. 6. p.m. Viga Co.iquist. di' la Florida, i. 30. ii. 4lfi. Labat, ii. irif*. Bcnzo. Hist. Nov. 
Orb. lilt, iv . r.. aS. 



AMERICA, iCo 

greal object ol" law and jurisdiction docs not exist. When the ineuibcrs of 
a tribe are called into the field, either to invade the territories of their ene- 
mies, or to repel their attacks ; when they are engaged together in the 
toil and dangers of the chase, they then perceive tliat they are part of a 
political body. They are conscious of their own connexion with the com- 
panions in conjunction with whom they act ; and they follow and reverence 
such as excel m conduct and valour. But during the intervals between such 
common efforts they seem scarcely to feel the ties of political union* [64j. 
No visible form of government is established. The names of magis- 
xrate and subject are not in use. Every one seems to enjoy )iis natural 
independence almost entire. If a scheme of public utility be proposed. 
the members of the community are left at liberty to choose whether they 
■will or will not assist in carrying it into execution. No statute imposes 
any service as a duty, no compulsory laws oblige them to perform it. All 
their resolutions are voluntary, and flow from the impulse of their own 
minds.j The first step towards establishing a public jurisdiction has not 
been taken in those rude societies. The right of revenge is left in private 
liands.| If violence is committed, or blood is shed, the community does 
not assume the power either of inflicting or of moderating the punishment. 
It belongs to the family and friends of the person injured or slain to avenge 
the wrong, or to accept of the reparation offered by the aggressor. If the 
elders interpose, it is to advise, not to decide, and it is seldom their counsels 
are listened to ; for, as it is deemed pusillanimous to suft'er an offender to 
escape with impunity, resentment is implacable and everlasting. § The 
object of government among savages is rather foreign than domestic. 
They do not aim at maintaining interior order and police by public regula- 
tions, or the exertions of any permanent authority, but labour to preserve 
such union among the members of their tribe, that they may watch the 
motions of their enemies, and act against them with concert and vigour. 

Such was the form of political order established among the greater part 
of the American nations. In this state were almost all the tribes spread 
over the provinces extending eastward of the Mississippi, from the mouth 
of the St. Lawrence to the confines of Florida. In a similar condition were 
the people of Brazil, the inhabitants of Chili, several tribes in Paragua 
and Guiana, and in the countries which stretch from the mouth of the 
Orinoco to the peninsula of Yucatan. Among such an infinite number of 
petty associations, there may be peculiarities which constitute a distinction, 
and mark the various degrees of their civilization and improvement. But 
an attempt to trace and enumerate these would be vain, as they have not 
been observed by persons capable of discerning the minute and delicate 
circumstances which serve to discriminate nations resembling one anotheir 
in their general character and features. The description which I have 
given of the political institutions that took place among those rude tribes 
in America, concerning which we have received most complete informa- 
tion, will apply, with little variation, to every people, botli in its northern 
and southern division, who have advanced no further in civilization than to 
add some slender degree of agriculture to fishing and hunting. 

Imperfect as those institutions may appear, several tribes were not so 
far advanced in their political progress. Among all those petty nations 
which trusted for subsistence entirely to fishing and hunting ^yithout anr 
species of cultivation, the union was so incomplete, and their sense of 
mutual dependence so feeble, that hardljy^ any appearance of government 
01 order can be discerned in their proceedmgs. Their wants are few, their 
objects of pursuit simple, they form into separate tribes, and act together, froj;^ 

* Lozano Pi scr. del Gran. Cliaco, 93. Melendez Teforos Verdnderos, ii. 23. t Chnrlev. Hist. 
X. France, iii. 2ti0 2(i8. t Herrera, dec. 8. lib. iv. c. 8. $ Charlev. Hist. N. France, iU. 27ir 
272. Lafit. i. iM. C^wssitii, Hist. »le Nucvo Beyno d^ Granada, 22«> 



164 11 l.STOKY OF [BookIW 

instinct, habit, or coiiveniency, rather than from any formal concert and 
association. To this class belong the Californians, several of the small 
nations in the extensive country of Paragua, some of the people on the 
banks of the Orinoco, and on the river St. Magdalene, in the new kingdom 
of Granada.* 

But though among these last mentioned tribes there was hardly any 
shadow of regular government, and even among those which I first 
described its authority is slender and confined within narrow bounds, there 
were, however, some places in America where government was carried far 
beyond the degree of perfection which seems natural to rude nations. In 
surveying the political operations of man, either in his savage or civilized 
.state, we discover singular and eccentric institutions, which start as it 
were from their station, and fly off so wide, that we labour in vain to 
bring them within the general laws of any system, or to account for them 
by tnose principles which influence other communities in a similar situa- 
tion. Some instances of this occur among those people of America whom 
I have included under the common denomination ot savage. These are 
so curious and important that I shall describe them, and attempt to explain 
their origin. 

In the New World, as well as in other parts of the globe, cold or 
temperate countries appear to be the favourite seat of freedom and 
independence. There the mind, like the body, is firm and vigorous. 
There men, conscious of their own dignity, and capable of the greatest 
efforts in asserting it, aspire to independence, and their stubborn spirits 
stoop with reluctance to the yoke of servitude. In warmer climates, by 
Avhose influence the whole frame is so much enervated that present pleasure 
is the supreme felicity, and mere repose is enjoyment, men acquiesce, 
almost without a struggle, in the dominion of a superior. Accordingly, 
if we proceed from north to south along the continent of America, we shall 
find the power of those vested Avith authority gradually increasing, and 
the spirit of the people becoming more tame and passive. In Florida, the 




prerogativ* 

reverence which people accustomed tosubjectfon pay to a master.! 

Among the Natchez, a powerful tribe now extinct, formerly situated on 
the banks of the Mississippi, a difference of rank took place, with which 
the northern tribes were altogether unacquainted. Some families were 
reputed noble, and enjoyed hereditary dignity. The body of the people 
Avas considered as vile, and formed only for subjection. This distinction 
was marked by appellations Avhich intimated the high elevation of the 
one state, and the ignominious depression of the other. The former were 
called Respectable ; the latter, the Stinkards. The great Chief, in whom 
the supreme authority was vested, is reputed to be a being of superior 
nature, the brother ot the sun, the sole object of their worship. They 
approach this great Chief with religious veneration, and honour him as the 
representative of their deity. His will is a laAv, to which all submit with 
implicit obedience. The lives of his subjects are so absolutely at his dis- 
posal, that if any one has incurred his displeasure, the offender comes with 
profound humility and offers him his head. Nor does the dominion of the 
Chiefs end with their lives ; their principal officers, their favourite wives, 
together with many domestics of inferior rank, are sacrificed at their tombs, 
that they may be attended in the next world by the same persons who 
served them in this ; and such is the reverence in which they are held, 

* Venegaa, i. 63. Lettr. Edif. ii. 176. Teclio Hist, of Parag. Churchill, vi. 73. Hist. Gen. dos 
Vovafies, xiv. 74. t Cardenas y Cano Eiisayo Chronol. i la Hist, de Florida, p. 46. Le Moyne 
fie Morsucs Icoiiw Florida?, ap.rie Brv, p. 1. 4, &c. Charlsv. Hist. N. Frauce, iii. 467, 46(^. 



A M E R I C A. 165 

that those victims welcome death with exultation, deemino- it a recompense 
of their fidelity and a mark of distinction to be selected to accompany 
their deceased master.* Thus a perfect despotism, with its full train of 
superstition, arrogance, and cruelty, is established among the Natchez, and, 
by a singular fatality, that people has tasted of the worst calamities incident 
to polished nations, though they themselves are not far advanced beyond 
the tribes around them in civility and improvement. In Hispaniola, Cuba, 
and the lai^er islands, their caziques or chiefs possessed extensive power. 
The dignity was transmitted by hereditary right from father to son. Its 
honours and prerogatives were considerable. Their subjects paid great 
respect to the caziques, and executed their orders without hesitation or 
reserve.! They were distinguished by peculiar ornaments, and in order 
to preserve or augment the veneration of the people, they had the address 
to call in the aid of superstition to uphold their authority. They delivered 
their mandates as the oracles of heaven, and pretended to possess the 
power of regulating the seasons, and of dispensing rain or sunshine, ac- 
cording as their subjects stood in need of them. 

In some parts of the southern continent, the power of the caziques seems 
to have been as extensive as in the isles. In Bogota, which is now a pro- 
vince of the new kingdom of Granada, there was settled a nation more 
considerable in number, and more improved in the various arts of life, than 
any in America, except the Mexicans and Peruvians. The people of 
Bogota subsisted chiefly by agriculture. The idea of property was 
introduced among them, and its rights, secured by laws, handed down by 
tradition, and observed with great care.J They lived in towns which may 
be termed lai^e when compared with those in other parts of America. 
They were clothed in a decent manner, and their houses may be termed 
commodious when compared with those of the small tribes around them. 
The effects of this uncommon civilization were conspicuous. Government 
had assumed a regular form. A jurisdiction was established, which took 
cognizance of different crimes, and punished them with rigour. A distinction 
of ranks was known ; their chief, to whom the Spaniards gave the title of 
monarch, and who merited that name on account of his splendour as well as 
power, reigned with absolute authority. He was attended by officers of 
various conditions ; he never appeared in public without a numerous 
retinue ; he was carried in a sort of palanquin with much pomp, and har- 
bingers went before him to sweep the road and strew it with flowers. This 
uncommon pomp was supported by presents or taxes received from his 
subjects, to whom their prince was such an object of veneration that 
none of them presumed to look him directly in the face, or ever approached 
him but with an averted countenance.§ There were other tribes on the 
same continent, among which, though far less advanced than the people 
of Bogota in their progress towards refinement, the freedom and inde- 
pendence natural to man in his savage state was much abridged, and their 
caziques had assumed extensive authoritj'. 

It is not easy to point out the circumstances, or to discover the causes 
which contributed to introduce and establish among each of those people a 
form of government so different from that of the tribes around them, and 
so repugnant to the genius of rude nations. If the pei*sons who had an 
opportunity of observing them in their original stale had been more atten- 
tive and more discerning, we might have received information from their 
conquerors sufficient to guide us in this inquiry. If the transactions of 
people unacquainted with the use of letters were not involved in impene- 
trable obscurity, we might have derived some information from this 

♦ Dumont Memoir. Hist sur Lnuisianc, i, 175. Cliarlcv. Jlist. N. France, iii. 419, Sec. Lettr. 
Edif. 30. 106. 111. t Jlerrera, dec. 1. lib. i. c. 16. lib. iii. c. 44. p. 88. Life of Columbus, cli. :«. 
\ Picdrahita Hist, de las Conquist. del Ucyno de Granada, p. 40. <■, Horrcra, dec. 6. Iii). i. c. 2. 

iib. T. c- 5C). ri'^drahita, c. 5, p. 2."). &c. Gomrtrn, Hint. c. ";'.'. 



lo6 HISTORY OF [Book IV. 

domestic source. But as nothing satisfactory can be gathered either from 
the accounts of the Spaniards, or from their own traditions, we must have 
recourse to conjectures in order to explain the irregular appearances in the 
political state of the people whom I have mentioned. As all those tribes 
which had lost their native liberty and independence were seated in the 
torrid zone, or in countries approaching to it, the climate may be supposed 
to have had some influence in forming their minds to that servitude which 
seems to be the destiny of man in those regions of the globe. But though 
the influence of climate, more powerful than that of any other natural 
cause, is not to be overlooked, that alone cannot be admitted as a solution 
of the point in question. The operations of men are so complex that we 
irmst not attribute the form which they assume to the force of a single 
principle or cause. Although despotism be confined in America to the 
torrid zone, and to the warm regions bordering upon it, 1 have already 
observed that these countries contain various tribes, some of which possess 
a high degree of freedom, and others are altogether unacquainted with the 
restraints of government. The indolence and timidity peculiar to the 
inhabitants of the islands, render them so incapable of the sentiments or 
efforts necessary for maintaining independence, that there is no occasion to 
search for any other cause of their tame submission to the will of a supe- 
rior. The subjection of the Natchez, and of the people of Bogota, seems 
to have been the consequence of a difference in their state from that of the 
other Americans. They were settled nations, residing constantly in one 
place. Hunting was not the chief occupation of the former, and the latter 
seem hardly to have trusted to it for any part of their subsistence. Both 
had made such progress in agriculture and arts that the idea of property 
>vas introduced in some degree in the one community, and fully estabhshed 
in the other. Among people in this state, avarice and ambition have 
acquired objects, and have begun to exert their power ; views of interest 
allure the selfish ; the desire of pre-eminence excites the enterprising ; 
dominion is courted by both ; and passions unknown to man in his savage 
state prompt the interested and ambitious to encroach on the rights of their 
fellow-citizens. Motives, with which rude nations are equally unac- 
quainted, induce the people to submit tamely to the usurped authority of 
their superiors. But even among nations in this state, the spirit of subjects 
could not have been rendered so obsequious, or the power of rulers so 
unbounded, without the intervention of superstition. By its fatal influence 
the human mind, in every stage of its progress, is depressed, and its native 
vigour and independence subdued. Whoever can acquire the direction 
of this formidable engine, is secure of dominion over his species. Unfor- 
tunately for the people whose institutions are the subject of inquirj-, this 
power was in the hands of their chiefs. The caziques of the isles could 
l)ut what responses they pleased into the mouths of their Cemis or gods ; 
and it was by their interposition, and in their name, that they imposed any 
tribute or burden on their people.* The same power and prerogative was 
exercised by the great chief of the Natchez, as the principal minister as 
well as the reiiresentative of the Sun, their deity. The respect Avhich 
the people of Bogota paid to their monarchs was likewise inspired by 
religion, and the heir apparent of the kingdom Avas educated in the inner- 
most recess of their principal temple, under such austere discipline, and 
with such peculiar rites, as tended to till his subjects with high sentiments 
concerning the sanctify of his character and the dignity of his station,! 
Tnus superstition, which in the rudest period of society, is either altogether 
unknown, or wastes its force in childish unmeaning practices, had acquired 
such an ascendant over those people of America, who had made some little 
progress towards refinement, that it became the chief instrument of bending 

* Ifrrrera. S<^c. 1 lib. jii. c. ^. " riedrnbita, p r~ 



AMERICA. 167 

their minds to an untimely servitude, and subjected them, in the beginning; 
of their poHtical career, to a despotism hardly less rigorous than that which 
awaits nations in the last stage of their corruption and decline. 

V. After examining the political institutions of the rude nations in 
America, the next object of attention is their art of war, or their provision 
for public security and defence. The small tribes dispersed over America 
are not only independent and unconnected, but engaged in perpetual 
hostilities with one another.* Though mostly strangers to the idea of 
separate property, vested in any individual, the rudest of the American 
nations are well acquainted with the rights of each community to its own 
domains. This right they hold to be perfect and exclusive, entitling the 
possessor to oppose the encroachment of neighbouring tribes. As it is of 
the utmost consequence to prevent them from destroying or disturbing the 
game in their hunting grounds, they guard this national property with a 
jealous attention. But as their territories are extensive, and the boundaries 
of them not exactly ascertained, innumerable subjects of dispute arise, 
which seldom terminate without bloodshed. Even in this simple and 
primitive state of society, interest is a source of discord, and often prompts 
savage tribes to take arms in order to repel or punish such as encroach on 
the forests or plains to which they trust for subsistence. 

But interest is not either the most frequent or the most powerful motive 
of the incessant hostilities among rude nations. These must be imputed to 
the passion of revenge, which rages with such violence in the breast of 
savages, that eagerness to gratify it may be considered as the distinguishing 
characteristic of men in their uncivilized state. Circumstances of powerful 
influence, both in the interior government of rude tribes, and in their 
external operations against foreign enemies, concur in cherishing and adding 
strength to a passion fatal to the general tranquillity. When the right of 
redressing his own wrongs is left in the hands of every individual, injuries 
are felt with exquisite sensibility, and vengeance exercised with unrelenting 
rancour. No time can obliterate the memory of an offence, and it is seldom 
that it can be expiated but by the blood of the offender. In carrying on 
their public wars, savage nations are influenced by the same ideas, and 
animated with the same spirit, as in prosecuting private vengeance. In 
small communities, every man is touched with the injury or affront offered 
to the body of which he is a member, as if it were a personal attack upon 
his own honour or safety. The desire of revenge is communicated from 
breast to breast, and soon kindles into rage. As feeble societies can take 
the field only in small parties, each warrior is conscious of the importance 
of his own arm, and feels that to it is committed a considerable portion of 
the public vengeance. War, which between extensive kingdoms is carried 
on with little animosity, is prosecuted by small tribes with all the rancour 
of a private quarrel. The resentment of nations is as implacable as that 
of individuals. It may be dissembled or suppressed, but is never extin- 
guished ; and often, when least expected or dreaded, it bursts out with 
redoubled fuij.t When polished nations have obtained the glory of victory, 
or have acquired an addition of territory, they may terminate a war with 
honour. But savages are not satisfied until they extirpate the community 
which is the object of their hatred. They fight, not to conquer, but to 
destroy. If they engage in hostilities, it is with a resolution never to see 
the face of the enemy in peace, but to prosecute the quarrel with immortal 
enmity .| The desire of vengeance is the first and almost the only principle 
which a savage instils into the minds of his children. § This grows up 

* Ribas Hist, dft los Triumph, p. 9. t Boiiclipr Hist. Nat. do N. Franro, p. 93. Cliarlov. 

Hisl. de N. Franre, iii. 21.5. 2.">1. Lprvap.de Krv, iii.'i()4. Creux. Hist. Caiiad. p. 72. Lozjino 
Descr. del Gran (^haro, 'iV Ilrnnpp. Mmirs des .Sanv, 10. t Cliarkv. flist. N. Fr. iii. a'll. 

f^.ldeii. i. 108. ii. 12fi. I'.arrprp, p. 170. ITJ. <\ Chailov. lllsr. N. Vr. iii. •.««. I.c-ry ap. <i<-. 

Brv, iii. 030. Lozario Hisf. lif I'ars^. i. MI. 



I6!i H I S T O R Y O F [Book IV . 

with him as he advances m life ; and as his attention is directed to few 
objects, it requires a degree of force unknown among men whose passions 
are dissipated and weakened by the variety of their occupations and 
pursuits. The desire of vengeance, which takes possession of the heart of 
savages, resembles the instinctive rage of an animal rather than the passion 
of a man. It turns, with undiscerning fury, even against inanimate objects. 
If hurt accidentally by a stone, they often seize it in a transport of anger, 
and endeavour to wreak their vengeance upon it.* If struck with an 
arrow in a battle, they will tear it from the wound, break and bite it with 
their teeth, and dash it on the ground.! With respect to their enemies 
the rage of vengeance knows no bounds. When under the dominion of 
this passion, man becomes the most cruel of all animals. He neither pities, 
nor forgives, nor spares. 

The force of this passion is so well understood by the Americans them- 
selves, that they always apply to it in order to excite their people to take 
arms. If the elders of any tribe attempt to rouse their youth from sloth, if 
a chief wishes to allure a band of warriors to follow him in invading an 
enemy's country, the most persuasive topics of their martial eloquence are 
drawn from revenge. " The bones ot our countrymen," say they, " lie 
uncovered ; their Woody bed has not been washed clean. Their spirits cry 
against us ; they must be appeased. Let us go and devour the people by 
whom they were slain. Sit no longer inactive upon j'our mats ; lift the 
hatchet, console the spirits of the dead, and tell them that they shall be 
avenged."! 

Anmiated with such exhortations, the youth snatch their arms in a trans- 
port of fury, raise the song of war, and burn with impatience to imbrue 
their hands in the blood of their enemies. Private chiefs often assemble 
small parties and invade a hostile tribe without consulting the rulers of the 
community. A single warrior, prompted by caprice or revenge, will take 
the field alone, and march several hundred miles to surprise and cut ofif a 
straggling enemy [65]. The exploits of a noted warrior, in such solitary 
excursions, often form the chief part in the histoiy of an American cam- 
paign [66] ; and their elders connive at such irregular sallies, as they tend 
to cherish a martial spirit, and accustom their people to enterprise and 
danger.^ But when a war is national, and undertaken by public authority, 
the deliberations are formal and slow. The elders assemble, they deliver 
their opinions in solemn speeches, they Aveigh with maturity the nature of 
the enterprise, and balance its beneficial or disadvantageous consequences 
with no inconsiderable portion of political discernment or sagacity. Their 
priests and soothsayers are consulted, and sometimes they ask the advice 
even of their women. || If the determination be for war, they prepare for 
it with much ceremony. A leader offers to conduct the expedition, and is 
accepted. But no man is constrained to tbllow him ; the resolution of the 
community to commence hostilities imposes no obligation upon any member 
to take part in the war. Each individual is still master of his own conduct, 
and his engagement in the service is perfectly voluntary. IT 

The maxims by which they regulate their military operations, though 
extremely different from those which take place among more civilized and 
populous nations, are well suited to their own political state, and the nature 
of the country in which they act. They never take the field in numerous 
bodies, as it would require a greater effort of foresight and industry than is 
usual among savages, to provide for their subsistence during a march of 
sorne hundred miles through dreary forests, or during a long voyage upon 
their lakes and rivers. Their armies are not encumbered with baggage or 

* Lery ap. dejlry, iii. 190 f Fhirt. iii. 208. Ilerrera, dec. i. lib. vi. c. 8. t Charlev. 

Mist. N.Fr iii. 210, 217. Lery ap. de Bry, iii. 204. $ Bossn, i. 140. Lery ap. de Bry, 215. 

}l(iinepin Mrpursd<sSaiiv.41. Lafilau, ii. 109. II Charlf-v. Hist. N. Fr. 215.8fi)?. Bjpt. 3fir. 
■J-jO V f.'har!e%'. Hist. N. Fr. 217, 2!''. 



AMERICA. 169 

military stores. Each warrior, besides his arms, cairies a mat and a small 
bag of pounded maize, and with these is completely equipped for any 
service. While at a distance from the enemy's frontier, they disperse 
through the woods, and support themselves with the game which they kill, 
or the fish which they catch. As they approach nearer to the territories of 
the nation which they intend to attack, they collect their troops, and 
advance with greater caution. Even in their hottest and most active wars 
they proceed wholly by stratagem and ambuscade. They place not their 
glory in attacking their enemies with open force. To surprise and destroy 
is the greatest merit of a commander, and the highest pride of his followers. 
War and hunting are their only occupations, and they conduct both with 
the same spirit and the same arts. They follow the track of their enemies 
through the tbrest. They endeavour to discover their haunts, they lurk in 
some thicket near to these, and, with the patience of a sportsman lying in 
wait for game, will continue in their station day after day until they can 
rush upon their prey when most secure, and least able to resist them. It 
they meet no straggling party of the enemy, they advance towards their 
villages, but with such solicitude to conceal their own approach, that they 
often creep on their hands and feet through the woods, and paint their skins 
of the same colour with the withered leaves, in order to avoid detection.* 
If so fortunate as to remain unobserved, they set on fire the enemies' huts 
in the dead of night, and massacre the inhabitants as they fly naked and 
defenceless from the flames. If they hope to effect a retreat without being 
pursued, they carry ofi" some prisoners, whom they reserve for a more 
dreadful fate. But if, notwithstanding all their address and precautions, 
they find that their motions are discovered, that the enemy has taken the 
alarm, and is prepared to oppose them, they usually deem it most prudent 
to retire. They regard it as extreme folly to meet an enemy who is on 
his guard, upon equal terms, or to give battle in an open field. The most 
distinguished success is a disgrace to a leader if it has been purchased 
with any considerable loss of his followers [67], and they never boast of a 
victory if stained with the blood of their own countrymen.! To fall in 
battle, instead of being reckoned an honourable death, is a misfortune 
which subjects the memory of a warrior to the imputation of rashness or 
imprudencej [6fi]. 

This sy^stem of war was universal in America ; and the small uncivilized 
tribes, dispersed through all its different regions and climates, display 
more craft than boldness in carrying on their hostilities. Struck with this 
conduct, so opposite to the ideas and maxims of Europeans, several 
authors contend that it flows from a feeble and dastardly spirit peculiar to 
the Americans, which is incapable of any generous or manly exertion.§ 
But when we reflect that many of these tribes, on occasions which call 
for extraordinary efforts, not only defend themselves with obstinate resolu- 
tion, but attack their enemies with the most daring courage, and that they 
possess fortitude of mind superior to the sense of danger or the fear of 
death, we must ascribe their habitual caution to some other cause than 
constitutional timidity.ll The number of men in each tribe is so small, 
the difficulty of rearing new members amidst the hardships and dangers 
of savage life is so great, that the life of a citizen is extremely precious, 
and the preservation of it becomes a capital object in their policy. Had 
the point of honour been the same among the feeble American tribes as 
among the powerful nations of Europe, had they been taught to court fame 
or victory in contempt of danger and death, they must have been ruined 
by maxims so ill aaapted to their condition. But wherever their com- 

• Charlev. Hist. N. Fr. iil. 237, 2^8. Hennep. Mtpiirs dos Hauv. p. 59 t Charlev. Hist, 

N. Fr. iii. 238. 307. Biet, 381. Latitaii Moeurs des San v. ii. *18, t Cliailev. iii. 3T6. 

ft Recherchfs Philos. sur les Amiric. i. 115. Voyaje de Mnrch. iv, 410 |! i.ntitau Mgr-nrs des 

Saiiv. ii. 248, 249. Charlev. N. Fr. iii. 307. 
Vor,. I.— '2'2 



no HISTORY OF [Book IV. 

munities are more populous, so that they can act with considerable force, 
and can sustain the loss of several of their members without being sensibly 
weakened, the military operations of the Americans more nearly resemble 
those of other nations. The Brazilians, as well as the tribes situated upon 
the banks of the river De la Plata, often take the field in such numerous 
bodies as deserve the name of armies.* They defy their enemies to the 
combat, engage in regular battles, and maintain the conflict with that 
desperate ferocity which is natural to men who, having no idea of war 
but that of exterminating their enemies, never give or take quarter [69]. 
In the powerful empires of Mexico and Peru, great armies were assembled, 
frequent battles were fought, and the theory as well as practice of war 
were different from what took place in those petty societies which assume 
the name of nations. 

But though vigilance and attention are the qualities chiefly requisite 
where the object of war is to deceive and to surprise ; and though the 
Americans, when acting singly, display an amazing degree of address in 
concealing their own motions, and discovering those of an enemy, yet it 
is remarkable that, when tiiey take the field in parties, they can seldom 
be brought to observe the precautions most essential to their own security. 
>Such is the difficulty of accustoming savages to subordination, or to act in 
concert ; such is their impatience under restraint, and such their caprice 
and presumption, that it is rarely they can be brought to conform themselves 
to the counsels and directions of their leaders. They never station sen- 
tinels around the place where they rest at night, and after marching some 
hundred miles to surprise an enemy, are often surprised themselves, and 
cut off, while sunk in as profound sleep as if they were not within reach 
of danger.! 

It, notwithstanding this negligence and security, which often frustrate 
their most artful schemes, they catch the enemy unprepared, they rush 
upon theni with the utmost ferocity, and tearing off the scalps of all those 
who fall victims to their rage [70], they carry home those strange trophies 
in triumph. These they preserve as monuments, not only of their own 
prowess, but of the vengeance which their arm has inflicted upon the 
people who were objects of public resentment.J They are still more 
solicitous to seize prisoners. During their retreat, if they hope to effect it 
unmolested, the prisoners are commonly exempt from any insult, and 
treated with some degree of humanity, though guarded with the most 
strict attention. 

But after this temporary suspension, the rage of the conquerors rekindles 
with new fury. As soon as they approach their own frontier, some of 
their number are despatched to inform their countiymen with respect to 
the success of the expedition. Then the prisoners begin to feel the 
"wretchedness of their condition. The women of the village, together 
with the youth who have not attained to the age of bearing arms, assemble, 
and fornimg themselves into two lines, through which the prisoners must 
pass, beat and bruise them with sticks or stones in a cruel manner.§ After 
this first gratification of their rage against their enemies, follow lamenta- 
tions for the loss of such of their own countrymen as have fallen in the 
service, accompanied with words and actions which seem to express the 
utmost anguish and grief. But in a moment, upon a signal given, their 
tears cease ; they pass, with a sudden and unaccountable transition, from 
the depths of sorrow to the transports of joy ; and begin to celebrate their 
victory with all the wild exultation of a barbarous triumph. II The fate 
of the prisoners remains still undecided. The old men deliberate con- 
cerning it. Some are destined to be tortured to death, in order to satiate 

* Fabri VprissDeRrrip. India:" ap. do Brv, vii. p. 42. t Cliailev. N. Fr. i:i. 2,10, 2117. Lrttr. 

Kdif. xvii. 308. .xx V.iO. Lafit. Mii-urs, 247. Ual)ontan, ii. 176. t Lalilau Mociirs, ii. a.W. 

^ Lahonlaii, ii. 1P4. |i Charlov. Hist. N. Fr. iii. 2)1. I.afitau Moeiirs, ii. 564. 



AMERICA. 171 

the revenge of the conquerors ; some to replace the members which the 
community has lost in that or former wars. They who are reserved tor 
this milder fate, are led to the huts of those whose friends have been 
killed. The women meet them at the door, and if they receive them, 
their sufferings are at an end. They are adopted into the family, and, 
according to their phrase, are seated upon the mat of the deceased. They 
assume his name, they hold the same rank, and are treated thenceforward 
with all the tenderness due to a father, a brother, a husband, or a Iriend. 
But, if either from caprice or an unrelenting desire of revenge, the women 
of any family refuse to accept of the prisoner who is offered to them, his 
doom is fixed. No power can then save him from torture and death. 

While their lot is in suspense, the prisoners themselves appear altogether 
unconcerned about what may befall them. They talk, they eat, they 
sleep, as if they were perfectly at ease, and no danger impending. When 
the fatal sentence is intimated to them, they receive it vvith an unaltered 
countenance, raise their death song, and prepare to suffer like men. Their 
conquerors assemble as to a solemn festival, resolved to put the fortitude 
of the captive to the utmost proof. A scene ensues, the bare description 
of which is enough to chill the heart with horror, wherever men have been 
accustomed, by milder institutions, to respect their species, and to melt 
into tenderness at the sight of human sufferings. The prisoners are tied 
naked to a stake, but so as to be at liberty to move round it. All who 
are present, men, women, and children, rush upon them like furies. Every 
species of torture is applied that the rancour of revenge can invent. Some 
burn their limbs with redhot irons, some mangle their bodies with knives, 
others tear their flesh from their bones, pluck out their nails by the roots, 
and rend and twist their sinews. They vie with one another in refinements 
of torture. Nothing sets bounds to their rage but the dread of abridging 
the duration of their vengeance by hastening the death of the sufferers ; 
and such is their cruel mgenuity in tormenting, that, by avoiding indus- 
triously to hurt any vital part, they often prolong this scene of anguish for 
several days. In spite of all that they suffer, the victims continue to chant 
their death song with a firm voice, they boast of their own exploits, they 
insult their tormentors for their want of'^skill in avenging their friends and 
relations, they warn them of the vengeance which awaits them on account 
of what they are now doing, and excite their ferocity l)y the most pro- 
voking reproaches and threats. To display undaunted fortitude, in such 
dreadful situations, is the noblest triumph of a warrior. To avoid the 
trial by a voluntary death, or to shrink under it, is deemed infamous and 
cowardly. If any one betray symptoms of timidity, his tormentors often 
despatch him at once with contempt, as unworthy of being treated like a 
man.* Animated with those ideas, they endure without a groan what it 
seems almost impossible that human nature should sustain. They appear 
to be not only insensible of pain, but to court it. " Forbear, ' said an 
aged chief of the Iroquois, when his insults had provoked one of his tor- 
mentors to wound him with a knife, " forbear these stabs of your knife, 
and rather let me die by fire, that those dogs, your allies, from beyond the 
sea, may learn by my example to suffer like men."t This magnanimity, 
of which there are frequent instances among the American warriors, 
instead of exciting admiration, or calling forth sympathy, exasperates the 
fierce spirits of their torturers to fresh acts of cruelty. J Weaiy, at length 
of contending with men whose constancy of mind they cannot vanquish, 
some chief, in a rage, puts a period to their sufferings, by despatching them 
with hi^ dagger or club.§ 

* De la Pothcrie, ii. 237. iii. 48. t Colden, Hist, of Five Nations, i 200. t Voyages Ae 

Lahoiit, i. 2,jfi. ^ Charley. Hist. N. Fr. iii. 2i:i, &c. 38.5. Latitaii Mreiiis, ii. 2r.5. Creuxij 

Ili9t. Caiiad. p. 711. Hcimep. Mccurs dos Siiuv. p. 64, &c. 1-aliont, i. 2:):{, &c. Tertre, ii. 405. 
l>e la Pothcrie, ii. 22, Ice. 



172 HISTORY OF [Book IV. 

This barbarous scene is often succeeded by one no less shocking. As 
it is impossible to appease the fell spirit of revenge which rages in the 
heart of a savage, this frequently prompts the Americans to devour those 
unhappy persons who have been the victims of their cruelty. In the an- 
cient world, tradition has preserved the memory of barbarous nations of 
cannibals, who fed on human flesh. But in every part of the New World 
there were people to whom this custom was familiar. It prevailed in the 
southern continent,* in several of the islands,! and in various districts of 
North America.J Even in those parts where circumstances with which 
we are unacquainted had in a great measure abolished this practice, it 
seems formerly to have been so well known that it is incorporated into the 
idiom of their language. Among the Iroquois, the phrase by which they 
express their resolution of making war against an enemy is, "Let us go 
and eat that nation." If they solicit the aid of a neighbouring tribe, they 
invite it " to eat broth made of the flesh of their enemies"§ [71]. Nor 
was the practice peculiar to rude unpolished tribes ; the principle from 
^vhich they took rise is so deeply rooted in the minds of the Americans, 
that it subsisted in Mexico, one ot the civilized empires in the New World, 
and relics of it may be discovered among the more mild inhabitants of 
Peru. It was not scarcity of food, as some authors imagine, and the 
importunate cravings of hunger, which forced the Americans to those 
horrid repasts on their fellow-creatures. Human flesh was never used as 
common food in any country, and the various relations concerning people 
who reckoned it among the stated means of subsistence, flow irom the 
credulity and mistakes of travellers. The rancour of revenge first 
prompted men to this barbarous action.il The fiercest tribes devoured 
none but prisoners taken in war, or such as they regarded as enemies [72]. 
Women and children who were not the objects of enmity, if not cut oflf 
in the fury of their first inroad into a hostile country, seldom sufifered by 
the deliberate effects of their revenge. II 

The people of South America gratify their revenge in a manner some- 
what different, but with no less unrelenting rancour. Their prisoners, 
after meeting at their first entrance with the same rough reception as 
among the North Americans,** are not only exempt from injury, but 
treated with the greatest kindness. They are feasted and caressed, and 
some beautiful young women are appointed to attend and solace them. 
It is not easy to account for this part of their conduct, unless we impute 
it to a refinement in cruelty. For, while they seem studious to attach the 
captives to life, by supplying them with every enjoyment that can render 
it agreeable, their doom is irrevocably fixed. On a day appointed the 
victorious tribe assembles, the prisoner is brought forth with great solem- 
nity, he views the preparations for the sacrifice with as much indifference 
as if he himself were not the victim, and meeting; his fate with undaunt- 
ed firmness, is despatched with a single blow. 1 he moment he falls, the 
women seize the body and dress it for the feast. They besmear their 
children with the blood, in order to kindle in their bosoms a hatred of 
their enemies, which is never extinguished, and all join in feeding upon 
the flesh with amazing greediness and exultation.tt To devour the body 
of a slaughtered enemy they deem the most complete and exquisite grati- 
fication of revenge. Wherever this practice prevails, captives never 
escape death, but they are not tortured with the same cruelty as among 
'tribes which are less accustomed to such horrid feasts [73]. 

* Stadius ap. de Bry, iii. 123. Lery, ibid. 210. Biet, 384. Lettr. Edif. xxiii. 341. Piso, 8. 
Condain, 84. 97. Ribas, Hist, de los Triumpli. 473. f Life of Columb. 529. Mart. Dec. p. 18. 
Tertre, ii. 405. t Diiniont. Rtem. i. 2.54. Cliarlev. Hist. N. France, i. 259. ii. 14. iii 21. De la 
rollierie, iii. 50. ij Ctmiiev. Hist. N. Fr. iii. 208, 209. Lettr. Edif. .\xiii. p. 277. De la Pothe- 

»ie, ii. 298. i| Biet, 383. Blanco, Conversion de Piritu, p. 38. Bancroft, Nat. Hist, of Guiana, 
p. 259, &c. V Biet, 382. P.andini, Vita di Anierico, 84. Tertre, 405. Fermin. Descrip. de 
Surin. i. 54. *♦ Stadius ap. df? Bry. iii. 40. J23. t+ ftodiiis :tp. de Bry, iii. 128. &c. lifry 
8p. dcBrj', iii. 210. 



AMERICA. 173 

As the constancy of every American warrior may be put (o such severe 
proof, the great object of military education and discipline in the New 
World is to form the mind to sustain it. When nations carry on war with 
open force, defy their enemies to the combat, and vanquish them by the 
superiority of their skill or courage, soldiers are trained to be active, 
vigorous, and enterprising. But in America, where the genius and maxims 
of war are extremely different, passive fortitude is the quality in highest 
estimation. Accordmgly, it is early the study of the Americans to acquire 
sentiments and habits which will enable them to behave like men when 
their resolution shall be put to the proof. As the youth of other nations 
exercise themselves in feats of activity and force, those of America vie 
with one another in exhibitions of their patience under sufferings. They 
harden their nerves by those voluntary trials, and gradually accustom them- 
selves to endure the sharpest pain without complaining. A boy and girl 
will bind their naked arms together, and place a burning coal between 
them, in order to try who first discovers such impatience as to shake it off.* 
All the trials customary in America, when a youth is admitted into the 
class of warriors, or when a warrior is promoted to the dignity of captain 
or chief, are accommodated to this idea of manliness. They are not dis- 
plays of valour, but of patience ; they are not exhibitions of their ability 
to offend, but of their capacity to suffer. Among the tribes on the banks 
of the Orinoco, if a warrior aspires to the rank of captain, his probation 
begins with a long fast, more rigid than any ever observed by the most 
abstemious hermit. At the close of this the chiefs assemble, each gives 
him three lashes with a large whip, applied so vigorously that his body is 
almost flayed, and if he betrays the least symptoms of impatience or even 
sensibility, he is disgraced lor ever, and rejected as unworthy of the 
honour to which he aspires. After some interval, the constancy of the can- 
didate is proved by a more excruciating trial. He is laid in a hammoc 
with his hands bound fast, and an innumerable multitude of venomous ants, 
whose bite occasions exquisite pain, and produces a violent inflammation, 
are thrown upon him. The judges of his merit stand around the ham- 
moc, and, while these cruel insects fasten upon the most sensible parts 
of his body, a sigh, a groan, an involuntary motion, expressive of what he 
suffers, would exclude him for ever from the rank of captain. Even after 
this evidence of his fortitude, it is not deemed to be completely ascer- 
tained, but must stand another test more dreadful than any he has hitherto 
undergone. He is again suspended in his hammoc, and covered with 
leaves of the palmetto. A fire of stinking herbs is kindled underneath, so 
as he may feel its heat and be involved in its smoke. Though scorched 
and almost suffocated, he must continue to endure with the same patient 
insensibility. Many perish in this rude essay of their firmness and courage, 
but such as go through it with applause, receive the ensigns of their new- 
dignity with much solemnity, and are ever after regarded as leaders of 
approved resolution, whose behaviour in the most trying situations will do 
honour to their country.f In North America the previous trial of a war- 
rior is neither so tbrmal nor so severe. Though even there, before a youth 
is permitted to bear arms, his patience and fortitude are proved by blows, 
by fire, and by insults more intolerable to a haughty spirit than both.J 

The amazing steadiness with which the Americans endure the most 
exquisite torments, has induced some authors to suppose that, from the 
peculiar feebleness of their frame, their sensibility is not so acute as that 
of other people ; as women, and })ersons of a relaxed habit, are observed 
to be less affected with pain than robust men, whose nerves are more 
firmly braced. But the constitution of the Americans is not so different 

• Charlev. Hiat. N. Fr. iii. 307. f Gutnilla, ii. 28R, &c. Diet, 376, ttc. * Charlcv. Hisr. 
N. Fr. iii. 2T9. 



174 HISTORY OF [13ook IV. 

in its texture Irom that of the rest of the human species, as to account for 
this diversity in their behaviour. It flows from a principle of honour, 
instilled early and cultivated with such care, as to inspire man in his rudest 
state with an heroic magnanimity, to which philosophy hath endeavoured 
in vain to form him, when more highly improved and polished. This 
invincible constancy he has been taught to consider as the chief distinction 
of a man, and the highest attainment of a warrior. The ideas which 
influence his conduct, and the passions which take possession of his heart, 
are (ew. They operate of course with more decisive effect than when the 
mind is crowded with a multiplicity of objects, or distracted by the variety 
of its pursuits ; and when every motive that acts with any force in forming 
the sentiments of a savage, prompts him to suffer with dignity, he will bear 
what might seem to be impossible for human patience to sustain. But 
wherever the fortitude of the Americans is not roused to exertion by their 
ideas of honour, their feelings of pain are the same with those of the rest 
of mankind [74]. Nor is that patience under sufferings for which the 
Americans have been so justly celebrated, a universal attainment. The 
constancy of many of the victims is overcome by the agonies of torture. 
Their weakness and lamentations complete the triumph of their enemies, 
and reflect disgrace upon their own countr}'.* 

The perpetual hostilities carried on among the American tribes are pro- 
ductive of veiy fatal effects. Even in seasons of public tranquillity, their 
imperfect industry does not supply them with any superfluous store of 
j)rovisions ; but when the irruption of an enemy desolates their cultivated 
lands, or disturbs them in their hunting excursions, such a calamity reduces 
a community, naturally unprovident and destitute of resources, to extreme 
■want. All the people of the district that is invaded are frequently forced 
to take refuge in woods and mountains, which can afford them little sub- 
sistence, and where many of them perish. Notwithstanding their exces- 
sive caution in conducting their military operations, and the solicitude 
of every leader to preserve the lives of his followers, as the rude tribes in 
America seldom enjoy any interval of peace, the loss of men among them 
is considerable in proportion to the degree of population. Thus famine 
and the sword combine in thinning their numbers. All their communities 
are feeble, and nothing now remains of several nations which were once 
considerable, but the name.f 

Sensible of this continual decay, there are tribes which endeavour to 
recruit their national force when exhausted, by adopting prisoners taken in 
M-ar, and by this expedient prevent their total extinction. The practice, 
however, is not universally received. Resentment operates more power- 
fully among savages than considerations of policy. Far the greater part 
of their captives was anciently sacrificed to their vengeance, and it is only 
since their numbers began to decline fast, that they have generally adopted 
milder maxims. But such as they do naturalize renounce for ever their 
native tribe, and assume the manners as well as passions of the people hj 
whom they are adoptedj so entirely, that they often join them in expedi- 
tions against their own countrymen. Such a sudden transition, and so 
repugnant to one of the most powerful instincts implanted by nature, would 
be deemed strange among many people ; but among the members of small 
communities, where national enmity is violent and deep rooted, it has the 
appearance of being still more unaccountable. It seems, however, to result 
naturally from the principles upon which war is carried on in Arnerica. 
When nations aim at exterminating their enemies, no exchange of prisoners 
can ever take place. From the moment one is made a prisoner, his country 
and his friends consider him as dead [75]. He has incurred indelible 

* riiarlev. Hist. N. Fr. iii. 248. 38j. Dc la Potlieiic, iii. -JR. t Cliarlev Hist. N. Ft. iii. 202, 
C<l3. 429. Gumilla, ii. 227, &;c. J Charlev. Hist. N. Fr. iii. 245, &c. Lalit. ii. 30?. 



AMERICA. 175 

disgrace by suftering himself to be surprised or to be taken by an enemy ; 
and were he to return home, after such a stain upon his honour, his nearest 
relations would not receive or even acknowledge that they knew him.* 
Some tribes were still more rigid, and if a prisoner returned, the infamy 
which he had brought on his country was expiated, by putting him instantly 
to death. t As the unfortunate captive is thus an outcast from his own 
country, and the ties which bound him to it are irreparably broken, he 
feels less reluctance in forming a new connexion with people, who, as an 
evidence of their friendly sentiments, not only deliver him from a cruel 
death, but offer to admit him to all the rights of a fellow-citizen. The 
perfect similarity of manners among savage nations facilitates and com- 
pletes the union, and induces a captive to transfer not only his allegiance, 
but his affection to the community into the bosom of which he is received. 

But though war be the chief occupation of men in their rude state, and 
to excel in it their highest distinction and pride, their inferiority is always 
manifest when they engage in competition with polished nations. Destitute 
of that foresight which discerns and provides for remote events, strangers 
to the union and mutual confidence requisite in forming any extensive plan 
of operations, and incapable of the subordination no less requisite in car- 
rying such plans into execution, savage nations may astonish a disciplined 
enemy by their valour, but seldom prove formidable to him by their con- 
duct ; and whenever the contest is of long continuance, must yield to 
superior art [76]. The empires of Peru and Mexico, though their pro- 
gress in civilization, when measured by the European or Asiatic standards, 
\vas inconsiderable, acquired such an ascendency over the rude tribes 
around them, that they subjected most of them with great facility to their 
power. When the people of Europe overran the various provinces of 
America, this superiority was still more conspicuous. Neither the courage 
nor number of the natives could repel a handful of invaders. The aliena- 
tion and enmity, prevalent among barbarians, prevented them from uniting 
in any common scheme of defence, and while each tribe fought separately, 
all were subdued. 

VI. The arts of rude nations unacquainted with the use of metals, 
hardly merit any attention on their own account, but are worthy of some 
notice, as far as they serve to display the genius and manners of man in this 
stage of his progress. The first distress a savage must feel, will arise from 
the manner in which his body is affected by the heat, or cold, or moisture of 
the climate under which he lives ; and his first care will be to provide some 
covering for his own defence. In the warmer, and more mild climates of 
America, none of the rude tribes were clothed. To most of them nature 
had not even suggested any idea of impropriety in being altogether unco- 
vered.J As under a mild climate there was little need of any defence from 
the injuries of the air, and their extreme indolence shunned every species 
of labour to which it was not urged by absolute necessity, all the inhabitants 
of the isles, and a considerable part of the people on the continent, 
remained in this state of naked simplicity. Others were satisfied with 
some slight covering, such as decency required. But though naked, they 
were not unadorned. They dressed their hair in many different forms. 
They fastened bits of gold, or shells, or shining stones, in their ears, their 
noses, and cheeks. § They stained their skins with a great variety of 
figures; and they spent much time, and submitted to great pain, in orna- 
menting their persons in this fantastic manner. Vanity, however, which 
finds endless occupation for ingenuity and invention in nations where 
dress has become a complex and intricate art, is circumscribed within so 

* Lahont, ii. 185, IBG. t Herrera, dec. 3. lib iv. c. 10. p. 17.1 { Lcry Navi^nt. ap. dc Brv, 
iii. p. 104. Life of Columbus, c. 24. Venegas Hist, of Californ. p. 70. <» Lory Rp. ile Bry, iit. 
p. 163. liCttr. Edihantcs, xx. ». 2-23. 



176 HISTORY OF [Book IV. 

narrow bounds, and confined to so few articles among naked savages, that 
they are not satisfied with those simple decorations, and have a wonderful 
propensity to alter the natural form of their bodies, in order to render it 
(as they imagine) more perfect and beautiful. This practice was universal 
among the rudest of the American tribes- Their operations for that 
purpose begin as soon as an infant is born. By compressing the bones of 
the skull, wnile still soft and flexible, some flatten the crown of their heads ; 
some squeeze them into the shape of a cone ; others mould them as much 
as possible into a square figure ;* and they often endanger the lives of 
their posterity by their violent and absurd efforts to derange the plan of 
nature, or to improve upon her designs. But in all their attempts either 
to adorn or to new model their persons, it seems to have been less the 
object of the Americans to please, or to appear beautiful, than to give an 
air of dignity and terror to their aspect. Their attention to dress had 
more reference to war than to gallantry. The difference in rank and 
estimation between the two sexes was so great, as seems to have extin- 
guished, in some measure, their solicitude to appear mutually amiable. 
The man deemed it beneath him to adorn his person, for the sake of one 
on whom he was accustomed to look down as a slave. It was when the 
warrior had in view to enter the council of his nation, or to take the field 
against its enemies, that he assumed his choicest ornaments, and decked 
his person with the nicest care.f The decorations of the women were 
few and simple ; whatever was precious or splendid was reserved for the 
men. In several tribes the women were obliged to spend a considerable 
part of their time every day in adorning and painting their husbands, and 
could bestow little attention upon ornamenting themselves. Among a race 
of men so haughty as to despise, or so cold as to neglect them, the women 
naturally became careless and slovenly, and the love of finery and show, 
"which had been deemed their favourite passion, was confined chiefly to the 
other sex. I To deck his person was the distinction of a warrior, as well 
as one of his most serious occupations [77]. In one part of their dress, 
which at first sight appears the most singular and capricious, the Americans 
have discovered considerable sagacity in providing against the chief incon- 
veniences of their climate, which is often sultry and moist to excess. All 
the different tribes, which remain unclothed, are accustomed to anoint and 
rub their bodies with the grease of animals, with viscous gums, and with 
oils of different kinds. By this they check that profuse perspiration, 
Avhich in the torrid zone wastes the vigour of the frame, and abridges the 
period of human life. By this, too, they provide a defence against the 
extreme moisture during the rainy season [78]. They likewise, at certain 
seasons, temper paint of different colours with those unctuous substances, 
and bedaub themselves plentifully with that composition. Sheathed with ■ 
this impenetral)le varnish, their skins are not only protected from the pene- 
trating heat of the sun, but as all the innumerable tribes of insects have an 
antipathy to the smell or taste of that mixture, they are delivered from tlieir 
teasing perseculion, which amidst forests and marshes, especially in the 
warmer regions, would have been altogether intolerable in a state of perfect 
nakedness. § 

The next object to dress that will engage the attention of a savage, is to 
prepare some habitation which may afford him shelter by day, and a retreat 
at night. Whatever is connected with his ideas of personal dignity, what- 
ever bears any reference to his military character, the savage warrior deems 
an object of importance. Whatever relates only to peaceable and inactive 

* Oviedo nist. lib. iii. c. 5. Ullna, i. 329. Voyage de Labat, ii. 72. Charlevoix, iii. 323. 
Giimilla, i. 197, &c. Acugna Relat. de la Riv. des Aniaz. ii. 83. Lawson'9 Voyage to Carolina, 
p. 33. t Wafer's Voyage, p. 142. Lory an. de Bry, iii. 167. Cliarlev. Hist. N. Fran. In. 21C. 

222. i Charlev. Hist, de la Nouv. France, iii. 278. 327. Lafitaii, ii. 53. Kalm's Voyage, in. 

273. Lety ap. de Brv, iii. 169, 170. Purcli. Pilgr. iv. 1287. Ribas Hist, de los Triumph, &c. 472. 
^ I.abat, ii. 73. Guihilla, i. 190. 20-2. Bancroft Nat. Hist, of Guiana, 81. 2«J0. 



AMERICA. 177 

I lie, he views with indifference. Hence, though finically attentive to dress, 
he is little solicitous about the elegance or disposition of his habitation. 
Savage nations, far from that state of improvement, in which the mode of 
livit^ is considered as a mark of distinction, and unacquainted with those 
wants, which require a variety of accommodation, regulate the construction 
of their houses according to their limited ideas of necessity. Some of the 
American tribes were so extremely rude, and had advanced so little beyond 
the primaeval simplicity of nature, that they had no houses at all. During 
the day, they take shelter from the scorching rays of the sun under thick 
trees ; at night they form a shed with their branches and leaves [79]. In 
the rainy season they retire into coves, formed by the hand of JNature, or 
hollowed out by their own industry.* Others, who have no fixed abode, 
and roam through the forest in quest of game, sojourn in temporary huts, 
which they erect with little labour, ana abandon without any concern. 
The inhabitants of those vast plains, which are deluged by the overflowing 
of rivers during the heavy rains that fall periodically between the tropics, 
raise houses upon piles fastened in the ground, or place them among the 
boughs of trees, and are thus safe amidst that wide extended inundation 
which surrounds them.j Such were the first essays of the rudest Ameri- 
cans towards providing themselves with habitations. But even among 
tribes which are more improved, and whose residence is become altogether 
fixed, the structure of their houses is extremely mean and simple. They 
are wretched huts, sometimes of an oblong and sometimes of a circular 
form, intended merely for shelter, with no view to elegance, and little 
attention to conveniency. The doors are so low that it is necessaiy to 
bend or to creep ot) the hands and feet in order to enter them. They are 
without windows, and have a large hole in the middle of the roof, to convey 
out the smoke. To follow travellers in other minute circumstances of 
their descriptions, is not only beneath the dignity of history, but would 
be foreign to the object of my researches. One circumstance merits 
attention, as it is singular, and illustrates the character of the people. 
Some of their houses are so large as to contain accommodation for four- 
score Of a hundred persons. These are built for the reception of different 
families, which dwell together under the same roof [80], and often around 
a common fire, without separate apartments, or any kind of screen or parti- 
tion between the spaces which they respectively occupy. As soon as men 
have acquired distinct ideas of property; or when they are so much 
attached to their females, as to watch them with care and jealousy ; 
families of course divide and settle in separate houses, where they can 
secure and guard whatever they wish to preserve. This singular mode of 
habitation, among several people of America, may therefore be consicl^red 
not only as the effect of their imperfect notions concerning property, but 
as a proof of inattention, and indifference towards their women. If they 
had not been accustomed to perfect equality, such an arrangement could 
not have taken place. If their sensibility had been apt to have taken 
alarm, they would not have trusted the virtue of their women amidst the 
temptations and opportunities of such a promiscuous intercourse. At the 
same time, the perpetual concord, which reigns in habitations where so 
many families are crowded together, is surprising, and affords a striking 
evidence that they must be people of either a very gentle, or of a very 
phlegmatic temper, who in such a situation, are unacquainted with animo- 
sity, brawling, and discord.| 
After making some provision for his dress and habitatkH)» a savage 

* Lettres Krtif. v. 273. VriiegM Hist, of Calilor.i. 7G. Lozatio, Tifscrip. del Gran. Cbaco, p. 
55. L<!Ures Edif. ii. 176. Gumilla, i. :«:$. Bfiiu roll, Nat. Hist, of Guiana, 277. t Gumilla, i 
225. Hcm-ra, df'c. l.lib. ii. r.O. Oviedo Som.ir. p. 53. C. J Joura. de Grillet et Bee hijmcl 

dans la Goyane, p. 65. Latitan M<rurs, ii. 4. 'I'orqncin. Monari|. i. 247. .lournal HjBt. de Jout^il, 
•317. Lery Hiwl. Brazil, ap. d<- Itrv. iii. 238. )-ozano Uesir. <lcl (Jran. Cliaco, 67 

Vol. I.— 23 



178 HISTORY OF [Book IV. 

will perceive the necessity of preparing^ proper arms with which io 
assault or repel an enemy. This, accordingly, has early exercised the 
ingenuity and invention oi all rude nations. The first offensive weapons 
were doubtless such as chance presented, and the first efforts of art to 
improve upon these, were extremely awkward and simple. Clubs made 
of some heavy wood, stakes hardened in the fire, lances w hose heads were 
armed with flint or the bones of some animal, are weapons known to the 
rudest nations. All these, however, are of use only in close encounter. 
But men wished to annoy their enemies while at a distance, and the bow 
and arrow is the most early invention for this purpose. This weapon is in 
the hands of people whose advances in improvement are extremely incon- 
siderable, and is familiar to the inhabitants of every quarter of the globe. 
It is remarkable, however, that some tribes in America were so destitute 
of art and ingenuity, that they had not attained to the discovery of this 
simple invention,* and seem to have been unacquainted with the use of any 
missile weapon. The sling, though in its construction not more complex 
than the bow, and amon^ many nations of equal antiquity, was little known 
to the people of North America,! or the islands, but appears to have been 
used by a few tribes in the southern continent| [81]. The people, in some 
provinces of Chili, and those of Patagonia, towards the southern extremity 
of America, use a weapon peculiar to themselves. They fasten stones, 
about the size of a fist, to each end of a leather thong of eight feet in 
length, and swing these round their heads, throw them with such dexterity, 
that they seldom miss the object at which they aim.§ 

Among people who had hardly any occupation but war or hunting, the 
chief exertions of their invention [82], as well as industrj', were naturally 
directed towards these objects. With respect to every thing else, their 
wants and desires were so limited, that their invention was not upon the 
stretch. As their food and habitations are perfectly simple, their domestic 
utensils are few and rude. Some of the southern tribes had discovered 
the art of forming vessels of earthen ware, and baking them in the sun, so 
as they could endure the fire. In North America, they hollowed a piece 
of hard wood in the form of a kettle, and filling it with water, brought it 
to boil, by putting red-hot stones into it [83], These vessels they used in 
preparing part of their provisions ; and this may be considered as a step 
towards refinement and luxury ; for men in their rudest state were not 
acquainted with any method of dressing dieir victuals but by roasting them 
on the fire ; and among several tribes in America, this is the only species 
of cookery yet known.|| But the masterpiece of art, among the savages 
of America, is the construction of the canoes. An Esquimaux, shut up in 
liis boat of whalebone, covered with the skins of seals, can brave that 
stormy ocean on which the barrenness of his country- compels him to depend 
for the chief part of his subsistence. IT The people of Canada venture upon 
their rivers and lakes in boats made of the bark of trees, and so light that 
two men can carry them, wherever shallows or cataracts obstruct the 
navigation [84]. In these frail vessels they undertake and accomplish 
long voyages.** The inhabitants of the isles and of the southern continent 
form their canoes by hollowino; the trunk of a large tree, with infinite labour; 
and though in appearance tney are extremely awkward and unwieldy, 
they paddle and steer them with such dexterity, that Europeans, well ac- 
quainted with all the improvements in the science of navigation, have been 
astonished at the rapidity of their motion, and the quickness of their evo- 
lutions. Their pirogiies, or war boats, are so large as to carr}' Ibrty or fifty 
men ; their canoes, employed in fishing and in short voyages are less capa- 

* Piedrahila Conq. del Nuevo Reyno, is. 12. f Naiif. de Alv. Nun. Cabeca de Vara, c. k. 

p. 12. t Piedrah. p. 16. 6 Ovalle's Relation of Chili. Church. Collect, iii. 82. Falkner's 
Uescript. ofPatagou.i), 130. |( Chailcv. Hiat. N. Fr. iii.332. 1i ElUs Voy. 133. ** Lalitau 
Mceurs, &c. ii. "J3. 



AMERICA. 179 

clous.* The tbrm as well as materials of all these various kinds of vessels, 
is well adapted to the service for which they are destined ; and the more 
minutely they are examined, the mechanism of their structure, as well as 
neatness of their fabric, will appear the more surprising. 

But, in every attempt towards industry among; the Americans, one 
striking quality in their character is conspicuous. They apply to work 
without ardour, carry it on with little activity, and, like children, are easily 
diverted from it. Even in operations which seem the most interesting, 
and where the most powerful motives urge them to vigorous exertions, 
they labour with a languid listlessness. Their work advances under their 
hand with such slowness, that an eyewitness compares it to the impercep- 
tible progress of vegetation.! They will spend so many years in forming 
a canoe, that it often begins to rot with age before they finish it. They 
will suffer one part of a roof to decay and perish, before they complete 
the other.J The slightest manual operation consumes an amazing length 
of time, and what in polished nations would hardly be an effort of industry, 
is among savages an arduous undertaking. This slowness of the Ameri- 
cans in executing works of every kind may be imputed to various causes. 
Among savages, who do not depend for subsistence upon the efforts of 
regular industiy, time is of so little importance that they set no value 
upon it ; and provided they can finish a design, they never regard how long 
they are employed about it. The tools which they employ are so awkward 
and defective that every work in which they engage must necessarily be 
tedious. The hand of the most industrious and skilful artist, were it fur- 
nished with no better instrument than a stone hatchet, a shell, or the bone 
of some animal, would find it difficult to perfect the most simple work. It is 
by length of labour that he must endeavour to supply his defect of powen 
But above all, the cold phlegmatic temper peculiar to the Americans, ren- 
ders their operations languid. It is almost impossible to rouse them from 
that habitual indolence to which they are sunk ; and unless when engaged 
in war or in hunting, they seem incapable of exerting any vigorous effort. 
Their ardour of application is not so great as to call forth that inventive 
spirit which suggests expedients for facilitating and abridging labour. 
They will return to a task day after day, but all their methods of executing 
it are tedious and operose [85]. Even since the Europeans have commu- 
nicated to them the knowledge of their instruments, and taught them to 
imitate their arts, the peculiar genius of the Americans is conspicuous in 
every attempt they make. They may be patient and assiduous in labour, 
they can copy with a servile and minute accuracy, but discover little 
invention and no talents for despatch. In spite of instruction and example, 
the spirit of the race predominates ; their motions are naturally tardy, and 
it is in vain to urge them to quicken their pace. Among the Spaniards in 
America, the work of an Indian is a phrase by which they describe any 
thing, in the execution of which an immense time has been employed and 
mucn labour wasted .§ 

VII. No circumstance respecting rude nations has been the object of 
greater curiosity than their religious tenets and rites ; and none, perhaps, 
lias been so imperfectly understood, or represented with so little fidelity. 
Priests and missionaries are the persons who have had the best opportunities 
of carrying on this inquiry among the most uncivilized of the American tribes. 
Their minds, engrossed by the doctrines of their own religion, and habituated 
to its institutions, are apt to discover something which resembles those 
objects of their veneration, in the opinions and rites of every people. 
Whatever they contemplate they view through one medium, and draw 
and accommodate it to their own system. They study to reconcile the 

* Labat, Voyages, ii. 91, &c. 131. t Onmilla, ii. 2i»7. ^ BoriJc Rulat. des Caraibe»i 

p. 12. (^ Voyagpfl (le Ulloa, i. 'SXi. Letir. Edif. &c. xv. 343. 



i8u H i S T O K y O F [Book 1 V. 

institutions which tall under their observation to their own creed, not to 
explain them according; to the rude notions of the people themselves. 
They ascribe to them ideas which they are incapable of forming, and sup- 
pose them to be acquainted with principles and (acts, which it is impossible 
that they should know. Hence, some missionaries have been induced to 
believe, that even among the most barbarous nations in America, they had 
discovered traces, no less distinct than amazing, of their acquaintance with 
the sublime mysteries and peculiar institutions of Christianity. From their 
own interpretation of certain expressions and ceremonies, they have con- 
cluded that these people had some knowledge of the doctrine of the 
Trinity, of the incarnation of the Son of God, of his expiatory sacrifice, ot 
the virtue of the cross, and of the efficacy of the sacraments.* In such 
unintelligent and credulous guides we can place little confidence. 

But even when we make our choice of conductors with the greatest 
care, we must not follow them with implicit faith. An inquiry into the 
religious notions of^ rude nations is involved in peculiar intricacies, and we 
must often pause in order to separate the facts which our informers relate 
from the reasonings with which they are accompanied, or the theories 
which they build upon them. Several pious writers, more attentive to the 
importance of the subject than to the condition of the people whose senti- 
ments they were endeavouring to discover, have bestowed much unprofit- 
able labour in researches of this nature [86]. 

There are two fundamental doctrines, upon which the whole system oi 
religion, as far as it can be discovered by the light of nature, is established. 
The one respects the being of a <3od, the other the immortality of^ the soul. 
To discover the ideas of the uncultivated nations under our review, with 
regard to those important points, is not only an object of curiosity, but 
may afford instruction. To these two articles I shall confine my researches, 
leaving subordinate opinions, and the detail of local superstitions, to more 
minute inquirers. Whoever has had any opportunity of^ examining into the 
religious opinions of persons in the inferior ranks of life, even in the most 
enlightened and civilized nations, will find that their system of belief is de- 
rived fVom instruction, not discovered by inquiry. That numerous part of the 
human species, whose lot is labour, whose principal and almost sole occu- 
pation is to secure subsistence, views the arrangement and operations of 
nature with little reflection, and has neither leisure nor capacity for enter- 
ing into that path of refined and intricate speculation which conducts to the 
knowledge of the princi])les of natural religion. In the early and most 
rude periods of sava2:e life, such disquisitions are altogether unknown. 
When the intellectual powers are just beginning to unfold, and their first 
feeble exertions are directed towards a few objects of primary necessity 
and use ; when the faculties of the mind are so limited as not to have 
formed abstract or general ideas ; when language is so barren as to be 
destitute of names to distinguish any thing that is not perceived by some 
of the senses ; it is preposterous to expect that man should be capable of 
tracing with accuracy the relation between cause and effect ; or to suppose 
that he should rise from the contemplation of the one to the knowledge ot 
the other, and form just conceptions of a Deity, as the Creator and Governor 
of the universe. The idea of creation is so familiar, wherever the mind is 
enlai^ed by science and illuminated with revelation, that we seldom reflect 
how profound and abstruse this idea is, or consider what progress man 
must have made in observation and research, before he could arrive at any 
knowledge of this elementary principle in religion. Accordingly, several 
tribes have been discovered in America, which have no idea whatever ot 
a Supreme Being, and no rites of religious worship. Inattentive to that 

* Venegas, i. 88. 92. Torqueraada, ii. 4^5. Garcia Origen. 122. Hfirora, die. 4. lib. ii. c. 
7. dec. 5. lib. iv. c. 7. 



AMERICA. 181 

magnificent spectacle of beauty and order presented to their view, unac- 
customed to reflect either upon what they themselves are, or to inquire 
who is the author of their existence, men, in their savage state, pass their 
days like the animals around them, without knowledge or veneration of any 
superior power. Some rude tribes have not in their language any name for 
the Deity, nor have the most accurate observers been able to discover any 
practice or institution which seemed to imply that they recognised his 
authority, or were solicitous to obtain his favour* [B7]. It is however only 
among men in the most uncultivated state of nature, and while their intel- 
lectual faculties are so feeble and limited as hardly to elevate them above 
the irrational creation, that we discover this total insensibility to the im- 
pressions of any invisible power. 

But the human mind, formed for religion, soon opens to the reception of 
ideas, which are destined, when corrected and refined, to be the great 
source of consolation amidst the calamities of life. Among some of the 
American tribes, still in the infancy of improvement, we discern apprehen- 
sions of some invisible and powerful beings. These apprehensions are 
originally indistinct and perplexed, and seem to be suggested rather by 
the dread of impending evils than to flow from gratitude for blessings 
received. While nature holds on her course with uniform and undis- 
turbed regularity, men enjoy the benefits resulting from it, without inquir- 
ing concerning its cause. But every deviation from this regular course 
rouses and astonishes them. When they behold events to which they are 
not accustomed, they search for the reasons of them with eager curiosity. 
Their understanding is unable to penetrate into these ; but imagination, 
a more forward and ardent faculty of the mind, decides without hesitation. 
It ascribes the extraordinary occurrences in nature to the influence of invi- 
sible beings, and supposes that the thunder, the hurricane, and the earthquake 
are eSects of their interposition. Some such confused notion of spiritual or 
invisible power, superintending over those natural calamities which Irequently 
desolate the earth, and terrify its inhabitants, may be traced among many 
rude nations [88]. But besides this, the disasters and dangers of savage 
life are so many, and men often find themselves in situations so formidable, 
that the mind, sensible of its own weakness, has no resource but in the 

fuidance and protection of wisdom and power superior to what is human. 
>ejected with calamities which oppress him, and exposed to dangers 
which he cannot repel, the savage no longer relies upon himself ; he feels 
his own impotence, and sees no prospect of being extricated, but by the 
interposition of some unseen arm. Hence, in all unenlightened nations, 
the first rites or practices which bear any resemblance to acts of religion, 
have it for their object to avert evils which men suffer or dread. The 
Manitous or Okkis ot the North Americans were amulets or charms, which 
they imagined to be of such virtue as to preserve the persons who reposed 
confidence in them from any disastrous event, or they were considered as 
tutelary spirits, whose aid they might implore in circumstances of distress.! 
The Cemis of the islandei-s were reputed by them to be the authors of 
every calamity that afflicts the human race ; they were represented under 
the most frightful forms, and religious homage was paid to them with no 
other view than to appease these furious deities.f Even among those tribes 
whose religious system was more enlarged, and who had formed some 
conception of benevolent beings, which delighted in conferring benefits, as 
well as of malicious powers prone to inflict evil ; superstition still appears 

• Biet, 539. Lery ap. de Bry, iii. 221. Nieuhoff. Church. Coll. ii. 132. Lcttr. Edif. 2. 177. 
Id. 12, iJ. Vcnegas, i, 87. Lozano Descr. drl Gran Chaco, .19. Fernaiid. Mission, de Cliequil. 39. 
Gutnilla, ii. 156. Rochefort Hist, dts AntilU^s, p. 468. Margrave Hist, in Append, de Chilicni>itiui», 
286. Uiloa, Notic. Amer. 3:«, &c. Barrere, 218, 219. Harcourt Voy. to Guiana, Purch. Pilgr. iv. 
B, 1273. Account of Brazil, by a Porlugueac. Ibid. p. 1289. Jones's Journal, p. 50. tCharlcv. 
N. Fr. iii. 343, &c. Creuxii Hit^t. Caiiab. p. 82, &c. t Ovicdo. lib. iii- c. J. t>. 111. P. Martyr, 
decad. p. 102, Ar. 



1S2 HI S T O li Y O F [Book U . 

as the offspring of fear, and all its efforts were employed to avert calami- 
ties. They were persuaded that their good deities, prompted by the 
beneficence of their nature, would bestow every blessing in their power, 
without solicitation or acknowledgment ; and their only anxiety was to 
soothe and deprecate the wrath of the powers whom they regarded as 
the enemies of mankind.* 

Such were the imperfect conceptions of the greater part of the Americans 
with respect to the interposition of invisible agents, and such, almost uni- 
versally, was the mean and illiberal object of their superstitions. Were 
we to trace back the ideas of other nations to that rude state in which 
history first presents them to our view, we should discover a surprising 
resemblance in their tenets and practices ; and should be convinced, that 
in similar circumstances, the faculties of the human mind hold nearly the 
same course in their progress, and arrive at almost the same conclusions. 
The impressions of fear are conspicuous in all the systems of superstition 
formed in this situation. The most exalted notions of men rise no higher 
than to a perplexed apprehension of certain beings, whose power, though 
supernatural, is limited as well as partial. 

But, among other tribes, which have been longer united, or have made 
greater progress in improvement, we discern some feeble pointing towards 
more just and adequate conceptions of the power that presides in nature. 
They seem to perceive that there must be some universal cause to wtiom 
all things are indebted for their being. If we may judge by some of their 
expressions, they appear to acknowledge a divine power to be the maker of 
the world, and the disposer of all events. They denominate him the Great 
Spirit.] But these ideas are faint and confused, and when they attempt to 
explain them, it is manifest that among them the word spirit has a meaning 
very different from that in which we employ it, and that they have no concep- 
tion of any deity but what is corporeal. They believe their gods to be of 
the human form, though of a nature more excellent than man, and retail such 
wild incoherent fables concerning their functions and operations, as are 
altogether unworthy of a place in history. Even among these tribes, there 
is no established form of public worship ; there are no temples erected in 
honour of their deities ; and no ministers peculiarly consecrated to their 
service. They have the knowledge, however, of several superstitious 
ceremonies and practices handed down to them by tradition, and to these 
they have recourse with a childish credulity, when roused by any emer- 
gence from their usual insensibility, and excited to acknowledge the 
power, and to implore the protection of superior beings, j 

The tribe of the Natchez, and the people of Bogota, had advanced 
beyond the other uncultivated nations of America in their ideas of religion, 
as well as in their political institutions ; and it is no less difficult to explain 
the cause of this distinction than of that which we have already consi- 
dered. The Sun was the chief object of religious worship among the 
Natchez. In their temples, which were constructed with some magnifi- 
cence, and decorated with various ornaments, according to their mode of 
architecture, they preserved a perpetual fire, as the purest emblem of their 
divinity. Ministers were appointed to watch and feed this sacred flame. 
The first function of the great chief of the nation, every morning, was an 
act of obeisance to the Sun ; and festivals returned at stated seasons, which 
were celebrated by the whole community with solemn but unbloody rites.§ 
This is the most refined species of superstition known in America, and 
perhaps one of the most natural as well as most seducing. The Sun is the 
apparent source of the joy, fertility, and life, diffused through nature ; and 

* Tcrtre, ii. 365. Borde, p. 14. State of Virginia, by a Native, book iii. p. 30, 33. Diimont, i. 
165. Bancroft Nat. Hist, of Guiana, 309. f <'liarlev. N. Fr. iii. 343. Sagard, Voy. du Pays 

4eB Hurous, 22G. i Charlcv. N. Fr. i;i. 34.'i. Cohk'ji, i. IT. $ Omnonf, i. 158, &c. Charley. 
N. Fr. iii. 417. &c. 409. I.atitaii. i. 167, 



AMERICA. 183 

while the human mind, in its earlier essays towards inquiry, contemplates 
and admires his universal and animating energy, its admiration is apt to 
stop short at what is visible, without reaching to the unseen cause ; and 
pays that adoration to the most glorious and beneficial work of God, which 
is due only to him who formed it. As fire is the purest and most active of 
the elements, and in some of its qualities and effects resembles the Sun, it 
was, not improperly, chosen to be the emblem of his powerful operation. 
The ancient Persians, a people far superior, in every respect, to that rude 
tribe whose rites I am describing, founded their religious system on similar 
principles, and established a form of public worship, less gross and excep- 
tionable than that of any people destitute of guidance from revelation. 
This surprising coincidence in sentiment between two nations, in such 
different states of improvement, is one of the many singular and unaccount- 
able circumstances which occur in the history of human affairs. 

Among the people of Bogota, the Sun and Moon were, likewise, the 
chief objects of veneration. Their system of religion was more regular 
and complete, though less pure, than that of the Natchez. They had 
temples, altars, priests, sacrifices, and that long train of ceremonies, which 
superstition introduces wherever she has fully established her dominion 
over the minds of men. But the rites of their worship were cruel and 
bloody. They offered human victims to their deities, and many of their 
practices nearly resembled the barbarous institutions of the Mexicans, the 
genius of which we shall have an opportunity of considering more atten- 
tively in its proper place.* 

With respect to the other great doctrine of religion, concerning the 
immortality of the soul,' the sentiments of the Americans were more 
united :' the human mind, even when least improved and invigorated by 
culture, shrinks from the thoughts of annihilation, and looks forward with 
hope and expectation to a state of future existence. This sentiment, 
resulting from a secret consciousness of its own dignity, from an instinctive 
longing after immortality, is universal, and may be deemed natural. 
Upon this are founded the most exalted hopes of man in his highest state 
of improvement ; nor has nature withheld trom him this soothing consola- 
tion, in the most early and rude period of his progress. ~- We can trace this 
opinion from one extremity of America to the other, in some regions more 
faint and obscure, in others more perfectly developed, but nowhere 
unknown. The most uncivilized of its savage tribes do not apprehend 
death as the extinction of being. All entertain hopes of a future and more 
happy state, where they shall be forever exempt from the calamities which 
imbitter human life in its present condition.'''' This future state they con- 
ceive to be a dielightful country, blessed with perpetual spring, whose 
forests abound with game, whose rivers swarm with fish, where famine is 
never felt, and uninterrupted plenty shall be enjoyed without labour or toil. 
But as men, in forming their first imperfect ideas concerning the invisible 
world, suppose that there they shall continue to feel the same desires, and 
to be engaged in the same occupations, as in the present world ; they natu- 
rally ascribe eminence and distinction, in that state, to the same qualities 
and talents which are here the object of their esteem. The Americans, 
accordingly, allotted the highest place, in their country of spirits, to the 
skilful himter, to the adventurous and successful warrior, and to such as had 
tortured the greatest number of captives, and devoured their flesh. t These 
notions were so prevalent that they gave rise to a universal custom, which 
is at once the strongest evidence that the Americans believe in a future 
state, and the best illustration of what they expect there. As they imagine, 
that departed spirits begin their career anew in the world whither they are 
gone, that their friends may not enter upon it defenceless and unprovided, 

* Piedrahila, Conq. del N. Rcyno, p. 17. Horrera. dec. 6. lib. v. c. 6. t I-eiy ap. de Bry, iii, 

232. Cliarlev, .V. Fr. iii. 351, &c. De la Polherip, ii. JS, &c. iii. .*;. 



1S4 lilSTOUi OF [Book iV. 

they buiy together with the bodies of the dead their bow, their arrows, 
and other weapons used in hunting or war ; they deposit in their tombs the 
skins or stuffs of which they make garments, Indian com, manioc, venison, 
domestic utensils, and whatever is reckoned among the necessaries in their 
simple mode of life.* In some provinces, upon the decease of a cazique 
or chief, a certain number of his wives, of his favourites, and of his slaves, 
were put to death, and interred together with him, that he might appear 
with the same dignity in his future station, and be waited upon by the same 
attendants.! This persuasion is so deep rooted that many of the deceased 
person's retainers offer themselves as voluntary victims, and court the 

frivilege of accompanying their departed master, as a high distinction, 
t has been found difficult, on some occasions, to set bounds to this enthu- 
siasm of affectionate duty, and to reduce the train of a favourite leader to 
such a number as the tribe could afford to spare [89]. 

Among the Americans, as well as other uncivilized nations, many of the 
rites and observances which bear some resemblance to acts of religion, 
have no connection with devotion, but proceed from a fond desire of prying 
into futurity. The human mind is most apt to feel and to discover this vain 
curiosity, when its own powers are most feeble and uninformed. Aston- 
ished with occurrences of which it is unable to comprehend the cause, it 
naturally fancies that there is something mysterious and wonderful in their 
origin. Alarmed at events of which it cannot discern the issue or the con- 
sequences, it has recourse to other means of discovering them than the 
exercise of its own sagacity. Wherever superstition is so established as to 
form a regular system, this desire of penetrating into the secrets of futurity 
is connected with it. Divination becomes a religious act. Priests, as the 
ministers of heaven, pretend to deliver its oracles to men. They are the 
only soothsayers, augurs, and magicians, who profess the sacred and 
important art of disclosing what is hid from other eyes. 

But, among rude nations, who pay no veneration to any superintending 
power, and who have no established rites or ministers of religion, their 
curiosity, to discover what is future and unknown, is cherished by a 
different principle, and derives strength from another alliance. As the 
diseases of men, in the savage state, are (as has been already observed) 
like those of the animal creation, few, but extremely violent, their im- 
patience under what they suffer, and solicitude for the recovery of health, 
soon inspired them with extraordinary reverence for such as pretended to 
understand the nature of their maladies, and to be possessed ot knowledge 
sufficient to preserve or deliver them from their sudden and fatal etlects. 
These ignorant pretenders, however, were such utter strangers to the 
structure of the human frame, as to be equally unacquainted with the 
causes of its disorders, and the manner in which they will terminate. 
Superstition, mingled frequently with some portion of craft, supplied w hat 
they wanted in science. They imputed the origin of diseases to superna- 
tural influence, and prescribed, or performed a variety of mysterious rites, 
which they gave out to be of such efficacy as to reinove the most dangerous 
and inveterate maladies. The credulity and love of the marvellous, 
natural to uninformed men, favoured the deception, and prepared them to 
be the dupes of those impostors. Among savages, their first physicians are 
a kind of conjurers or wizards, who boast that they know what is past, 
and can foretell what is to come. Incantations, sorcery, and mummeries of 
diverse kinds, no less strange than frivolous, are the means which they 
employ to expel the imaginaiy causes of malignity ;| and, relying upon 

* Chronica deCiecade Leon, c. 28. Sagard, 288. Creux. Hist. Canad. p. 91. Rocliefort. 
Hiet. des Antilcs, .'i68. Biet, 391. De la Potherie, ii. 44. iii. 8, Blanco Coiivers. de Piritu, p. 35. 
t Dumont Louisianc, i. 208, &.c. Oviedo, lib. v. c. 3. Goniaia Hist. Gen. c. 28. P. Mart, dficad. 
304. Charlev. N. Fr. iii. 421. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. iii. c, 3. P. Melchior Hernandez Memor. dd 
fcheriqui. Coll. Orig. Paperw, i. ChroD. de Cieca do J.eon, c. 3.1. ♦ P, Melch. H' mandez Memo- 
rial deChfiriqtij. Cnjlecl. Orig. Pap. i. 



AMERICA. 186 

the efficacy of these, they predict with confidence what will be the fate 
of their deluded patients. Thus superstition, in its earliest form, flowed 
from the solicitude of man to be delivered from present distress, not from 
his dread of evils awaiting him in a future life, and was originally ingrafted 
on medicine, not on religion. One of the first and most intelligent historians 
of America, was struck with this alliance between the art of divination and 
that of physic, among the people of Hispaniola.* But this was not peculiar 
to them. The Alexis, the Piavas, the Antmoins, or whatever was the 
distinguishing name of their aiviners and charmers in other parts ot 
America, were all the physicians of their respective tribes, in the same 
manner as the Bubitos of Hispaniola. As their function led them to apply 
to the human mind when enfeebled by sickness, and as they found it, in 
that season of dejection, prone to be alarmed with imaginary fears, or 
amused with vain hopes, they easily induced it to rely with implicit con- 
fidence on the virtue of their spells, and the certainty of their predictions.! 

Whenever men acknowledge the reality of supernatural power and dis- 
cernment in one instance, they have a propensity to admit it in others. 
The Americans did not long suppose the efficacy of conjuration to be con- 
fined to one subject. They had recourse to it in every situation ol danger 
or distress. VV hen the events of war were peculiarly disastrous, when 
they met with unforeseen disappointment in hunting, when inundations or 
drought threatened their crops with destruction, they called upon their 
conjurors to begin their incantations, in order to discover the causes of 
those calamities, or to foretell what would be their issue.t Their con- 
fidence in this delusive art gradually increased, and maniiested itself in 
all the occurrences of life. When involved in any difficulty, or about to 
enter upon any transaction of moment, every individual regularly consulted 
the sorcerer, and depended upon his instructions to extricate him from the 
former, as well as to direct his conduct in the latter. Even among the 
rudest tribes in America, superstition appears in this form, and divination 
is an art in high esteem. Long before man had acquired such knowledge 
of a deity as inspires reverence, and leads to adoration, we observe him 
stretching out a presumptuous hand to draw aside that veil with which 
Providence kindly conceals its purposes from human knowledge ; and we 
find him labouring with fruitless anxiety to penetrate into the mysteries of 
the divine administration. To discern and to worship a superintending 
power is an evidence of the enlargement and maturity of the human 
understanding ; a vain desire of prying into futurity is the error of its 
infancy, and a proof of its weakness. 

From this weakness proceeded likewise the faith of the Americans in 
dreams, their observation of omens, their attention to the chirping of birds, 
and the cries of animals, all which they suppose to be indications of future 
events ; and if any one of these prognostics is deemed unfavourable, they 
instantly abandon the pursuit of those measures on which they are most 
eagerly bent.§ 

VIII. But if we would form a complete idea of the uncultivated nations 
of America, we must not pass unobserved some singular customs, which, 
though universal and characteristic, could not be reduced, with pioprit;ty, 
to any of the articles into which i have divided my inquiry concerning 
their manners. 

Among savages, in every part of the globe, the love of dancing is a 
favourite peission. As, dunng a great part of their time, they languish in 

* Oviedo, lib. v. c. 1. t Herrera, dec, 1. lib. iii. c. 4. Osbomc Coll. ii. 860. Diimont, i. 

169, ice. Oharlev. N. Fr, iii. 361. 364, &c. Lavvson, N. Canol. 2t4. Ribas, Triumf. p. 17. Biet, 
386. De la PoUierie, ii. 35, &c. J Cliarlev. N. Fr. iii. 3. Duniont, i. 173. Fernand. Relac. 

de lo8 Clitiiuit. p. 40. Lozano, 84. Margrave, 279. $ Charlev. N. Fr. iii.202. 353. Stadius 

ap duBry.iii. 120. Creu.xj. Hiit. Canad. 84. Tccho Hi«. of Parag. Church. Coll. vi. 37. Pela 
PoUu'rio, iii. 6. 

Vor.. I.— 24 



186 HISTORY OF [Book IV. 

a state of inactivity and indolence, without any occupation to rouse or 
interest them, they delight universally in a pastime \\ hich calls forth the 
active powers of tneir nature into exercise. The Spaniards, when they first 
visited America, were astonished at the fondness of the natives for dancing, 
and beheld with wonder a people, cold and unanimated in most of their 
other pursuits, kindle into lite, and exert themselves with ardour, as often 
as this favourite amusement recurred. Among them, indeed, dancing 
ought not to be denominated an amusement. It is a serious and important 
occupation which mingles in every occurrence of public or private life. 
If any intercourse.be necessary between two American tribes, the ambas- 
sadors of the one approach in a solemn dance, and present the calumet or 
emblem of peace ; the sachems of the other receive it with the same 
ceremony.* If war is denounced against an enemy, it is by a dance ex- 
pressive of the resentment Avhich they feel, and ol the vengeance which 
they meditate.! It the wrath of their gods is to be appeased, or their bene- 
ficence to be celebrated ; if they rejoice at the birth of a child, or mourn 
the death of a friend,! they have dances appropriated to each of these 
situations, and suited to the ditferent sentiments with which they are then 
animated. If a person is indisposed, a dance is prescribed as the most 
effectual means ot restoring him to health ; and if he himself cannot endure 
the fatigue of such an exercise, the physician or conjuror performs it in 
his name, as if the virtue of his activity could be transferred to his 
patient.§ 

All their dances are imitations of some action ; and though the music 
by which they are regulated is extremely simple, and tiresome to the ear 
by its dull monotony, some of their dances appear wonderfully expressive 
and animated. The war dance is, perhaps, the most striking. It is the 
representation of a complete American campaign. The departure of the 
warriors from their village, their march into the enemy's countiy, the 
caution with which they encamp, the address with which they station 
some of their party in ambush, the manner of surprising the enemy, the 
noise and ferocity of the combat, the scalping of those who are slain, the 
seizing of prisoners, the triumphant return oi the conquerors, and the tor- 
ture of tlje victims, are successively exhibited. The performers enter 
with such enthusiastic ardour into their several parts ; their gestures, their 
countenance, their voice, are so wild and so well adapted to their various 
situations, that Europeans can hardly believe it to be a mimic scene, or 
view it without emotions of fear and horror.H 

But however expressive some of the American dances may be, there is 
one circumstance in them remarkable, and connected with the character 
of the race. The songs, the dances, the amusements of other nations, ex- 
pressive of the sentiments which animate their hearts, are often adapted 
to display or excite that sensbility which mutually attaches the sexes. 
Among some people, such is the ardour of this passion, that love is almost 
the sole object of festivity and joy ; and as rude nations are strangers to 
delicacy, and unaccustomed to disguise any emotion of their minds, their 
dances are often extremely wanton and indecent. Such is the Calenda, of 
which the natives of Africa are so passionately fond ;1[ and such the feats 
of the dancing girls which the Asiatics contemplate with so much avidity 
of desire. But among the Americans, more cold and indifferent to their 
females, from causes which I have already explained, the passion of love 
mingles but little with their festivals and pastimes. Their songs and 

* De la Potherie Hist. ii. 17, &c. Charlev. N. Fr. iii. 211. 297. La Hontan, i. 100 137. Hen- 
nepin Deeou. 146, &c. t Charlev. N. Fr. iii. 998. Latifau, i. 523. X Joutel, 343. Gomara 
Hlsi. Gen. c. 1%. <> Denys Hist. Nat. 189. Brickell, 372. De la Potlierie, n. 36. II Dc la 

Potherie, ii. 116. Charlev. N. F. iii. 297. Lafltau, i. 523. IT Adanson Voyage to Senegal, iii. 

887. Labat, Voyage?, iv. 403. Sloonc Hist. Nat. of Jam. Introd. p. 48. Fermin Descript. de 
Stiiin. i.l39. 



AMERICA. 1C7 

dances are mostly solemn and martial ; they are connected with some o( 
the serious and important affairs of life ;* and, having no relation to love or 
gallantry, are seldom common to the two sexes, but executed by the men 
and women apartt [90]. If, on some occasions, the women are permitted 
to join in the festival, the character of the entertainment is still the same, 
and no movement or gesture is expressive of attachment, or encourages 
familiarity.| 

An immoderate love of play, especially at games of hazard, which 
seems to be natural to all people unaccustomed to the occupations of 
regular industry, is likewise universal among the Americans. The same 
causes, which so often prompt persons in civilized life, who are at their 
ease, to have recourse to this pastime, render it the delight of the savage. 
The former are independent of labour, the latter do not feel the necessity 
of it ; and as both are unemployed, they run with transport to whatever 
is interesting enough to stir and to agitate their minds. Hence the Ameri- 
cans, who at other times are so indifferent, so phlegmatic, so silent, and 
animated with so few desires, as soon as they engage in play become 
rapacious, impatient, noisy, and almost frantic with eagerness. Their 
furs, their domestic untensils, their clothes, their arms, are staked at the 
gaming table, and when all is lost, high as their sense of independence is, in 
a wild emotion of despair or of hope, they will often risk their personal 
liberty upon a single cast.§ Among several tribes, such gaming parties 
frequently recur, and become their most acceptable entertainment at every 
great festival. Superstition, which is apt to take hold of those passions 
which are most vigorous, frequently lends its aid to confirm and strengthen 
this favourite inclination. Their conjurors are accustomed to prescribe a 
solemn match at play as one of the most efficacious methods of appeasing 
their gods, or of restoring the sick to health.il 

From causes similar to those which render them fond of play, the 
Americans are extremely addicted to drunkenness. It seems to have been 
one of the first exertions of human ingenuity to discover some composition 
of an intoxicating quality ; and there is hardly any nation so rude, or so 
destitute of invention, as not to have succeeded in this fatal research. The 
most barbarous of the American tribes have been so unfortunate as to 
attain this art ; and even those which are so deficient in knowledge, as to 
be unacquainted with the method of giving an inebriating strength to 
liquors by fermentation, can accomplish the same end by other means. 
The people of the islands of North America, and of Calitornia, used, for 
this purpose, the smoke of tobacco, drawn up with a certain instrwment 
into the nostrils, the fumes of which ascending to the brain, they felt all 
the transports and phrensy of intoxication ''I [91]. In almost eveiy other 
part of the New \\ orld, the natives possessed the art of extracting an 
intoxicating liquor from maize or the manioc root, the same substances 
which they convert into bread. The operation by which they effect this 
nearly resembles the common one of brewing, but with this difference, 
that, in place of yeast, they use a nauseous infusion of a certain quantity 
of maize or manioc chewed by their women. The saliva excites a vigorous 
fermentation, and in a few days the liquor becomes fit for drinking. It is 
not disagreeable to the taste, and, when swallowed in large q^uantities, is 
of an intoxicating auality.** This is the general beverage ot the Ameri- 
cans, which they distinguish by various names, and for which they feel 
such a violent and insatiable desire as it is not easy either to conceive or 

* Descript. of N. Franco. Osborne Coll. ii. 883. Cliarlev. N. Fr. iii. 84. t Wafer's Account 
of iBthmus, &.<:. It)!). I.ery ap. dc Bry, iii. 177. Lozano Hist, de Parag. i. 149. Herrera, dec. 2, 
lib. vii. c. H. dfc. 4. lib. x. c. 4. I Barrere, Fr. Fqiiin. p. 191. <5 f'harlev. N. Fr. iii. 2G1. 

318. Lafitau, ii. 3.T8. &r. Ribas Trjunif. 13. Brickcll, 3:«. (| Cliarlev. N. Fr. iii. 262. 

V Oviedo llitit. ap. Ramus, iii. 113. Vniiegas, i. 08. Naufrag. dc Cabeca de Vara. cap. 5fi. 
** Stadius ap. de Bry, iii. 111. Lery. ibid. 175. 



188 HISTORi" OF [Book IV. 

describe. Among polished nations, where a succession of various functions 
and amusements keeps the mind in continual occupation, the desire for 
strong drink is regulated in a great measure by the climate, and increases 
or diminishes according to the variations of its temperature. In warm 
regions, the delicate and sensible frame of the inhabitants does not require 
the stimulation of fermented liquors. In colder countries, the constitution 
of the natives, more robust and more sluggish, stands in need of generous 
liquors to quicken and animate it. But among savages, the desire of 
something that is of power to intoxicate is in every situation the same. 
All the people of America, if we except some small tribes near the Straits 
of Magellan, whether natives of the torrid zone, or inhabitants of its more 
temperate regions, or placed by a harder fate in the severe climates towards 
its northern or southern extremity, appear to be equally under the dominion 
of this appetite.* Such a similarity of taste, among people in such differ- 
ent situations, must be ascribed to the influence of some moral cause, and 
cannot be considered as the effect of any physical or constitutional want. 
While engaged in Avar or in the chase, the savage is often in the most 
interesting situations, and all the powers of his nature are roused to the 
most vigorous exertions. But those animating scenes are succeeded by 
long intervals of repose, during which the warrior meets with nothing that 
he deems of sufficient dignity or importance to merit his attention. He 
languishes and mopes in this season of indolence. The posture of his body 
is an emblem of the state of his mind. In one climate, cowering over the 
fire in his cabin ; in another, stretched under the shade of some tree, he 
dozes away his time in sleep, or in an unthinking joyless inactivity not far 
removed from it. As strong liquors awake him from this torpid state, give a 
brisker motion to his spirits, and enliven him more thoroughly than either 
dancing or gaming, his love of them is excessive. A savage, when not 
engaged in action, is a pensive melancholy animal ; but as soon as he 
tastes, or has a prospect of tasting, the intoxicating draught, he becomes 
gay and frolicsome.! Whatever be the occasion or pretexts on which the 
Americans assemble, the meeting always terminates in a debauch. Many 
of tlieir festivals have no other object, and they welcome the return of 
them with transports of joy. As they are not accustomed to restrain any 
appetite, they set no bounds to this. The riot often continues without 
intermission several days ; and whatever may be the fatal effects of their 
excess, they never cease from drinking as long as one drop of liquor 
remains. The persons of greatest eminence, the most distinguished war- 
riors, 'and the chiefs most renowned for their wisdom, have no greater 
command of themselves than the most obscure members of the community. 
Their eagerness for present enjoyment renders them blind to its fatal con- 
sequences ; and those very men, who in other situations seem to possess a 
Ibrce of mind more than human, are in this instance inferior to children, in 
foresight as well as consideration, and mere slaves of brutal appetite.]; 
When their passions, naturally strong, are heightened and inflamed by 
drink, they are guilty of the most enormous outrages, and the festivity 
seldom concludes without deeds of violence or bloodshed. § 

But, amidst this wild debauch, there is one circumstance remarkable; 
the women, in most of the American tribes, are not permitted to partake 
of it [92]. Their province is to prepare the liquor, to serve it about to the 
guests, and to take care of their husbands and friends when their reason is 
overpowered. This exclusion of the women from an enjoyment so highly 
valued by savages, may be justly considered as a mark of their inferiority, 
and as an additional evidence of that contempt with which they were 

* Gumilla, i. 257. Lozano Descrip. del Gran. Chaco, 56. 103. Ribas, 8. Ulloa, i. 249. 337. 
Marchais, iv. 436. Fernandez Mission, de las Chequit. 35. Barrere, p. 203. Blanco Convere. do 
Piritu, 31. T Melendez Tesores Vcrdad. iii. 369. * Hibas, 9. Ulloa, i 338. ^ Lettr. 

Edif. ii. 1T8. Torqucmada Mond. Ind. i. 339. 



AMERICA. 189 

treated in the New World. The people of North America, when first 
discovered, were not acquainted with any intoxicating drink ; but as the 
Europeans early found it their interest to supply them with spirituous 
liquors, drunkenness soon became as universal among them as among their 
countrymen to the south ; and their women, having acquired this new 
taste, mdulge it with as little decency and moderation as the men.* 

It were endless to enumerate all the detached customs which have 
excited the wonder of travellers in America ; but I cannot omit one 
seemingly as singular as any that has been mentioned. When their 
parents and other relations become old, or labour under any distemper 
which their slender knowledge of the healing art cannot remove, the 
Americans cut short their days with a violent hand, in order to be relieved 
from the burden of supporting and tending them. This practice pre- 
vailed amon^ the ruder tribes in every part ofthe continent, from Hudson's 
Bay to the river De la Plata ; and however shocking it may be to those 
sentiments of tenderness and attachment, which, in civilized life, we arc 
apt to consider as congenial with our frame, the condition of man in the 
savage state leads and reconciles him to it. The same hardships and 
difficulty of procuring subsistence, which deter savages, in some cases, 
from rearing their children, prompt them to destroy the aged and infirm. 
The declining state of the one is as helpless as the infancy of the other. 
The former are no less unable than the latter to perform the functions that 
belong to a warrior or hunter, or to endure those various distresses in 
which savages are so often involved by their own want of foresight and 
industry. Their relations feel this ; and, incapable of attending to the 
wants or weaknesses of others, their impatience under an additional burden 
prompts them to extinguish that life which they find it difficult to sustain. 
This is not regarded as a deed of cruelty, but as an act of mercy. An 
American, broken with years and infirmities, conscious that he can no 
longer depend on the aid of those around him, places himself contentedly 
in his grave ; and it is by the hands of his children or nearest relations 
that the thong is pulled, or the blow inflicted, which releases him for ever 
from the sorrows of life.t 

IX. After contemplating the rude American tribes in such various lights ; 
after taking a view of their customs and manners from so many ditiierent 
stations, nothing remains but to form a general estimate of their character 
compared with that of more polished nations. A human being, as he 
comes originally from tlie hand of nature, is every where the same. At 
his first appearance in the state of infancy, whether it be among the 
rudest savages or in the most civilized nation, we can discern no quality 
which marks any distinction or superiority. The capacity of improve- 
ment seems to be the same ; and the talents he may afterwards acquire, 
as well as the virtues he may be rendered capable of exercising, depend, 
in a great measure, upon the state of society in which he is placed. To 
this state his mind naturally accommodates itself, and from it receives 
discipline and culture, in proportion to the wants which it accustoms a 
human being to feel, and the functions in which these engage him, his 
intellectual powers are called forth. According to the connexions which 
it establishes between him and the rest of his species, the affections of his 
heart are exerted. It is only by attending to this great principle that we 
can discover what is the character of man in eveiy diflferent period of his 
progress. 

It we apply it to savage life, and measure the attainments of the 
human mind in that state by this standard, we shall find, according to 
an observation which I have already made, that the intellectual powers ot 
man must be extremely limited in their operations. They are confined 

* Hutchinaon Hist, of Massachus. 469. Lafitau, ii. 123. Sa^ard, I4(>. t Cassani Histor. 

«le N. Reyiio rte Gran. p. 300. Piso, p. 6. Ellis Voy. 191. Gumilla, i. 333. 



19U HISTORY OF [Book IV. 

within the narrow sphere of what he deems necessary for supplying his 
own wants. Whatever has not some relation to these neither attracts his 
attention, nor is the object of his inquiries. But however narrow the 
bounds may be within which the knowledge of a savage is circumscribed, 
he possesses thoroughly that small portion which he has attained. It was 
not communicated lo him by formal instruction; he does not attend to it 
as a matter of mere speculation and curiosity ; it is the result of his own 
observation, the fruit of his own experience, and accommodated to his 
condition and exigencies. While employed in the active occupations of 
war or of hunting, he often finds himself in difficult and perilous situations, 
from which the efforts of his own sagacity must extricate him. He is 
frequently engaged in measures, where every step depends upon his own 
ability to decide, where he must rely solely upon his own penetration to 
discern the dangers to which he is exposed, and upon his own wisdom in 
providing against them. In consequence of this, he feels the knowledge 
which he possesses, and the efforts which he makes, and either in delibe- 
ration or action rests on himself alone. 

As the talents of individuals are exercised and improved by such 
exertions, much political wisdom is said to be displayed in conducting the 
affairs of their small communities. The council of old men in an Ameri- 
can tribe, deliberating upon its interests, and determining with respect to 
peace or war, has been compared to the senate in more polished republics. 
The proceedings of the former, we are told, are often no less formal and 
sagacious than those of the latter. Great political wisdom is exhibited 
in pondering the various measures proposed, and in balancing their pro- 
bable advantages against the evils of^ which they may be productive. 
Much address and eloquence are employed by the leaders, who aspire at 
acquiring such confidence with their countrymen as to have an ascendant 
in those assemblies.* But, among savage tribes, the field for displaying 
political talents cannot be extensive. Where the idea of private property 
is incomplete, and no criminal jurisdiction is established, there is hardly 
any function of internal government to exercise. Where there is no com- 
merce, and scarcely any intercourse among separate tribes ; where 
enmity is implacable, and hostilities are carried on almost without intermis- 
sion; there will be few points of public concern to adjust with their 
neighbours ; and that department of^ their affairs which may be denomi- 
nated foreign, cannot be so intricate as to require much refined policy in 
conducting it. Where individuals are so thoughtless and improvident as 
seldom to take effectual precautions for self-preservation, it is vain to 
expect that public measures and deliberations will be regulated by the 
contemplation of remote events. It is the genius of savages to act from 
the impulse of present passion. They have neither foresight nor temper 
to form complicated arrangements with respect to their future conduct. 
The consultations of the Americans, indeed, are so frequent, and thei» 
negotiations are so many [93], and so long protracted, as to give their 
proceedings an extraordinary aspect of wisdom. But this is not owing 
so much to the depth of their schemes, as to the coldness and phlegm of 
their temper, which render them slow in determining.! If we except 
the celebrated league, that united the Five Nations in Canada, into a 
federal republic, which shall be considered in its proper place, we can 
discern few such traces of political wisdom, among the rude American 
tribes, as discover any great degree of foresight or extent of intellectual 
abilities. Even among them, we shall find public measures more fre- 
t^uently directed by the impetuous ferocity of their youth, than regulated 
by the experience and wisdom of their old men. 

As the condition of man in the savage state is unfavourable to the 

' CharlcT. Hist. N. Fi. iii. C60, &r, <■ IhiJ. iii. 271. 



AMERICA. 191 

progress of the understanding, it has a tendency likewise, in some respects, 
to check the exercise of affection, and to render the heart contracted. The 
strongest feeling in the mind of a savage is a sense of his own independence. 
He has sacrificed so small a portion of his natural liberty by becoming a 
member of society, that he remains, in a great degree, the sole master of 
his own actions.* He often takes his resolutions atone, without consulting 
or feeling any connection with the persons around him. In many of his 
operations he stands as much detached from the rest of his species as if he 
had formed no union with them. Conscious how little he depends upon 
other men, he is apt to view them with a careless indifference. Even the 
force of his mind contributes to increase this unconcern ; and as he looks 
not beyond himself in deliberating with respect to the part which he should 
act, his solicitude about the consequences of it seldom extends further. 
He pursues his own career, and indulges his own fancy, without inquirii^ 
or regarding whether what he does be agreeable or offensive to others, 
whether they may derive benefit or receive hurt from it. Hence the 
ungovernable caprice of savages, their impatience under any species of 
restraint, their inability to suppress or moderate any inclination, the scorn 
or neglect with which they receive advice, their high estimation of them- 
selves, and their contempt of other men. Among them, the pride of inde- 
pendence produces almost the same effects with interestedness in a more 
advanced state of society ; it refers everything to a man himself, it leads him to 
be indifferent about the manner in which his actions may affect other men, and 
renders the gratification of bis own wishes the measure and end of conduct. 

To the same cause may be imputed the hardness of heart and insensibi- 
lity remarkable in all savage nations. Their minds, roused only by strong 
emotions, are little susceptible of gentle, delicate, or tender affections.] 
Their union is so incomplete that each individual acts as if he retained all 
his natural rights entire and undiminished. If a favour is conferred upon 
him, or any beneficial service is performed on his account, he receives it 
with much satisfaction, because it contributes to his enjoyment ; but this 
sentiment extends not beyond himself, it excites no sense of obligation, he 
neither feels gratitude, nor thinks of making any returnj [94}. Even among 
persons the most closely connected, the exchange of those good offices 
which strengthen attachment, mollify the heart, and sweeten the intercourse 
of life, is not frequent. The high ideas of independence among the Ame- 
ricans nourish a sullen reserve, which keeps them at a distance from each 
other. The nearest relations are mutually afraid to make any demand, 
or to solicit any service,§ lest it should be considered by the other as 
imposing a burden, or laying a restraint upon his will. 

I have already remarked the influence of this hard unfeeling temper 
upon domestic life, with respect to the connection between husband and 
wife, as well as that between parents and children. Its effects are 
no less conspicuous, in the performance of those mutual offices of ten- 
derness whicn the infirmities of our nature frequently exact. Among 
some tribes, when any of their number are seized with any violent disease, 
they are generally abandoned by all around them, who, careless of their 
recovery, fly in the utmost consternation from the supposed danger of inflec- 
tion. II But even where they are not thus deserted, the cold indift'erence 
with which they are attended can afford them little consolation. No look 
of sympathy, no soothing expressions, no officious services, contribute to 
alleviate the distress of the sufferers, or to make them foi^et what they 
endure. IF Their nearest relations will often refuse to submit to (he smallest 
jnconveniency, or to part with the least trifle, however much it may tend 

* Fernandez Mission, de Iob Cliequit. 33. Cliarlev. Hist. N. Pr. iii. 300. '^ Oviedo, Hist, 

lib. xvi. c. 2. $ De la Potlierir, iii. 28. || Lo.Ute dc P, Cataneo ap. Muratori ChriBtian. i, 

.TO. Tortrc, ii, 410. I.ozano, lOil. Hcrrera, dec. 4. lib. viii.c. 5, dec. 5. lib, iv. f , 2. FalknciV. 
Hfscript. of Paiagonia, 98 "a Gumilla, i. 329. Lozano, 100. 



192 HISTORY OF iBooKlV. 

to their accommodation or relief.* So little is the breast of a savage sus- 
ceptible of those sentiments which prompt men to that feeling attention 
which mitigates the calamities of human life, that, in some provinces of 
America, the Spaniards have found it necessary to enforce the common 
duties of humanity by positive laws, and to oblige husbands and wives, 
parents and children, under severe penalties, to take care of each other 
during their sickness.f The same harshness of temper is still more con- 
spicuous in their treatment of the animal creation. Prior to their inter- 
course with the people of Europe, the North Americans had some tame 
dogs, which accompanied them in their hunting excursions, and served 
them with all the ardour and fidelity peculiar to the species. But, 
instead of that fond attachment which the hunter naturally feels towards 
those useful companions of his toils, they requite their services with 
neglect, seldom feed, and never caress them. J In other provinces the 
Americans have become acquainted with the domestic animals of Europe, 
and availed themselves of their service ; but it is universally observed that 
they always treat them harshly ,§ and never employ any method either for 
breaking or managing them, but force and cruelty. In every part of the 
deportment of man in his savage state, whether towards his equals of the 
human species, or towards the animals below him, we recognise the same 
character, and trace the operations of a mind intent on its own gratifications, 
and regulated by its own caprice, with little attention or sensibility to the 
sentiments and feelings of the beings around him. 

After explaining how unfavourable the savage state is to the cultivation 
of the understanding, and to the improvement of the heart, I should not 
have thought it necessary to mention what may be deemed its lesser 
defects, if the character of nations, as well as of individuals, were not often 
more distinctly marked by circumstances apparently trivial than by those 
of greater moment. A savage frequently placed in situations of danger 
and distress, depending on himself alone, and wrapped up in his own 
thoughts and schemes, is a serious melancholy animal. His attention to 
others is small. The range of his own ideas is narrow. Hence that taci- 
turnity which is so disgusting to men accustomed to the open intercourse of 
social conversation. When they are not engaged in action, the Americans 
often sit whole days in one posture, without opening their lips.H When 
they go forth to war, or to the chase, they usually march in a line at some 
distance from one another, and without exchanging a word. The same 
profound silence is observed when they row together in a canoe. IT It is 
only when they are animated by intoxicating liquors, or roused by the 
jollity of the festival and dance, that they become gay and conversible._ 

To the same causes may be imputed the refined cunning with which 
they form and execute their schemes. Men who are not habituated to a 
liberal communication of their own sentiments and wishes, are apt to be so 
distrustful as to place little confidence in others, and to have recourse to an 
insidious craft in accomplishing their own puposes. In civilized life, those 
persons who by their situations have but a few objects of pursuit on which 
their minds incessantly dwell, are most remarkable for low artifice in carry- 
ing on their little projects. Among savages, whose views are equally 
confined, and their attention no less persevering, those circumstances must 
operate still more powerfully, and gradually accustom them to a disin- 
genuous subtlety in all their transactions. The force of this is increased by 
habits which they acquire in carrying on the two most interesting operations 
wherein they are engaged. With them war is a system of craft, in which 
they trust for success to stratagem more than to open force, and have their 

* Gargia Origen, &c. 90. Herrera, dec. 4. lib. viii. c. 5. t Cogulludo Hist, de Vucathan, p. 300. 
t Charlev. N. Fr. iii. 119. 3V. (s Ulloa Notic. .\mprican. :!1C. II Voyage de Bougiwr, I(R. 
*! Charlev. iv. 340 



AMERICA. 19S 

invention continually on the stretch to circumvent and surprise their 
enemies. As hunters, it is their constant object to ensnare in order that 
they may destroy. Accordingly, art and cunning have been universally 
observedf as distinguishing characteristics of all savages. The people 6l' 
the rude tribes of America are remarkable for their artifice and duplicity. 
Impenetrably secrect in forming their measures, they pursue theni with a 
patient undeviating attention, and there is no refinement of dissimulation 
which they cannot employ, in order to ensure success. The natives of 
Peru were engaged above thirty years, in concerting the plan of that 
insurrection which took place under the vice-royalty of the Marquis de 
Villa Garcia ; and though it was communicated to a great number of 
persons, in all different ranks, no indication of it ever transpired during 
that long period ; no man betrayed his trust, or, by an unguarded look, 
or rash word, gave rise to any suspicion of what was intended.* The 
dissimulation and craft of individuals is no less remarkable than that of 
nations. When set upon deceiving, they wrap themselves up so artificially, 
that it is impossible to penetrate into their intentions, or to detect their 
designs.! 

But if there be defects or vices peculiar to the savage state, there are 
likewise virtues which it inspires, and good qualities, to the exercise of 
which it is friendly. The bonds of society sit so loose upon the members 
of the more rude American tribes, that they hardly feel any restraint. 
Hence the spirit of independence, which is the pride of a savage, and 
which he considers as the unalienable prerogative of man. Incapable of 
control, and disdaining to acknowledge any superior, his mind, though 
limited in its powers, and erring in many of its pursuits, acquires such 
elevation by the consciousness of its own freedom, that he acts on some 
occasions with astonishing force, and perseverance, and dignity. 

As independence nourishes this high spirit among savages, the perpetual 
wars in which they are engaged call it forth into action. Such long inter- 
vals of tranquillity as are frequent in polished societies are unknown in the 
savage state. Their enmities, as I have observed, are implacable and 
immortal. The valour of the youn^ men is never allowed to rust in 
inaction. The hatchet is always in the hand, either for attack or defence. 
Even in their hunting excursions, they must be on their guard against- 
surprise from the hostile tribes by which they are surrounded. Accustomed 
to continual alarms, they grow familiar with danger ; courage becomes an 
habitual virtue, resulting naturally from their situation, and strengthened 
by constant exertions. The mode of displaying fortitude may not be the 
same in small and rude communities, as in more powerful and civilized 
.states. Their system of war, and standard of valour may be fornied upon 
different principles ; but in no situation does the human mind rise more 
superior to the sense of danger, or the dread of death, than in its most 
simple and uncultivated state. 

Another virtue remarkable among savages, is attachment to the commu- 
nity of which they are members. From the nature of their political union, 
one might expect this tie to be extremely feeble. But there are circum- 
stances which render the influence, even of their loose mode of association, 
very powerful. The American tribes are small ; conilmied against their 
neighbours, in prosecution of ancient enmities, or in avenging recent injuries, 
their interests and operations are neither numerous n(jr complex. These 
are objects which the uncultivated understanding of a savage can compre- 
hend. His heart is capable of forming connections which are so little dif- 
fused. He assents with warmth to public measures, dictated by passions 
similar to those which direct his own conduct. Hence the ardour with 
which individuals undertake the most perilous service, when the commu- 

* Voyage de Ulkja, i), 309. t OHoiiKa, i. 163. Chariiv 

Vol,. 1.-25 



194 HISTORY OF [Book IV. 

nity deems it necessary. Hence their fierce and deep rooted antipathy to 
the public enemies. Hence their zeal for the honour of their tribe, and 
that Jove of their country, which prompts them to brave danger that it may 
triumph, and to endure the most exquisite torments, without a groan, that 
it may not be disgraced. 

Thus, in every situation where a human being can be placed, even in the 
most unfavourable, there are virtues which peculiarly belong to it ; there 
are affections which it calls forth ; there is a species of happiness which it 
yields. Nature, with the most beneficent intention, conciliates and forms 
the mind to its condition ; the ideas and wishes of man extend not beyond 
that state of society to which he is habituated. What it presents as objects 
of contemplation or enjoyment, tills and satisfies his mind, and he can 
hardly conceive any other, mode of life to be pleasant, or even tolerable. 
The Tartar, accustomed to roam over extensive plains, and to subsist on the 
product of his herds, imprecates upon his enemy, as the greatest of all 
curses, that he may be condemned to reside in one place, and to be nourished 
with the top of a weed. The rude Americans, fond of their own pursuits, 
and satisfied with their own lot, are equally unable to comprehend the 
intention or utility of the various accommodations, which, in more polished 
society are deemed essential to the comfort of Jife. Far from complaining 
of their own situation, or viewing that of men in a more improved state 
Avith admiration or envy, they regard themselves as the standard of excel- 
lence, as beings the best entitled, as well as the most perfectly qualified, to 
enjoy real happiness. Unaccustomed to any restraint upon their will or 
their actions, they behold with amazement the inequality of rank, and the 
subordination which takes place in civihzed life, and consider the volun- 
tary submission of one man to another as a renunciation no less base than 
unaccountable, of the first distinction of humanity. Void of foresight, as 
Avell as free from care themselves, and delighted with that state of indolent 
security, they wonder at the anxious precautions, the unceasing industry, 
and complicated arrangements of Europeans, in guarding against distant 
evils, or providing for future wants ; and they often exclaim against their 
preposterous folly, in thus multiplying the troubles and increasing the 
labour of life.* This preference of their own manners is conspicuous on 
every occasion. Even the names, by which the various nations wish to be 
distinguished, are assumed from this idea of their own pre-eminence. 
The appellation which the Iroquois give to themselves is the chief of rnenJ^ 
Caraibe, the original name of the fierce inhabitants of the Windward Islands, 
signifies the warlike people. \ The Cherokees, from an idea of their own 
superiority, call the Europeans Nothings, or the accursed race, and assume 
to themselves the name of the beloved people.^ The same principle regu- 
lated the notions of the other Americans concerning the Europeans ; for 
although at first they were filled with astonishment at their arts, and with 
dread of their power, thpy soon came to abate their estimation of men 
whose maxims of life were so different from their own. Hence they 
called them the froth of the sea, men without father or mother. They 
supposed, that either they had no country of their own, and therefore 
invaded that which belonged to others ;il or that, being destitute of the 
necessaries of life at home, they were obliged to roam over the ocean, in 
order to rob such as were more amply provided. 

Men thus satisfied with their condition are far from any inclination to 
relinquish their own habits, or to adopt those of civilized life. The transi- 
tion is too violent to be suddenly made. Even where endeavours have 
been used to wean a savage from his own customs, and to render the accom- 
niodations of polished society familiar to him ; even where he has been 

* Charlev. N. Fr. iii. 338. Lahontan, ii. 97. t CoMcn, i. 3. i Rochefort Hist. dc3 Antilles. 
455. fi Adair Higt. Aiiier. Indians, p. 32. || Benzou. Hist. Novi Orbis, lib. iii. c. 21, 



AMERICA. 195 

allowed to taste ot" those pleasures, and has been honoured with those 
distinctions, which are the chief objects of our desire, he droops and lan- 
guishes under the restraint of laws and forms, he seizes the first opportunity 
of breaking loose from them, and returns with transport to the forest or the 
wild, where he can enjoy a careless and uncontrolled freedom.* 

Thus I have finished a laborious delineation of the character and man- 
ners of the uncivilized tribes scattered over the vast continent of America. 
In this, I aspire not at rivalling the great masters who have painted and 
adorned savage life, either in boldness of design, or in the glow and beauty 
of their colouring. I am satisfied with the more humble merit of having 

f)ersisted with patient industry, in viewing my subject in many various 
i^hts, and collecting from the most accurate observers such detached, and 
otten minute features, as might enable me to exhibit a portrait that resembles 
the original. 

Before I close this part of my work, one observation more is necessary* 
in order to justify the conclusions which I have formed, or to prevent the 
mistakes into which such as examine them may fall. In contemplating the 
inhabitants of a country so widely extended as America^ great attention 
should be paid to the diversity ot climates under which they are placed. 
The influence of this I have pointed out with respect to several important 
particulars which have been the object of research ; but even where it 
has not been mentioned, it ought not to be overlooked. The provinces of 
America are of such different temperament, that this alone is sufficient to 
constitute a distinction between their inhabitants. In every part of the 
earth where man exists, the power of climate operates, with decisive 
influence, upon his condition and character. In those countries which 
approach near to the extremes of heat or cold, this influence is so conspi- 
cuous as to strike every eye. Whether we consider man merely as an 
animal, or as being endowed with rational powers which fit him for activity 
and speculation, we shall find that he has uniformly attained the greatest 
perfection of which his nature is capable, in the temperate regions of the 
globe. There his constitution is most vigorous, his Oi-gans most acute, and 
his form most beautiful. There, too, he possesses a superior extent of 
capacity, greater fertility of imagination, more enterprising courage, and a 
sensibility of heart which gives birth to desires, not only ardent, but perse- 
vering. In this favourite situation he has displayed the utmost efforts of 
his genius, in literature, in policy, in commerce, in war, and ui all the arts 
which improve or embellish life.f 

This powerful operation of climate is felt most sensibly by rude nations^ 
and produces greater effects than in societies more improved. The talents 
of civilized men are continually exerted in rendering their own condition 
more comfortable ; and by their ingenuity and inventions, they can in a 
great measure supply the defects, and guard against the inconveniences of 
any climate. But the improvident savage is affected by every circum- 
stance peculiar to his situation. He takes no precaution either to mitigate 
or to improve it. Like a plant or an animal, he is formed by the climate 
under which he is placed, and feels the full force of its influence. 

In sur\ eying the rude nations of America, this natural distinction between 
the inhabitants of the temperate and torrid zones is very remarkable. 
They may, accordingly, be divided into two great classes. The one com- 
prehends all the North Americans from the river St. Laurence to the Gulf 
of Mexico, together with the people of Chili, and a few small tribes 
towards the extremity of the southern continent. To the other belong 
all the inhabitants of the islands, and those settled in the various provinces 
which extend from the isthmus of Daricn almost to the southern confines 

* Charlav. N. FT. iii. 35J2. * Dr, Furgnmiib Y.way on the Hist, of Civil Society, 

art. iii. ch I. 



1% JilST01(\ OF [BookIV. 

of Brasil, along tlie east side of the Andes. In the former, which compre- 
hends all the regions of the temperate zone that in America are inhabited, 
the human species appears manifestly to be more perfect. The natives 
are more robust, more active, more intelligent, and more courageous. 
They possess, in the most eminent degree, that force of mind, and love of 
independence, which I have pointed out as the chief virtues of man in his 
savage state. Tliey have defended their liberty with persevering fortitude 
against the Europeans, who subdued the other rude nations ot America 
with the greatest ease. The natives of the temperate zone are the only 
people in the New World who are indebted for their freedom to their own 
valour. The North Americans, though long encompassed by three formi- 
dable European powers, still retain part of their original possessions, and 
continue to exist as independent nations. The people of Chili, though 
early invaded, still maintain a gallant contest with the Spaniards, and 
have set bounds to their encroachments ; whereas, in the warmer regions, 
men are more feeble in their frame, less vigorous in the efforts of their 
minds, of a gentle but dastardly spirit, more enslaved by pleasure, and 
more sunk in indolence. Accordingly, it is in the torrid zone that the 
Europeans have most completely established their dominion over Ame- 
rica ; the most fertile and desirable provinces in it are subjected to their 
yoke ; and if several tribes there still enjoy independence, it is either 
because they have never been attacked by an enemy already satiated with 
conquest, and possessed of larger territories than he was able to occupy, or 
because they have been saved from oppression by their remote and inac- 
cessible situation. 

Conspicuous as this distinction may appear between the inhabitants of 
those different regions, it is not, however, universal. Moral and political 
causes, as I have formerly observed, affect the disposition and character of 
individuals, as well as nations, still more powerfully than the influence of 
climate. There are, accordingly, some tribes, in various parts of the 
torrid zone, possessed of courage, high spirit, and the love of independence, 
in a degree hardly inferior to the natives of more temperate climates. We 
are too little acquainted with the history of those people, to be able to trace 
the several circumstances in their progress and condition, to which they 
are indebted for this remarkable pre-eminence. The fact, nevertheless, is 
certain. As early as the first voyage of Columbus, he received information 
that several of the islands were inhabited by the Caribbees, a fierce race of 
men, nowise resembling their feeble and timid neighbours. In his second 
expedition to the New World, he found this information to be just, and was 
himself a witness of their intrepid valour* [95]. The same character 
they have maintained invariably in all subsequent contests with the people 
t)f Europe ;t and even in our own times we have seen them make a gal- 
lant stand in defence of the last territory which the rapacity of the invaders 
had left in their possession [96]. Some nations in Brasil were no less 
eminent for vigour of mind and bravery in war.| The people of (he 
isthmus of Darien boldly met the Spaniards in the field, and tVequenlly 
repelled those formidable invaders.§ Other instances might be produced. 
It is not by attending to any single cause or principle, how powerful and 
extensive soever its influence may appear, that we can explain (he actions, 
or account for the character of men. Even the law ot climate, more 
universal, perhaps, in its operation than any (hat affects the human species, 
cannot be applied, in judging of their conduct, without many exceptions. 

♦ Life of Columbus, c. 47, 48. t Kocliefort Hist, dws Antilles, 531. t I-ery ap. de Bry, iii. 
207, tic. $ Herrera, dec. I. lib. x. c. 15, &c. dec. 2. passim. 



AMERICA. 197 



BOOK V. 

When Grijalva [1518.] returned to Cuba, he found the armament 
destined to attempt the conquest of that rich country which he had discovered 
almost complete. Not only ambition, but avarice, had urged Velasquez 
to hasten his preparations; and having such a prospect of gratifying both, 
he had advanced considerable sums out of his private tortune towards 
defraying the expenses of the expedition. At the same time, he exerted 
his influence as governor, in engaging the most distinguished persons in the 
colony to undertake the service [97]. At a time when the spirit of the 
Spanish nation was adventurous to excess, a number of soldiers, eager to 
embark in any daring enterprise, soon appeared. But it was not so easy 
to find a person qualified to take the command in an expedition of so 
much importance ; and the character of Velasquez, who had the right of 
nomination, greatly increased the difficulty of the choice. Though of most 
aspiring ambition, and not destitute of talents for government, he possessed 
neither such courage, nor such vigour and activity of mind, as to undertake 
in person the conduct of the armament which he was preparing. In this 
embarrassing situation, he formed the chimerical scheme, not only of 
achieving great exploits by a deputy, but of securing to himself the glory 
of conquests which were to be made by another. In the execution of this 
plan, he fondly aimed at reconciling contradictions. He was solicitous 
to choose a commander of intrepid resolution, and of superior abilities, 
because he knew these to be requisite in order to ensure success ; but, at 
the same time, from the jealousy natural to little minds, he wished this 
person to be of a spirit so tame and obsequious as to be entirely dependent 
on his will. But when he came to apply those ideas in forming an opinion 
concerning the several officers who occurred to his thoughts as worthy of 
being intrusted with the command, he soon perceived that it was impos- 
sible to find such incompatible qualities united in one character. Such as 
were distinguished for courage and talents were too high spirited to be 
passive instruments in his hands. Those who appeared more gentle and 
tractable were destitute of capacity, and unequal to the chaise. This 
augmented his perplexity and his fears. He deliberated long and with 
much solicitude, and was still wavering in his choice when Amador de 
Lares, the royal treasurer in Cuba, and Andres Duero, his own secretary, 
the two persons in whom he chiefly confided, were encouraged by this 
irresolution to propose a new candidate ; and they supported their recom- 
mendation with such assiduity and address, that, no less fatally for Velas- 
quez than happily for their country, it proved successful.* 

The man whom they pointed out to him was Fernando Cortes. He was 
born at Medellin, a small town in Estremadura, in the year one thousand 
four hundred and eighty-five, and descended from a family of noble blood, 
but of very moderate fortune. Being originally destined by his parents to 
the study of law, as the most likely method of bettering bis condition, he 
was sent early to the university of Salamanca, where he imbibed some 
tincture of learning. But he was soon disgusted with an academic life, 
Avhich did not suit his ardent and restless genius, and retired to Medellin, 
where he gave himself up entirely to active sports and martial exercises. 
At this period of life he was so impetuous, so overhearing, and so dissipated, 
that his father was glad to comply with his inclination, and sent him abroad 
as an adventurer in arms. There were in that age two conspicuous 
theatres, on which such of the Spanish youth as courted military glory 

• B. Diaz. c. 19. Gomara Cron. r. 7. Ilerrera, drc. 2. lib. iii. e. 11. 



198 H I S T O R Y O F [Book V. 

might display their valour ; one in Italy, under the command of the Great 
Captain ; the other in the New World. Cortes pretierred the former, but 
was prevented by indisposition from embarking with a reinforcement of 
troops sent to Naples. Upon this disappointment he turned his views 
towards America, whither he was allured by the prospect of the advan- 
tages which he might derive from the patronage of Ovando [98], the 
fovemor of Hispaniola, who was his kinsman. When he landed at St. 
)omingo, in one thousand five hundred and four, his reception was such as 
equalled his most sanguine hopes, and he was employed by the Governor 
in several honourable and lucrative stations. These, however, did not 
satisfy his ambition; and, in the year one thousand five hundred and 
eleven, he obtained permission to accompany Diego Velasquez in his 
expedition to Cuba. In this service he distinguished himself so much, 
that, notwithstanding some violent contests with Velasquez, occasioned by 
trivial events unworthy of remembrance, he was at length taken into 
favour, and received an ample concession of lands and of Indians, the 
recompense usually bestowed upon adventurers in the New World.* 

Though Cortes had not hitherto acted in high command, he had dis- 
played such qualities in several scenes of difficulty and danger, as raised 
universal expectation, and turned the eyes of his counti-yraen towards him 
as one capable of performing great things. The turbulence of youth, as 
soon as he found objects and occupations suited to the ardour of his mind, 
gradually subsided and settled into a habit of regular indefatigable 
activity. The impetuosity of his temper, when he came to act with his 
equals, insensibly abated, by being kept under restraint, and mellowed 
into a cordial soldierly frankness. These qualities were accompanied 
with calm prudence in concerting his schemes, with persevering vigour in 
executing them, and with, what is peculiar to superior genius, the art of 
gaining the confidence and governing the minds of men. To all which 
were added the inferior accomplishments that strike the vulgar, and com- 
mand their respect ; a graceful person, a winning aspect, extraordinarj'- 
address in martial exercises, and a constitution of such vigour as to be 
capable of enduring any fatigue. 

As soon as Cortes was mentioned to Velasquez by his two confidants, 
he flattered himself that he had at length found what he had hitherto 
sought in vain, a man with talents for command, but not an object for 
jealousy. Neither the rank nor the fortune of Cortes, as he imagined, was 
such that he could aspire at independence. He had reason to believe that 
by his own readiness to bury ancient animosities in oblivion, as well as his 
liberality in conferring several recent favours, he had already gained the 
good will of Cortes, and hoped, by this new and unexpected mark of con- 
fidence, that he might attach him for ever to his interest. 

Cortes, receiving his commission [Oct. 23], with the warmest expressions 
of respect and gratitude to the governor, immediately erected his standard 
before his own house, appeared in a military dress, and assumed all the 
ensigns of his new dignity. His utmost influence and activity were exerted 
in persuading many of his friends to engage in the service, and in urging 
forward the preparations for the voyage. All his own funds, together with 
what money he could raise by mortgaging his lands and Indians, were 
expended in purchasing militarj' stores and provisions, or in supplying the 
Avants of such of his officers as were unable to equip themselves in a manner 
suited to their rank [99]. Inoffensive and even laudable as this conduct 
was, his disappointed competitors were malicious enough to give it a turn 
to his disadvantage. They represented him as aiming already, with little 
disguise, at establishing an independent authority over his troops, and 
(endeavouring to secure their respecter love by his ostentatious and intef^- 

* floBjaij Cron, c. 1,9, 3, 



AMERICA. 199 

psted liberality. They reminded Velasquez of his former dissensions with 
the man in whom he now reposed so much confidence, and foretold that 
Cortes would be more apt to avail himself of the power which the 
governor was inconsiderately putting in his hands, to avenge past injuries 
than to requite recent obligations. These insinuations made such impres- 
sion upon the suspicious mind of Velasquez, that Cortes soon observed 
some symptoms of a growing alienation and distrust in his behaviour, and 
was advised by Lares and Duero to hasten his departure before these 
should become so confirmed as to break out with open violence. Fully 
sensible of this danger, he urged forward his preparations with such rapidity 
that he set sail from St. Jago de Cuba on the eighteenth of November. 
Velasquez accompanying him to the shore, and taking leave of him with 
an appearance of pertect friendship and confidence, though he had secretly 
given it in chaige to some of Cortes' officers, to keep a watchful eye upon 
every part of their commander's conduct.* 

Cortes proceeded to Trinidad, a small settlement on the same side of the 
island, where he was joined by several adventurers, and received a supply 
of provisions and military stores, of which his stock was still very incom- 
plete. He had hardly left St. Jago, when the jealousy which had been 
working in the breast of Velasquez grew so violent that it was impossible 
to suppress it. The armament was no longer under his own eye and direc- 
tion ; and he felt that as his power over it ceased, that of Cortes would 
become more absolute. Imagination now aggravated every circumstance 
which had formerly excited suspicion : the rivals of Cortes industriously 
threw in reflections which increased his fear ; and with no less art than 
malice they called superstition to their aid, employing the predictions of 
an astrologer in order to complete the alarm. All these, by their united 
operation, produced the desired efi'ect. Velasquez repented bitterly of his 
own imprudence, in having committed a trust of so much importance to a 
person whose fidelity appeared so doubtful, and hastily despatched in- 
structions to Trinidad, empowering Verdugo, the chief magistrate there, 
to deprive Cortes of his commission. But Cortes had already made such 
progress in gaining the esteem and confidence of his troops, that, finding 
oflicers as well as soldiers equally zealous to support his authority, he 
soothed or intimidated Verdugo, and was permitted to depart from Trinidad 
without molestation. 

From Trinidad Cortes sailed for the Havana, in order to raise more 
soldiers, and to complete the victualling of his fleet. There several persons 
of distinction entered into the service, and engaged to supply what 
provisions were still wanting ; but as it was necessary to allow them some 
time for perforrhing what they had promised, Velasquez, sensible that he 
ought no longer to rely on a man of whom he had so openly discovered his 
distrust, availed himself of the interval which this unavoidable delay 
afforded, in order to make one attempt more to wrest the command out of 
the han(k of Cortes. He loudly complained of Verdugo's conduct, accusing 
him either of childish facility, or of manifest treachery, in suffering Cortes 
to escape from Trinidad. Anxious to guard against a second disappoint- 
ment, he sent a person of confidence to the Havana, with peremptory 
injunctions to Pedro Barba, his lieutenant-governor in that colony, instantly 
to arrest Cortes, to send him prisoner to St. Jago under a strong guard, and 
to countermand the sailing of the armament until he should receive further 
orders. He wrote likewise to the principal officers, requiring them to 
assist Barba in executing what he had given him in charge. But before 
the arrival of this messenger, a Franciscan friar of St. Jago had secretly 
conveyed an account of this interesting transaction to Bartholomew de 
Olmedo, a monk of the same order, who acted as chaplain to the expedition. 

* Gomara, Cron. r. 7 H Piaz, r. W. 



200 HISTORY OF [Book v. 

Cortes, forewarned of the danger, had time to take precautions for his 
own safety. His first step was to find some pretext for removing from the 
Havana Diego de Ordaz, an officer of great merit, but in whom, on account 
of his known attachment to Velasquez, he could not confide in this trying 
and delicate juncture. He gave him the command of a vessel destined to 
take on board some provisions in a small harbour beyond Cape Antonio, 
and thus made sure of his absence without seeming to suspect his fidelity. 
When he was gone, Cortes no longer concealed the intentions of Velasquez 
from his troops ; and as officers and soldiers were equally impatient to set 
out on an expedition, in preparing for which most of them had expended 
all their fortunes, they expressed their astonishment and indignation at that 
illiberal jealousy to which the governor was about to sacrifice, not only 
the honour of their general, but all their sanguine hopes of glory and 
wealth. With one voice they entreated that he would not abandon the 
important station to which he had such a good title. They conjured him 
not to deprive them of a leader whom they followed with such well 
founded confidence, and offered to shed the last drop of their blood in 
piaintainmg his authority. Cortes was easily induced to comply with 
what h'j himself so ardently desired. He swore that he would never 
desert soldiers who had given him such a signal proof of their attachment, 
and promised instantly to conduct them to that rich country which had 
been so long the object of their thoughts and wishes. This declaration 
was received with transports of military applause, accompanied with 
threats and imprecations against all who should presume to call in question 
the jurisdiction of their general, or to obstruct the execution of his designs. 

Every thing was now ready for their departure ; but though this expe- 
dition was fitted out by the united eiTort of the Spanish power in Cuba ; 
though every settlement had contributed its quota of men and provisions ; 
though the governor had laid out consideral)le sums, and each adventurer 
had exhausted his stock, or strained his credit, the poverty of the prepara- 
tions was such as must astonish the present age, and bore, indeed, no 
resemblance to an armament destined for the conquest of a great empire. 
The fleet consisted of eleven vessels ; the largest of a hundred tons, which 
was dignified by the name of jfVdmiral ; three of seventy or eighty tons, 
and the rest small open barks. On board of these were six hundred and 
seventeen men ; of which five hundred and eight belonged to the land 
service, and a hundred and nine were seamen or artificers. The soldiers 
were divided into eleven companies, according to the number of the ships; 
to each of which Cortes appointed a captain, and committed to him the 
command of the vessel while at sea, and of the men when on shore [lOO]. 
As the use of fire arms among the nations of Europe was hitherto confined 
to a few battalions of regularly disciplined infantry, only thirteen soldiers 
were armed with muskets, thirty-two were cross-bow men, and the rest 
had swords and spears. Instead of the usual defensive armour, which 
must have been cumbersome in a hot climate, the soldiers wore jackets 
quilted with cotton, which experience had taught the Spaniards to be a 
sufficient protection against the weapons of the Americans. They had 
only sixteen horses, ten small field pieces, arid four falconets.* 

With this slender and ill provided train did Cortes set sail [Feb. 10, 
1519], to make war upon a monarch whose dominions were more extensive 
than all the kingdoms subject to the Spanish crown. As religious enthu- 
siasm always mingled with the spirit of adventure in the New World, and, 
by a combination still more strange, united with avarice, in prompting the 
Spaniards to all their enterprises, a lai-ge cross was displayed in their 
standards, with this inscription, Le< us follow the cross, for under this sign 
WP siixtll conquer. 

* n. IJiaz, c. 19. 



AMERICA. 201 

So powerlully were Cortes and his followers animated with both these 
passions, that no Jess eager to plunder the opulent country whither they 
were bound, than zealous to propagate the Christian faith among its inha- 
bitants, they set out, not with the solicitude natural to men going upon 
dangerous services, but with that confidence which arises from security of 
success, and certainty of the divine protection. 

As Cortes had determined to touch at every place where Grijalva had 
visited, he steered directly towards the island of Cozumel ; there he had 
the good fortune to redeem Jerome de Aguilar, a Spaniard, who had been 
eight years a prisoner among the Indians. This man was perfectly ac- 
quainted with a dialect of their language understood through a large extent 
of country, and possessing besides a considerable share of prudence and 
sagacity, proved extremely useful as an interpreter. From Cozumel, 
Cortes proceeded to the river of Tabasco [March 4], in hopes of a recep- 
tion as friendly as Grijalva had met with there, and of finding gold in the 
same abundance ; but the disposition of the natives, from some unknown 
cause, was totally changed. After repeated endeavours to conciliate their 
good will, he was constrained to have recourse to violence. Though the 
lorces of the enemy were numerous, and advanced with extraordinary 
courage, they were routed with great slaughter in several successive actions 
The loss which they had sustained, and still more the astonishment and terror 
excited by the destructive effect of the fire arms, and the dreadful appear- 
ance of the horses, humbled their fierce spirits, and induced them to sue 
for peace. They acknowledged the King of Castile as their sovereign, and 
granted Cortes a supply of provisions with a present of cotton garments, 
some gold, and twenty female slaves [lOl]. 

Cortes continued his course to the westward, keeping as near the shore 
as possible, in order to observe the country ; but could discover no proper 
place for landing until he arrived at St. Juan de Ulua.* As he entered 
this harbour [April 2], a large canoe full of people, among whom were 
two who seemed to oe persons of distinction, approached his ship with 
signs of peace and amity. They came on board without fear or distrust, 
and addressed him in a most respectful manner, but in a language altogether 
unknown to Aguilar. Cortes was in the utmost perplexity and distress at 
an event of which he instantly foresaw the consequences, and already felt 
the hesitation and uncertainty with which he should carry on the great 
schemes which he meditated, if, in his transactions with the natives, he 
must depend entirely upon such an imperfect, ambiguous, and conjectural 
mode of communication as the use of signs. But he did not remain long 
in his embarrassing situation ; a fortunate accident extricated him when 
his own sagacity could have contributed little towards his relief. One of 
the female slaves, whom he had received trom the cazique of Tabasco, 
happened to be present at the first interview between Cortes and his new 
guests. She perceived his distress, as well as the contusion of Aguilar ; 
and, as she perfectly understood the Mexican language, she explained 
what they had said in the Yucatan tongue, with which Aguilar was ac- 
quainted. This woman, known afterwards by the name of Donna Marina, 
and who makes a conspicuous figure in the history of the New World, 
where great revolutions were brought about by small causes and incon- 
siderable instruments, was born in one of the provinces of the Mexican 
Empire. Having been sold as a slave in the early part of her life, after 
a variety of adventures she fell into the hands of the Tabascans, and had 
resided long enough among them to acquire their language without losing 
the use of her own. Though it was both tedious and troublesome to 
converse by the intervention of two different interpreters, Cortes was so 
highly pleased with having discovered this method of carrying on some 

* B. Diaz, c. 31—36. Gomam Cron. c, 18—33. Herrera, dec. 2. lib. jv. c. 11. Sec. 

Vol. I.— 2fi 



202 HISTORY OF [BookV. 

intercourse with the people of a countiy into which he was determined 
to penetrate, that in the transports of his joy he considered it as a visible 
interposition of Providence in his favour.* 

He now learned that the twopersons whom he had received on board 
of his ship were deputies from Teutile and Pilpatoe, two officers intrusted 
with the government of that province by a great monarch whom they 
called Montezuma ; and that they were sent to inquire what his intentions 
were in visiting their coast, and to offer him what assistance he might 
need, in order to continue his voyage. Cortes, struck with the appearance 
of those people, as well as the tenor of the ruessage, assured them, in 
respectful terms, that he approached their country with most friendly 
sentiments, and came to propose matters ol great importance to the welfare 
of their prince and his kingdom, which he would untold more iully, in 

J)erson, to the governor and the general. Next morning, without waiting 
or any answer, he landed his troops, his horses, and artiliery ; and, having 
chosen proper ground, began to erect huts Ibi his men, and to fortily his 
camp. The natives, instead of opposing the entrance ol those fatal guests 
into their country, assisted them in all their operations with an alacrity of 
which they had ere long good reason to repent. 

Next day Teutile and Pilpatoe entered the Spanish camp with a numerous 
retinue ; and Cortes, considering them as the ministers of a great monarch 
entitled to a degree of attention veiy different from that which the Spaniards 
were accustomed to pay the petty caziques with whom they had intercourse 
in the isles, received them with much ibrmal ceremony. He informed 
them, that he came as ambassador from Don Carlos of Austria, King of 
Castile, the greatest monarch of the East, and was intrusted with 
propositions of such moment, that he could impart them to none but the 
Emperor Montezuma himself, and therefore required them to conduct him, 
without loss of time, into the presence of their master. The Mexican 
officers could not conceal their uneasiness at a request which they knew 
would be disagreeable, and which they foresaw might prove extremely 
embarrassing to their sovereign, whose mind had been hlled with many 
disquieting apprehensions ever since the former appearance of the Spaniards 
on his coasts. But before they attempted to dissuade Cortes from insisting 
on his demand, they endeavoured to conciliate his good will by entreating 
him to accept of certain presents, which, as humble slaves of Montezuma, 
they laid at his feet. They were introduced with great parade, and con- 
sisted of fine cotton cloth, of plumes of various colours, and of ornaments 
of gold and silver to a considerable value ; the workmanship of which 
appeared to be as curious as the materials were rich. The display of 
these produced an effect very different from what the Mexicans intended. 
Instead of satisfying, it increased the avidity of the Spaniards, and rendered 
them so eager and impatient to become masters of a country which 
abounded with such precious productions, that Cortes could hardly listen 
with patience to the arguments which Pilpatoe and Teutile employed to 
dissuade him from visiting the capital, and in a haughty determined tone 
he insisted on his demand of being admitted to a personal audience 
of their sovereign. During this interview, some painters, in the train 
of the Mexican chiefs, had been diligently employed in delineating, upon 
white cotton cloths, figures of the ships, the horses, the artillery, the soldiers, 
and whatever else attracted their eyes as singular. When Cortes observed 
this, and was informed that these pictures were to be sent to Montezuma, 
in order to convey to him a more lively idea of the strange and wonderlul 
objects now presented to their view than any words could communicate, 
he resolved to render the representation still more animating and interest- 
ingi by exhibiting such a spectacle as might give both them and their 

* B. Diiw, c. 37. 38, 39. Gomara Cron. c. 35. 96. Herrera. drc. 2, lib. v c. 4. 



AMERICA. 203 

ssionarch an awful impression of the extraordinary prowess of his followers, 
and the irresistible force of their arms. The trumpets, by his order, 
sounded an alarm ; the troops, in a moment, formed in order of battle, 
the infantry performed such martial exercises as were best suited to display 
the effect ot their different weapons ; the horse, in various evolutions, 
gave a specimen of their agility and strength ; the artillery, pointed towards 
the thick woods which surrounded the camp, were fired, and made dread- 
ful havoc among the trees. The Mexicans looked on with that silent 
amazement which is natural when the mind is struck with objects which 
are both awful and above its comprehension. But, at the explosion ot the 
cannon, many of them fled, some tell to the ground, and all were so much 
coni'ounded at the sight of men whose power so nearly resembled that of 
the gods, that Cortes found it difficult to compose and reassure them. The 
painters had now many new objects on which to exercise their art, and 
they put their fancy on the stretch in order to invent figures and symbols 
to represent the extraordinary things which they had seen. 

Messengers were immediately despatched to Montezuma with those 
pictures, and a full account ot every thing that had passed since the arrival 
of the Spaniards, and by them Cortes sent a present of some European 
curiosities to Montezuma, which, though of no great value, he believed 
would be acceptable on account of then* novelty. The Mexican monarchs, 
in order to obtain early information of every occurrence in all the corners 
of their extensive empire, had introduced a refinement in police unknown 
at that time in Europe. They had couriers posted at proper stations along 
the principal roads ; and as these were trained to agility by a regular 
education, and relieved one another at moderate distances, they conveyed 
intelligence with surprising rapidity. Though the capital in which Mon- 
tezuma resided was above a hundred and eighty miles from St. Juan de 
Ulua, Cortes's presents were carried thither, and an answer to his demands 
was received in a few days. The same officers who had hitherto treated 
with the Spaniards were employed to deliver this answer ; but as they 
knew how repugnant the determination of their master was to all the 
schemes and wishes of the Spanish commander, they would not venture 
to make it known until they had previously endeavoured to soothe and 
mollify him. For this purpose they renewed their negotiation, by intro- 
ducing a train of a hundred Indians loaded with presents sent to him by 
Montezuma. The magnificence of these was such as became a great 
monarch, and far exceeded any idea which the Spaniards had hitherto 
formed of his wealth. They were placed on mats spread on the ground 
in such order as showed them to the greatest advantage. Cortes and his 
officers viewed with admiration the various manufactures of the country ; 
cotton stuffs so fine, and of such delicate texture as to resemble silk ; 
pictures of animals, trees, and other natural objects, formed with feathers 
of different colours, disposed and mingled with such skill and elegance as 
to rival the works of the pencil in truth and beauty of imitation. But 
what chiefly attracted their eyes were two large plates of a circular form, 
one of massive gold representing the sun, the other of silver, an emblem 
of the moon [l02]. These were accompanied with bracelets, collars, 
rings, and other trinkets of gold ; and that nothing might be wanted which 
could give the Spaniards a complete idea of what the country afforded, 
with some boxes filled with pearls, precious stones, and grams of gold 
unwrought, as they had been found in the mines or rivers. Cortes received 
all these with an appearance of profound veneration for the monarch by 
whom they were bestowed. But when the Mexicans, presuming upon 
this, informed him that their master, though he had desired him to accept 
of what he had sent as a token of regard for that monarch whom Cortes 
represented, would not give his consent that ibreign troops should approach 
nearer to his capital, or even allow them to continue longer in his dominions, 



204 HISTORY OF [BookV. 

the Spanish general declared, in a manner more resolute and peremptory 
than formerly, that he must insist on his first demand, as he could not without 
dishonour, return to his own country, until he was admitted into the pre- 
sence of the prince whom he was appointed to risit in the name oi his 
sovereign. The Mexicans, astonished at seeing any man dare to oppose 
that will which they were accustomed to consider as supreme and irre- 
sistible, yet afraid ot precipitating their country into an open rupture with 
such formidable enemies, prevailed with Cortes to promise that he would 
not remove from his present camp until the return of a messenger whom 
they sent to Montezuma for further instructions.* 

The firmness with which Cortes adhered to his original proposal should 
naturally have brought the negotiation between him and Montezuma to a 
speedy issue, as it seemed to leave the Mexican monarch no choice, but 
either to receive him with confidence as a friend, or to oppose him openly 
as an enemy. The latter was what might have been expected from a 
haughty prince in possession of extensive power. The Mexican empire 
at this period was at a pitch of grandeur to whicn no society ever attained 
in so short a period. Though it had subsisted, according to their own 
traditions, only a hundred and thirty years, its dominion extended from the 
iNorth to the South Sea, over territories stretching, with some small inter- 
ruption, above five hundred leagues from east to west, and more than two 
hundred from north to south, comprehending provinces not inferior in fer- 
tility, population, and opulence, to any in the torrid zone. The people 
were warlike and enterprising ; the authority of the monarch unbounded, 
and his revenues considerable. If, with the lorces which might have been 
suddenly assembled in such an empire, Montezuma had fallen upon the 
Spaniards while encamped on a barren unhealthy coast, unsupported by 
any ally, without a place of retreat, and destitute of provisions, it seems 
to be impossible, even with all the advantages of their superior discipline 
and arms, that they could have stood the shock, and they must either have 
perished in such an unequal contest, or have abandoned the enterprise. 

As the power of Montezuma enabled him to take this spirited part, his 
own dispositions were such as seemed naturally to prompt him to it. Of 
all the princes who had swayed the Mexican sceptre, he was the most 
haughty, the most violent, and the most impatient of control. His subjects 
looked up to him with awe, and his enemies with terror. The former he 
governed with unexampled rigour ; but they were impressed with such an 
opinion of his capacity as commanded their respect ; and, by many victo- 
ries over the latter, he had spread far the dread of his arms, and had 
added several considerable provinces to his dominions. But though his 
talents might be suited to the transactions of a state so imperfectly polish- 
ed as the Mexican empire, and sufficient to conduct them while in their 
accustomed course, they were altogether inadequate to a conjuncture so 
extraordinary, and did not qualify him either to judge with the discern- 
ment or to act with the decision requisite in such tiying emergence. 

From the moment that the Spaniards appeared on his coast, he disco 
vered symptoms of timidity and embarrassment. Instead of taking such 
resolutions as the consciousness of his own power, or the memory of his 
former exploits, might have inspired, he deliberated with an anxiety and 
hesitation which did not escape the notice of his meanest courtiers. The 
perplexity and discomposure of Montezuma's mind upon this occasion, as 
well as the general dismay of his subjects, were not owing wholly to the 
impression which the Spaniards had made by the novelty of their appear- 
ance and the terror of their arms. Its origin may be traced up to a more 
remote source. There was an opinion, if we may believe the earliest and 
most authentic Spanish historians, almost universal among the Americans, 

• B. Diar, r. 39 Gomara Cron. c. 07 Herrera, de ;. 2 lib. v. c. 5, fi. 



AjVIEKICA. 205 

that so:ne dreadful calamity was impending over their heads, from a race 
of formidable invaders, who should come Irom regions towards the rising 
sun, to overrun and desolate their country. Whether this disquieting ap- 
prehension flowed from the memory of some natural calamity which had 
afflicted that part of the globe, and impressed the minds of the inhabitants 
with superstitious fears and forebodings, or whether it was an imagination 
accidentally suggested by the astonishnient which the hrst sight ol a new 
race of men occasioned, it is impossible to determine. But as the Mexi- 
cans were more prone to superstition than any people in the New World, 
they were more deeply affected by the appearance of the Spaniards, 
whom their credulity instantly represented as the instrument destined to 
bring about this t'atal revolution which they dreaded. Under those cir- 
cumstances it ceases to be incredible that a handful of adventurers should 
alarm the monarch of a great empire, and all his subjects.* 

Notwithstanding the influence of this impression, when the messenger 
arrived from the Spanish camp with an account that the leader of the 
strangers, adhering to his original demand, refused to obey the order en- 
joining him to leave the country, Montezuma assumed some degree of 
resolution ; and in a transport of rage natural to a fierce prince unaccus- 
tomed to meet with any opposition to his will, he threatened to sacrifice 
those presumptuous men to his gods. But his doubts and fears quickly 
returned ; and instead of issuing orders to carry his threats into execution, 
he again called his ministers to confer and offer their advice. Feeble and 
temporising measures will always be the result when men assemble to 
deliberate in a situation where they ought to act. The Mexican counsel- 
lors took no efiectual measure for expelling such troublesome intruders, 
and were satisfied with issuing a more positive injunction, requiring them 
to leave the country ; but this they preposterously accompanied with a 
present of such value as proved a fresh inducement to remain there. 

Meanwhile, the Spaniards were not without solicitude, or a variety of 
sentiments, in deliberating concerning their own future conduct. From 
what they had already seen, many of them formed such extravagant ideas 
concerning the opulence of the country, that, despising danger or hard- 
ships when they had in view treasures which appeared to be inexhausti- 
ble, they were eager to attempt the conquest. Others, estimating the 
power of the Mexican empire by its wealth, and enumerating the various 
proofs which had occurred of its being under a well regulated administra- 
tion, contended, that it would be an act of the wildest frenzy to attack 
such a state with a small body of men, in want of provisions, unconnected 
with any ally, and already enfeebled by the diseases peculiar to the cli- 
mate, and the loss of several of their number.f Cortes secretly applaud- 
ed the advocates for boid measures, and cherished their romantic hopes» 
as such ideas corresponded with his own, and favoured the execution of 
the schemes which he had tbrmed. From the time that the suspicions of 
Velasquez broke out with open violence in the attempts to deprive him 
of the command, Cortes saw the necessity of dissolving a connection which 
would obstruct and embarrass all hisoperations, and watched for a proper 
opportunity of coming to a final rupture with him. Having this in view, 
he had laboured by every art to secure the esteem and affection of his 
soldiers. With his abilities for command, it was easy to gain their esteem ; 
and his followers were quickly satisfied that they might rely, with perfect 
confidence, on the conduct and courage of their leader. Nor was it more 
diihcult to acquire their affection. Among adventurers nearly of the same 
rank, and serving at their own expense, the dignity of command did not 
elevate a general above mingling with those who acted under him. Cortes 

* Cortes Relatione Seconda, ap. Ramus, iii. 234, 935 Herrera, dec. 2. lib. iil. c. 1. lib. v e. 11. 
lib. vil. c, 6. Gomwa Cron. e. 66. 93. 144. t B. Diaz. c. 40. 



206 il I S T O li Y O ¥ [Book V. 

availed himself of this freedom of intercourse to insinuate himself mto 
their lavour, and by his affable manners, by well timed acts of liberality 
to some, by inspiring all with vast hopes, and by allowing them to trade 
privately with the natives [103], he attached the greater part of his sol- 
diers so firmly to himself, that they almost forgot that the armament had 
been fitted out by the authority and at the expense of another. 

During these intrigues, Teutile arrived with the present from Monte- 
zuma, and, together with it, delivered the ultimate order of that monarch 
to depart instantly out of his dominions ; and when Cortes, instead of 
complying, renewed his request of an audience, the Mexican turned from 
him abruptly, and quitted the camp with looks and gestures which strongly 
expressed his surprise and resentment. Next morning, none of the natives, 
who used to frequent the camp in great numbers in order to barter with 
the soldiers, and to bring in provisions, appeared. All friendly corres- 
pondence seemed now to be at an end, and it was expected every moment 
that hostilities would commence. This, though an event that might have 
been foreseen, occasioned a sudden consternation among the Spaniards, 
which emboldened the adherents of Velasquez not only to murmur and 
cabal against their general, but to appoint one of their number to remon- 
strate openly against his imprudence in attempting the conquest of a 
mighty empire with such inadequate force, and to urge the necessity of 
returning to Cuba, in order to refit the fleet and augment the army. 
Diego de Ordaz, one of his principal officers, whom the malecontents 
charged with this commission, delivered it with a soldierly freedom and 
bluntness, assuring Cortes that he spoke the sentiments of the whole army. 
He listened to this remonstrance without any appearance of emotion ; and 
as he well knew the temper and wishes of his soldiers, and foresaw how 
they would receive a proposition fatal at once to all the splendid hopes 
and schemes which they had been forming with such complacency, he 
carried his dissimulation so far as to seem to relinquish his own measures 
in compliance with the request of Ordaz, and issued orders that the army 
should be in readiness next day to re-embark for Cuba. As soon as this 
was known, the disappointed adventurers exclaimed and threatened ; the 
emissaries of Cortes, mingling with them, inflamed their rage ; the fer- 
ment became general ; the whole camp was almost in open mutiny ; all 
demanding with eagerness to see their commander. Cortes was not slow 
in appearing ; when, with one voice, officers and soldiers expressed their 
astonishment and indignation at the orders which they had received. It 
was unworthy, they cried, of the Castilian courage to be daunted at the first 
aspect of danger, and infamous to fly before any enemy appeared. For 
their parts, they were determined not to relinquish an enterprise that had 
hitherto been successful, and which tended so visiblj^ to spread the know- 
ledge of true religion, and to advance the glory and interest of their coun- 
tiy. Happy under his command, they would follow him with alacrity 
through every danger in quest of those settlements and treasures which he 
had so long held out to their view ; but if he chose rather to return to 
Cuba, and tamely give up all his hopes of distinction and opulence to an 
envious rival, they would instantly choose another general to conduct them 
in that path of glory which he had not spirit to enter. 

Cortes, delighted with their ardour, took no offence at the boldness with 
which it was uttered. The sentiments were what he himself had inspired, 
and the warmth of expression satisfied him that his followers had imbibed 
them thoioughly. He affected, however, to be surprised at what he heard, 
declaring that his orders to prepare for embarking vyere issued trom a per- 
suasion tnat this was agreeable to his troops ; that, from deference to what 
he had been informed was their inclination, he had sacrificed his own pri- 
vate opinion, which was firmly bent on establishing immediately a settle- 
ment on the sea coast, and then on endeavouring to penetrate into the inte- 



AMERICA. 207 

rior part of the country ; that now he was convinced of his error ; and as 
he perceived that they were animated with the generous spirit which 
breathed in every true Spaniard, he would resume, with fresh ardour, his 
original plan of operation, and doubted not to conduct them, in the career 
of victory, to such independent fortunes as their valour merited. Upon 
this declaration, shouts of applause testified the excess of their joy. The 
measure seemed to be taken with unanimous consent ; such as secretly 
condemned it being obliged to join in the acclamations, partly to conceal 
their disaflFection from their general, and partly to avoid the imputation of 
cowardice from their fellow-soldiers.* 

Without allowing his men time to cool or to reflect, Cortes set about car- 
rying his design into execution. In order to give a beginning to a colony, 
he assembled the principal persons in his army, and by their suffrage elect- 
ed a council and magistrates, in whom the government was to be vested. 
As men naturally transplant the institutions and forms of the mother country 
into their new settlements, this was framed upon the model of a Spanish 
corporation. The magistrates were distinguished by the same names and 
ensigns of office, and were to exercise a similar jurisdiction. All the per- 
sons chosen were most firmly devoted to Cortes, and the instrument of 
their election was framed in the king's name, without any mention of their 
dependence on Velasquez. The two principles of avarice and enthusiasm, 
which prompted the Spaniards to all their enterprises in the New World, 
seem to have concurred in suggesting the name which Cortes bestowed on 
his infant settlement. He called it. The Rich Town of the True Cross.^ 

The first meeting of the new council was distinguished by a transaction 
of great moment. As soon as it assembled, Cortes applied for leave to 
enter ; and approaching with many marks of profound respect, which 
added dignity to the tribunal, and set an example of reverence for its au- 
thority, he began a long harangue, in which, with much art, and in terms 
extremely flattering to persons just entering upon their new function, he 
observed, that as the supreme jurisdiction over the colony which they had 
planted was now vested in this court, he considered them as clothed with 
the authority and representing the person of their sovereign ; that accord- 
ingly he would communicate to them what he deemed essential to the 
public safety, with the same dutiful fidelity as if he were addressing his 
royal master ; that the security of a colony settled in a great empire, whose 
sovereign had already discovered his hostile intentions, depended upon 
arms, and the efficacy of these upon the subordination and discipline pre- 
served among the troops ; that his right to command was derived from a 
commission granted by the governor of Cuba ; and as that had been long 
since revoked, the lawfulness of his jurisdiction might well be questioned ; 
that he might be thought to act upon a defective or even a dubious title ; 
nor could they trust an army which might dispute the powers of its gene- 
ral, at a juncture when it ought implicitly to obey his orders ; that, moved 
by these considerations, he now resigned all his authority to them, that 
they, having both right to choose, and power to conler full jurisdiction, 
might appoint one in the king's name to command the army in its future 
operations ; and as tor his own part, such was his zeal for the service in 
which they were engaged, that he would most cheerfully take up a pike 
with the same hand that laid down the general's truncheon, and convince 
his fellow-soldiers, that though accustomed to command, he had not forgot- 
ten how to obey. Having finished his discourse, he laid the commission 
from Velasquez upon the table, and, after kissing his truncheon, delivered 
it to the chief magistrate, and withdrew. 

The deliberations of the council were not long, as Cortes had concert- 
ed this important measure with his confidants, and had prepared the other 

* Bi Dlar, C. 40, 41, 42. Ilcrrcra, dec. 2. lib. t, c 6, 7. + Villa Rica de la Vora Cni7. 



508 HISTORY OF tBooKV. 

members with great address for the part which he wished them to take. 
His resignation was accepted ; and as the uninterrupted tenor of their 
prosperity under his conduct afforded the most satisfying evidence of his 
abilities tor command, they, by their unanimous sufifrage, elected him chief 
justice of the colony, and captain-general of its army, and appointed his 
commission to be made out in the king's name, with most ample powers, 
which were to continue in force until the royal pleasure should be further 
known. That this deed might not be deemed the machination of a junto, 
the council called together the troops, and acquainted them with what had 
been resolved. The soldiers, with eager applause, ratified the choice 
which the council had made ; the air resounded with the name of Cortes, 
and all vowed to shed their blood in support of his authority. 

Cortes, having now brought his intrigues to the desired issue, and shaken 
off his mortifying dependence on the governor of Cuba, accepted of the 
conamission, which vested in him supreme jurisdiction, civil as well as 
military, over the colony, with many professions of respect to the council 
and gratitude to the army. Together with this new command, he assumed 
greater dignity, and began to exercise more extensive powers. Formerlj' 
he had felt himself to be only the deputy of a subject ; now he acted as 
the representative of his sovereign. The adherents of Velasquez, fully 
aware of what would be the effect of this change in the situation of 
Cortes, could no longer continue silent and passive spectators of bis actions. 
They exclaimed openly against the proceedings of the council as illegal, 
and against those of the army as mutinous. Cortes, instantly perceiving 
the necessity of giving a timely check to such seditious discourse by some 
vigorous measure, arrested Ordaz, Escudero, and Velasquez de Leon, the 
ringleaders of this faction, and sent them prisoners aboard the fleet, loaded 
with chains. Their dependants, astonished and overawed, remained 
quiet ; and Cortes, more desirous to reclaim than to punish his prisoners, 
who were officers of great merit, courted their friendship with such assi- 
duity and address, that the reconciliation was perfectly cordial ; and on 
the most trying occasions, neither their connection with the governor of 
Cuba, nor the memory of the indignity with which they had been treated, 
tempted them to swerve from an inviolable attachment to his interest.* 
In this, as well as his other negotiations at this critical conjuncture, which 
decided with respect to his future fame and fortune, Cortes owed much of 
his success to the Mexican gold, which he distributed with a liberal hand 
both among his friends and his opponents.! 

Cortes, having thus rendered the union between himself and his army 
indissoluble, by engaging it to join him in disclaiming any dependence on 
the governor of Cuba, and in repeated acts of disobedience to his authority, 
thought he now might venture to quit the camp in which he had hitherto 
remained, and advance into the countiy. To this he was encouraged by 
an event no less fortunate than seasonable. Some Indians having ap- 
proached his camp in a mysterious manner, were introduced into his pre- 
sence. He found that they were sent with a proffer of friendship from the 
cazique of Zempoalla, a considerable town at no great distance; and from 
their answers to a variety of questions which he put to them, according to 
his usual practice in eveiy interview with the people of the country, he 
gathered, that their master, though subject to the Mexican empire, was 
impatient of the yoke, and filled with such dread and hatred of Monte- 
zuma, that nothing could be more acceptable to him than any prospect ot 
deliverance from the oppression under which he groaned. On hearing 
this, a ray of light and hope broke in upon the mind of Cortes. He saw 
that the great empire which he intended to attack was neither perfectly 
united, nor its sovereign universally beloved. He concluded, that the 

* B. Diaz, c. 42, 43. Gomata Cron. c. 30. 31. Herrera, dec. 2 lib, v. c. 7 ♦ B. Diaz. c. «, 



AMERICA. 2,09 

causes of disaftection could not be confined to one province, but that in 
other corners there must be nialecontents, so weary of subjection, or so 
desirous of change, as to be ready to follow the standard of any protector. 
Full of those ideas, on which he began to form a scheme that time and 
more perfect information concerning the state of the country enabled him 
to mature, he gave a most gracious reception to the Zempoallans, and 
promised soon to visit their cazique.* 

In order to perform this promise, it was not necessary to vary the route 
which he had already fixed for his march. Some officers, whom he had 
employed to survey the coast, having discovered a village named Quiabis- 
Ian, about forty miles to the northward, which, both on account of the fer- 
tility of the soil and commodiousness of the harbour, seemed to be a more 
proper station for a settlement than that where he was encamped, Cortes 
determined to remove thither. Zempoalla lay in his way, where the 
cazique received him in the manner which he had reason to expect ; with 
gifts and caresses, like a man solicitous to gain his good will ; with respect 
approaching almost to adoration, like one who looked up to him as a deli- 
verer. From him he learned many particulars v/ith respect to the charac- 
ter of Montezuma, and the circumstances which rendered his dominion 
odious. He was a tyrant, as the cazique told him with tears, haughty, 
cruel, and suspicious ; who treated his own subjects with arrogance, ruined 
the conquered provinces by excessive exactions, and often tore their sons 
and daughters trom them by violence ; the former to be offered as victims 
to his gods ; the latter to be reserved as concubines for himself or favourites. 
Cortes, in reply to him, artfully insinuated, that one great object of the 
Spaniards in visiting a country so remote from their own, was to redress 
grievances, and to relieve the oppressed ; and having encouraged him to 
hope for this interposition in due time, he continued his march to Qjuia- 
bislan. 

The spot which his officers had recommended as a proper situation, 
appeared to him to be so well chosen, that he immediately marked out 
ground for a town. The houses to be erected were only huts ; but these, 
were to be surrounded with fortifications of sufficient strength to resist the 
assaults of an Indian army. As the finishing of those fortifications was 
essential to the existence of a colony, and of no less importance in prose- 
cuting the designs which the leader and his followers meditated, both in 
order to secure a place of retreat, and to preserve their communication 
with the sea, every man in the army, officers as well as soldiers, put his 
hand to the work, Cortes himself setting them an example of activity and 
perseverance in labour. The Indians of Zempoalla and Quiabislan lent 
their aid ; and this petty station, the parent of so many mighty settlements, 
was soon in a state of defence.! 

While engaged in this necessary work, Cortes had several interviews 
with the caziques of Zempoalla and Qjuiabislan ; and availing himself of 
their wonderand astonishment at the new objects which they daily beheld, 
he gradually inspired them with such a high opinion of the Spaniards, as- 
beings of a superior order, and irresistible in arms, that, relying on their 
protection, they ventured to insult the Mexican power, at the very name of 
which they were accustomed to tremble. Some of Montezuma s officers 
having appeared to levy the usual tribute, and to demand a certain number 
of human victims, as an expiation for their guilt in presuming to hold 
intercourse with those strangers whom the emperor had commanded to 
leave his dominions ; instead of obeying the order, the caziques made 
them prisoners, treated them with great indignity, and as their superstition 
was no less barbarous than that ot the Mexicans, they prepared to sacri- 

• B. niaz. c. II. r.oniararron. e-. 0^ ' Tl, Ui^z. c. 4.i. 4n. <o-, Gomara TVon c .T3. 3^. XT 

Herrr>ra, <Uh'. 2. hli. v. c. 8. 9 
Vol I.— -27 



Slu 11 fS T OK V OF [Book V. 

lice them to theirn;ods. From this last danger they were delivered by the 
interposition of Cortes, who manifested the utmost horror at the mention of 
such a deed. The two caziques having now been pushed to an act of such 
open rebellion, as left them no hope of safety but in attaching themselves 
inviolably to the Spaniards, they soon completed their union with them, by 
formally acknowledging themselves to be vassals of the same monarch. 
Their example was followed by the Totonaques, a fierce people who 
inhabited the mountainous part of the country. They willingly subjected 
themselves to the crown of Castile, and offered to accompany Cortes, with 
all their forces, in his march towards Mexico.* 

Cortes had now been above three months in New Spain ; and though 
this period had not been distinguished by martial exploits, every moment 
had been eniployed in operations which, though less splendid, were more 
important. By his address in conducting his intrigues with his own army, 
as well as his sagacity in carrying on his negotiations with the natives, he 
had already laid the foundations of his future success. But whatever con- 
fidence he might place in the plan which he had formed, he could not but 
perceive, that as his title to command was derived from a doubtful autho- 
rity, he held it by a precarious tenure. The injuries which Velasquez 
had received were such as would naturally prompt him to apply for 
redress to their common sovereign ; and such a representation, he foresaw, 
might be given of his conduct that, he had reason to apprehend, not only 
that he might be degraded from his present rank, but subjected to punish- 
ment. Before he began his march, it was necessary to take the most 
effectual precautions against this impending danger. With this view he 
persuaded the magistrates of the colony at Vera Cruz to address a letter 
to the king, the chief object of which was to justify their own conduct in 
establishing a colony independent on the jurisdiction of Velasquez. In 
order to accomplish this, they endeavoured to detract from his merit in 
fitting out the two former armaments under Cordova and Grijalva, affirming 
that these had been equipped by the adventurers who engaged in the 
expeditions, and not by the governor. They contended that the sole 
object of Velasquez was to trade or barter with the natives, not to attempt 
the conquest of New Spain, or to settle a colony there. They asserted 
that Cortes and the officers who served under him had defrayed the 
greater part of the expense of fitting out the armament. On this account, 
they humbly requested their sovereign to ratify what they had done in his 
name, and to confirm Cortes in the supreme command by his royal com- 
mission. That Charles might be induced to grant more readily what they 
demanded, they gave him a pompous description of the country which 
they had discovered ; of its riches, the number of its inhabitants, their 
civilization and arts ; they related the progress which they had already 
made in annexing some parts of the country situated on the sea coast to the 
crown of Castile : and mentioned the schemes which they had formed, as 
well as the hopes which they entertained, of reducing the whole to sub- 
jection.! Cortes himself wrote in a similar strain ; and as he knew that 
the Spanish court, accustomed to the exaggerated representations of every 
nev/ country by its discoverers, would give little credit to their splendid 
accounts of New Spain, if these were not accompanied with such a speci- 
men of what it contained as would excite a high idea of its opulence, he 

* B. Diaz, c. 47. Gomara Cron. 35, 30. Hcrrcra, dec. '2. lib. v. c. 9, 10, 11. 

t In this letter it is asserted, that though a roiisiderahle miinber of Spaniards have been wounded 
in their various encounters with the people of Tobasco, not one of them died, and all had recovered 
in a very sliort time. This seems to confirm what I observe in p. 214, concerning the imperfection 
of tlie offensive weapons used by the Americans. In this letter, the human sacrifices oftered by 
tlie Mexicans to their deities are described minutely, and with great horror ; some of the Spaniards, 
it is said, had been eye-witnesses of those barbarous rites. To the letter is subjoined a calaloguq 
and description of the presents sent to the emperor. That published by Gomara, Cron. c. 29, s«'ems 
to have been copied from it. Pet. Marlvr describes many of tlie articles in his treatise. ' De Insalis 
nuper inventls,' p. 3.')4, &r. 



AMERICA. ^11 

solicited liis soldiers to relinquish what they might claim as their part of 
the treasures which had hitherto been collected, in order that the whole 
might be sent to the king. Such was the ascendant which he had acquired 
over their minds, and such their own romantic expectations of future 
■wealth, that an armj of indigent and rapacious adventurers was capable 
of this generous effort, and offered to their sovereign the richest present 
that had hitherto been transmitted from the New World [104]. Portocar- 
rero and Montejo, the chief magistrates of the colony, were appointed 
to cany this present to Castile, with express orders not to touch at Cuba 
in their passage thither.* 

While a vessel was preparing for their departure an unexpected event 
occasioned a general alarm. Some soldiers and sailors, secretly attached 
to Velasquez, or intimidated at the prospect of the dangers unavoidable in 
attempting to penetrate into the heart of a great empire with such unequal 
force, formed the design of seizing one of the brigantines, and making 
their escape to Cuba, in order to give the governor such intelligence as 
might enable him to intercept the ship which was to carry the treasure and 
despatches to Spain. This conspiracy, though formed by persons of low 
rank, was conducted with profound secrecy ; but at the moment when 
every thing wa.< ready for execution, they were betrayed by one of their 
associates. 

Though the good fortune of Cortes interposed so seasonably on this 
occasion, the detection of this conspiracy filled his mind with most dis- 
quieting apprehensions, and prompted him to execute a scheme which he 
had long revolved. He perceived that the spirit of disaffection still lurked 
among his troops ; that though hitherto checked by the uniform success of 
his schemes, or suppressed by the hand of authority, various events might 
occur which would encourage and call it forth. He observed, that many 
of his men, weary of the fatigue of service, longed to revisit their settle 
inents in Cuba ; and that upon any appearance of extraordinair danger^ 
or any reverse of fortune, it would be impossible to restrain them from 
returning thither. He was sensible that his forces, already too feeble, 
could bear no diminution, and that a very small defection of his followers 
Avould oblige him to abandon the enterprise. After ruminating often, and 
with much solicitude, upon those particulars, he saw no hope of success 
but in cutting off all possibility of retreat, and in reducing his men to tlie 
necessity of "adopting the same resolution with which ne himself was 
animated, either to conquer or to perish. With this view he determined 
to destroy his fleet 5 but as he durst not venture to execute such a bold 
resolution by his single authority, he laboured to biing his soldiers to adopt 
his ideas with respect to the propriety of this measure. His address in 
accomplishing this was not inferior to the arduous occasion in which it was 
employed. He persuaded some that the ships had suffered so much by 
having been long at sea, as to be altogether unfit for service ; toothers he 
pointed out what a seasonable reinforcement of strength they would derive 
from the junction of a hundred men, now unprofitably employed as sailors ; 
and to all he represented the necessity of fixing their eyes and wishes upon 
what was before them, without allowing the idea of a retreat once to 
enter their thoughts. With universal consent the ships were drawn ashore, 
and after stripping them of their sails, rigging, iron works, and whatever 
else might be of use, they were broke in pieces. Thus, from an effort of 
magnanimity, to which there is nothing parallel in history, five hundred 
men voluntarily consented to be shut up in a hostile countiy, filled with 
powerful and unknown nations ; and, having precluded every means ot 
escape, left themselves without any resource but their own valour and 
perseverance.! 

* B. Diaz, c. M. Gomara, Crnn. r. 40 ^ Kc;at. di Cortes. Bainiis. tii, tlo. B. T>\az c. 

57, 5d. Herrpra, dec.2. Uh. V. c. 1-1. 



212 HISTORY OF LBookV, 

Nothing now retarded Cortes ; the alacrity of his troops and the dis 
position of his allies were equally favourable. All the advantages, how- 
ever, derived from the latter, though procured by much assiduity and 
address, were well nigh lost in a moment, by an indiscreet sally of religious 
zeal, which on many occasions precipitated Cortes into actions inconsistent 
■with the prudence that distinguishes his character. Though hitherto he 
bad neither time nor opportunity to explain to the natives the errors of 
their own superstition, or to instruct them in the principles of the Christian 
faith, he commanded his soldiers to overturn the altars and to destroy the 
idols in the chief temple of Zempoalla, and m their place to erect a 
crucifix and an image of the Virgin Mary. The people beheld this with 
astonishment and horror ; the priests excited them to arms : but such was 
the authority of Cortes, and so great the ascendant which the Spaniards 
had acquired, that the commotion was appeased without bloodshed, and 
concord perfectly re-established.* 

Cortes began his march from Zempoalla, on the sixteenth of August, 
with five hundred men, fifteen horse, and six field pieces. The rest of his 
troops, consisting chiefly of such as from age or infirmity were less fit for 
active service, he left as a garrison in Villa Rica, under the command of 
Escalante, an officer of merit, and warmly attached to his interest. The 
cazique of Zempoalla supplied him with provisions, and with two hundred 
of those Indians called Tamemes, whose office, in a country where tarne 
animals were unknown, was to carry burdens, and to perform all servile 
labour. They were a great relief to the Spanish soldiers, who hitherto 
had been obliged not omy to carry their own baggage, but to drag along 
the artillery by main force. He ofTered likewise a considerable body of 
his troops, but Cortes was satisfied with four hundred ; taking care, how- 
ever, to choose persons of such note as might prove hostages for the fidelity 
of their master. Nothing memorable happened in his progress, until he 
arrived on the confines oT Tlascala. The inhabitants of^ that province, a 
warlike people, were implacable enemies of the Mexicans, and had been 
united in an ancient alliance with the caziques of Zempoalla. Though 
less civilized than the subjects of Montezuma, they were advanced in 
improvement far beyond the rude nations of America whose manners we 
have described. They had made considerable progress in agriculture ; 
they dwelt in large towns ; they were not strangers to some species of 
commerce ; and in the imperfect accounts of their institutions and laws, 
transmitted to us by the early Spanish writers, we discern traces both of 
distributive justice and of criminal jurisdiction in their interior police. 
But still, as the degree of their civilization was incomplete, and as they 
depended for subsistence not on agriculture alone, but trusted for it in a 
great measure to hunting, they retained many of the qualities natural to 
men in this state. Like them they were fierce and revengeful ; like them, 
too, they were high spirited and independent. In consequence of the 
former, they were involved in perpetual hostilities, and had but a slender 
and occasional intercourse with neighbouring states. The latter inspired 
(hem with such detestation of servitude, that they not only refused to 
stoop to a foreign yoke, and maintain an obstinate and successful contest 
in defence of tneir liberty against the superior power of the Mexican 
empiie, but they guarded with equal solicitude against domestic tyranny ; 
and disdaining to acknowledge any master, they lived under the niild and 
limited jurisdiction of a council elected by their several tribes. 

Cortes, though he had received information concerning the martial cha- 
racter of this people, flattered himself that his professions of deliv;ering 
the oppressed from the tyranny of Montezuma, thtnr inveterate enmity to 
the Mexicans, and the example of their ancient allies the Zempoallans> 

» R. Diaz, c. 41. Ai. ncrrcra, ilec. 2. lib. v. c. 3, 4 



AMERICA. 213 

might induce the Tlascalans to grant him a friendly reception. In order 
to dispose them to this, four Zempoallans of great eminence were sent 
ambassadors, to request in his name, and in that of their cazique, that they 
would permit tiie Spaniards to pass through the territories of the republic 
in their way to Mexico. But instead of the favourable answer which 
was expected, the Tlascalans seized the ambassadors, and, without any 
regard to their public character, made preparations for sacrificing them 
to their gods. At the same time they assembled their troops, in order to 
oppose those unknown invaders if they should attempt to make their 
passage good by force of arms. Various motives concurred in precipi- 
tating the Tlascalans into this resolution. A fierce people, shut up within 
its own narrow precincts, and little accustomed to any intercourse with 
foreigners, is apt to consider every stranger as an enemy, and is easily 
excited ^to arras. They concluded, from Cortes's proposal of visiting 
Montezuma in his capital, that, notwithstanding all his professions, he 
courted the friendship of a monarch whom they both hated and feared. 
The imprudent zeal of Cortes in violating the temples in Zempoalla, filled 
the Tlascalans with honor ; and as they were no less attached to their 
superstition than the other nations of New Spain, they were impatient to 
avenge their injured gods, and to acquire the merit of offering up to them 
as victims, those impious men who had dared to profane their altars ; they 
contemned the small number of the Spaniards, as they had not yet mea- 
sured their own strength with that of these new enemies, and had no idea 
of the superiority which they derived from their arms and discipline. 

Cortes, after waiting some days, in vain, for the return of his ambassa- 
dors, advanced [Aug. 30,] into the Tlascalan territories. As the resolutions 
of people who delight in war are executed with no less promptitude than 
they are formed, he found troops in the field ready to oppose him. They 
attacked him with great intrepidity, and, in the first encounter, wounded 
some of the Spaniards, and killed two horses ; a loss, in their situation, of 
great moment, because it was irreparable. From this specimen of their 
courage, Cortes saw the necessity of proceeding with caution. His army 
marched in close order ; he chose the stations where he halted, with 
attention, and fortified every camp with extraordinary care. During four- 
teen days he was exposed to almost uninterrupted assaults, the Tlascalans 
advancing with numerous armies, and renewing the attack in various forms, 
with a degree of valour and perseverance to which the Spaniards had 
seen nothing parallel in the New World. The Spanish historians describe^ 
those successive battles with great pomp, and enter into a minute detail of 
particulars, mingling many exaggerated and incredible circumstances [l05] 
with such as are real and marvellous. But no power of words can render 
the recital of a combat interesting, where there is no equality of danger ; 
and when the narrative closes with an account of thousands slain on the 
one side, while not a single person falls on the other, the most laboured 
descriptions of the previous disposition of the troops, or of the various 
vicissitudes in the engagement, command no attention. 

There are some circumstances, however, in this war, which are memo- 
rable, and merit notice, as they throw light upon the character both of 
the people of New Spain, and of their conquerors. Though the Tlasca- 
lans brought into the field such numerous armies as appear sufficient to 
liave overwhelmed the Spaniards, they were never able lo make any im- 
pression upon their small battalion. Singular as this may seem, it is not 
inexplicable. The Tlascalans, though addicted to war, were like all 
unpolished nations, strangers to military order and discipline, and lost in a 
great measure the advantage which they might have derived fronri their 
numbers, and the impetuosity of their attack, by their constant solicitude 
to carry oflf tlie dead and wounded. This jwint of honour, founded on a 
sentiment of tenderness natural to the human mind, and strengthened by 



214 H IS TO R Y O F L'^ooK V, 

anxiety to preserve the bodies of their countrymen from being devoured 
by their enemies, was universal among the people of New Sjpain. At- 
tention to this pious office occupied them even during the heat of combat,* 
broke their union, and diminished the force of the impression which they 
might have made by a joint effort. 

Not only was their superiority in number of little avail, but the imper- 
fection of their militaiy weapons rendered their valour in a great measure 
inoffensive. After three battles, and many skirmishes and assaults, not 
one Spaniard was killed in the field. Arrows and spears, headed with 
flint or the bones of fishes, stakes hardened in the fire, and wooden swords, 
though destructive weapons among naked Indians, were easily turned aside 
by the Spanish bucklers, and could hardly penetrate the escaupiles, or 
quilted jackets, which the soldiers wore. The Tlascalans advanced 
boldly to the charge, and often fought hand to hand. Many of the Spa- 
niards were wounded, though all slightly, which cannot be irnputed to 
any want of courage or strength in their enemies, but to the defect of the 
arms with which they assailed them. 

Notwithstanding the fury with which the Tlascalans attacked the Spa- 
niards, they seemed to have conducted their hostilities with some degree 
of barbarous generosity. They gave the Spaniards warning of their 
hostile intentions ; and as they knew that their invaders wanted provisions, 
and imagined, perhaps, like the other Americans, that they had left their 
own country because it did not afford them subsistence, they sent to their 
camp a large supply of poultry and maize, desiring them to eat plentifully, 
because they scorned to attack an enemy enfeebled by hunger, and it 
would be an affront to their gods to offer them famished victims, as well 
;is disagreeable to themselves to feed on such emaciated prey.j 

When they were taught by the first encounter with their new enemies, 
that it was not easy to execute this threat ; when they perceived, in the 
subsequent engagements, that notwithstanding all the efforts of their own 
valour, of which they had a very high opinion, not one of the Spaniards 
was slain or taken, they began to conceive them to be a superior order of 
beings, against whom human power could not avail. In this extremity, 
they had recourse to their priests, requiring them to reveal the mysterious 
causes of such extraordinary events, and to declare what new means they 
should employ in order to repulse those formidable invaders. The priests, 
after many sacrifices and incantations, delivered this response : That these 
strangers were the offspring of the sun, procreated by his animating energy 
in the regions of the east ; that, by day, while cherished with the influence 
of his parental beams, they were invincible ; but by night, when his re- 
viving heat was withdrawn, their vigour declined and faded like the herbs 
in the field, and they dwindled down into mortal men.J Theories less 
plausible have gained credit with more enlightened nations, and have 
influenced their conduct. In consequence of this, the Tlascalans, with 
the implicit confidence of men who fancy themselves to be under the 
guidance of Heaven, acted in contradiction to one of their most established 
maxims in war, and ventured to attack the enemy, with a strong body, in 
the night time, in hopes of destroying them when enfeebled and surprised. 
But Cortes had greater vigilance and discernment than to be deceived by 
the rude stratagems of an Indian army. The sentinels at his outposts, 
observing some extraordinary movement among the Tlascalans, gave the 
alarm. In a moment the troops were under arms, and sallying out, dis- 
persed the party with great slaughter, without allowing it to approach the 
camp. Tiie Tlascalans convinced by sad experience that their priests 
had deluded them, and satisfied that they attempted in vain either to 
deceive or to vanquish their enemies, their fierceness abated, and they 
began to incline seriously to peace, 

■^ B, lHa/. c. 65. t Jtrrrrrn. (|pi-. 0. lilr. vi. p. 0. noiiiaiR Croi). c. 47, J B. nia/.. o, 00 



AMERICA. 216 

They were at a loss, however, in what manner to address the strangers, 
what idea to Ibrm of their character, and whether to consider them as 
beings of a gentle or of a malevolent nature. There were circumstances 
in their conduct which seemed to favour each opinion. On the one hand, 
as the Spaniards constantly dismissed the prisoners whom they took, not 
only without injury, but often with presents of European toys, and renewed 
their offers of peace after every victory ; this lenity amazed people, who, 
according to the exterminating system of war known in America, were 
accustomed to sacrifice and devour without mercy all the captives taken in 
battle, and disposed them to entertain favourable sentiments of the huma- 
nity of their new enemies. But, on the other hand, as Cortes had seized 
fifty of their countrymen who brought provisions to his camp, and supposing 
them to be spies, had cut off their hands ;* this bloody spectacle, added to 
the terror occasioned by the fire-arms and horses, filled them with dreadful 
impressions of the ferocity of their invaders [l06]. This uncertainty was 
apparent in the mode of addressing the Spaniards. " If," said they," you 
are divinities of a cruel and savage nature, we present to you five slaves, 
that you may drink their blood and eat their flesh. If you are mild deities, 
accept an offering of incense and variegated plumes. If you are men, 
here is meat, and bread, and fruit to nourish you.f The peace, which 
both parties now desired with equal ardour, was soon concluded. The 
Tlascalans yielded themselves as vassals to the crown of Castile, and en- 
gaged to assist Cortes in all his future operations. He took the republic 
under his protection, and promised to defend their persons and possessions 
from injury or violence. 

This treaty was concluded at a seasonable juncture for the Spaniards. 
The fatigue of service among a small body of men, surrounded by such a 
multitude of enemies, was incredible. Half the army was on duty every 
night, and even they whose turn it was to rest, slept always upon their 
arms, that they might be ready to run to their posts on a moment's warn- 
ing. Many of them were wounded ; a good number, and among these 
Cortes himself, laboured under the distempers prevalent in hot climates, and 
several had died since they set out from Vera Cruz. Notwithstanding the 
supplies which they received from the Tlascalans, they were often in want 
of provisions, and so destitute of the necessaries most requisite in danger- 
ous service, that they had no salve to dress their wounds, but what was 
composed with the fat of the Indians whom they had slain. J Worn out 
with such intolerable toil and hardships, many of the soldiers began to 
murmur, and when they reflected on the multitude and boldness of their 
enemies, more were ready to despair. It required the utmost exertion of 
Cortes's authority and address to check this spirit of despondency in its 
progress, and to reanimate his followers with their wonted sense of their 
own superiority over the enemies with whom they had to contend. § The 
submission of the Tlascalans, and their own triumphant entry into the 
capital city, where they were received with the reverence paid, to beings 
of a superior order, banished at once from the minds of the Spaniards all 
memory of past sufferings, dispelled every anxious thought with respect to 
their future operations, and fully satisfied them that there was not now 
any power in America able to withstand their arms.|| 

Cortes remained twenty days in Tlascala, in order to allow his troops 
a short interval of repose after such hard service. During that time 
he was employed in transactions and inquiries of great moment with 
respect to his future schemes. In his daily conferences with the Tlas- 
calan chiefs, he received information concerning every particular rela- 
tive to the state of the Mexican empire, or to the qualities of its sovereign, 

* Cortes Rdat. Ramus, iii. 228. C. Gomara Cron. c. 4S. f B. Diaz, c. 70. Gomara Crnii. 

c. '17. Herrcra, dec. 2. lib. vi, c. 7. | B. Diaz, c. 62. C.5. ^ Corles Re!at. Ramus, iii. 1K9. 

B. Diaz, c. 09. Gomara Cron. c. 51. || Cortea Rclat. Ramus, iii. 33U. B. Diaz, c. TV, 



216 J li S T O 11 \ O h' [Book V. 

which could be ol use in regulating his conduct, whether he should be 
obliged to act as a friend or as an ememy . As he found that the antipathy of 
his new allies to the Mexican nation was no less implacable than had 
been represented, and perceived what benefit he might derive from the aid 
of such powerful confederates, he employed all his powers of insinuation 
in order to gain their confidence. Nor was any extraordinaiy exertion of 
these necessary. The Tlascalans, with the levity of mind natural to un- 
polished men, were, of their own accord, disposed to run from the extreme 
of hatred to that of fondness. Every thing in the appearance and conduct 
of their guests was to them matter of wonder [107J. They gazed with 
admiration at whatever the Spaniards did, and, fancying them to be of 
heavenly origin, were eager not only to comply with their demands, 
but to anticipate their wishes. They offered, accordingly, to accompany 
Cortes in his march to Mexico, with all the forces of the republic, under 
the command of their most experienced captains. 

But, after bestowing so much pains on cementing this union, all the bene- 
ficial fruits of it were on the point of being lost by a new effusion of that 
intemperate religious zeal with which Cortes was animated no less than 
Ihe other adventurers of the age. They all considered themselves as in- 
struments employed by Heaven to propagate the Christian faith, and the 
less they were qualified, either by their knowledge or morals, for such a 
function, they were more eager to discharge it. The profound veneration 
of the Tlascalans for the Spaniards having encouraged Cortes to explain 
to some of their chiefs the doctrines of the Christian religion, and to insist 
that they should abandon their own superstitions, and embrace the faith of 
their new friends, they, according to an idea universal among barbarous 
nations, readily acknowledged the truth and excellence of what he taught ; 
but contended, that the Tevles of Tlascala were divinities no less than the 
God in whom the Spaniards believed ; and as that Being was entitled to 
the homage of Europeans, so they were bound to revere the same powers 
Avhich their ancestors had worshipped. Cortes continued, nevertheless, to 
urge his demand in a tone of authority, mingling threats with his arguments, 
until the Tlascalans could bear it no longer, and conjured him never to 
mention this again, lest the gods should avenge on their heads the guilt of 
having listened to such a proposition. Cortes, astonished and enraged at 
their obstinacy, prepared to execute by force what he could not accomplish 
by persuasion, and was going to overturn their altars and cast down their 
idols with the same violent hand as at Zempoalla, if Father Bartholomew 
de Olmedo, chaplain to the expedition, had not checked his inconsiderate 
impetuosity. He represented the imprudence of such an attempt in a lai^e 
city newly reconciled, and filled with people no less superstitious than 
warlike ; he declared, that the proceeding at Zempoalla had always 
appeared to him precipitate and unjust ; that religion was not to be propa- 
gated by the sword, or infidels to be converted by violence ; that other 
weapons were to be employed in this ministry ; patient instruction must 
enlighten the understanding, and pious example captivate the heart, before 
men could be induced to abandon error, and embrace the truth.* Amidst 
scenes where a narrow minded bigotry appears in such close union with 
oppression and cruelty, sentiments so liberal and humane soothe the mind 
with unexpected pleasure ; and at a time when the rights of conscience 
^vere little understood in the Christian world, and the idea of toleration 
unknown, one i.s astonished to find a Spanish monk of the sixteenth century 
among the first advocates against persecution, and in behalf of religious 
liberty. The remonstrances of an ecclesiastic, no less respectable for 
wisdom than virtue, had their proper weight with Cortes. He left the 
Tlascalans in the imdisturbed exercise of their own rites, requiring only that 

n. Diaz, c. 77. p. 54, r, ai, p. 61, 



AMERICA. £1T 

ihey should desist Iroin their horrid practice of ofiering human victims in 

sacrifice. • i • 

Cortes, as soon as his troops were fit for service, resolved to contmue his 
march towards Mexico, notwithstanding the earnest dissuasives of the Tlas- 
calans, who represented his destruction as unavoidable if he put himself in 
the power of a prince so faithless and cruel as Montezuma. As he was 
accompanied by six thousand Tlascalans, he had now the command of 
forces which resembled a regular army. They directed theii' course 
towards Cholula [Oct. 13] ; iVTontezuma, who had at length consented to 
admit the Spaniards into his presence, having informed Cortes that he had 
given orders for his friendly reception there. Cholula was a considerable 
town, and though only five leagues distant from Tlascala, was formerly an 
independent state, but had been lately subjected to the Mexican empire. 
This was considered by all the people of New Spain as a holy place, the 
sanctuary and chief seat of their gods, to which pilgrims resorted from every 
province, and a greater number of human victims were oflfered in its prin- 
cipal temple than even in that of Mexico.* Montezuma seems to have 
invited the Spaniards thither, either from some superstiiious hope that the 
gods would not suffer this sacred mansion to be defiled, without pouring 
down their wrath upon those impious strangers, who ventured to insult their 
power in the place of its peculiar residence ; or from a belief that he him- 
self might there attempt to cut them off with more certain success, under 
the immediate protection of his divinities. 

Cortes had been warned by the Tlascalans, before he set out on his march, 
to keep a watchful eye over the Cholulans. He himself, though received 
into the town with much seeming respect and cordiality, observed several 
circumstances in their conduct which excited suspicion. Two of the Tlas- 
calans, who were encamped at some distance from the town, as the Cholu- 
lans refused to admit their ancient enemies within its precincts, having 
Ibund means to enter in disguise, acquainted Cortes that they observed the 
women and children of the principal citizens retiring in great hurry every 
night ; and that six children had been sacrificed in the chief temple, a rite 
Avhich indicated the execution of some warlike enterprise to be approach- 
ing. At the same time, Marina the interpreter received information from 
an Indian woman of distinction, whose confidence she had gained, that the 
destruction of her friends was concerted ; that a body of Mexican troops 
lay concealed near the town ; that some of the streets were barricaded, 
and in others, pits or deep trenches were dug, and slightly covered over, 
as traps into which the horses might fall ; that stones or missive weapons 
were collected on the tops of the temples, with which to overwhelm the 
infantry ; that the fatal hour was now at hand, and their ruin unavoidable. 
Cortes, alarmed at this concurring evidence, secretly arrested three of the 
chief priests, and extorted from them a confession, that confirmed the intel- 
ligence which he had received. As not a moment was to be lost, he in- 
stantly resolved to prevent his enemies, and to inflict on them such dreadful 
vengeance as might strike Montezuma and his subjects with terror. For 
this purpose, the Spaniards and Zempoalians were drawn up in a large 
court, which had been allotted for their quarters near the centre of the (own ; 
the Tlascalans had orders to advance ; the magistrates and several of the 
chief citizens were sent for, under various pretexts, and seized. On a signal 
given, the troops rushed out and fell upon the multitude, destitute of lead- 
ers, and so much astonished, that the weapons dropping from their hands, 
they stood motionless, and incapable of defence. While the Spaniards 
pressed them in front, the Tlascalans attacked them in the rear. The 
streets were filled with bloodshed and death. The temples, which afford- 
ed a retreat to the priests and some of the leading men, were set on fire, 

* Torqucmada Monar, InU. i. 281.532. ii. 291. Oomara Cron. e. 61. Herrera, dec. 2. lib. vii. c. 2. 
Vol. I.— 2« 



218 HISTORY OF [Book IV. 

and they perished in the flames. This scene of horror continued two days ; 
during which, the wretched inhabitants suffered all that the destructive 
rage of the Spaniards, or the implacable revenge of their Indian allies, 
could inflict. At length the carnage ceased, after the slaughter of six thou- 
sand Cholulans, without the loss of a single Spaniard. Cortes then released 
the magistrates, and, reproaching them bitterly for their intended treachery, 
declared, that as justice was now appeased, he forgave the oftence, but 
required them to recall the citizens who had fled, and re-establish order in 
the town. Such was the ascendant which the Spaniards had acquired over 
this superstitious race of men, and so dijeply were they impressed with an 
opinion of their superior discernment, as well as power, that, in obedience 
to this command, the city was in a few days filled again with people, who, 
amidst the ruins of their sacred buildings, yielded respectful service to 
men whose hands were stained with the blood of their relations and fellow- 
citizens*ho8]. 

From Cholula, Cortes advanced directly towards Mexico [Oct. 29], which 
was only twenty leagues distant. In every place through which he passed, 
he was received as a person possessed of sufficient power to deliver the 
empire from the oppression under which it groaned ; and the caziques or 
governors communicated to him all the grievances which they felt under 
the tyrannical government of Montezuma, with that unreserved confidence 
which men naturally repose in superior beings. When Cortes first observed 
the seeds of discontent in the remote provinces of the empire, hope dawned 
upon his mind ; but when he now discovered such symptoms of alienation 
from their monarch near the seat of government, he concluded that the vital 
parts of the constitution were aSected, and conceived the most sanguine 
expectations of overturning a state whose natural strength was thus divided 
and impaired. While those reflections encouraged the general to persist 
in his arduous undertaking, the soldiers were no less animated by obser- 
vations more obvious to their capacity. In. descending from the mountains 
of Chalco, across which the road lay, the vast plain of Mexico opened 
gradually to their view. When they first beheld this prospect, one of the 
most striking and beautiful on the face of the earth ; when they observed 
fertile and cultivated fields stretching further than the eye could reach ; 
when they saw a lake resembling the sea in extent, encompassed with large 
towns, and discovered the capital city rising upon an island in the middle, 
adorned with its temples and turrets ; the scene so far exceeded their 
imagination, that some believed the fanciful descriptions of romance were 
realized, and that its enchanted palaces and gilded domes were presented 
to their sight ; others could hardly persuade themselves that this wonderful 
spectacle was any thing more than a dream [109]. As they advanced, 
their doubts were removed, but their amazement increased. They were 
now fully satisfied that the country was rich beyond any conception which 
they hadf formed of it, and flattered themselves that at length ihey should 
obtain an ample recompense for all their services and sufterings. 

Hitherto they had met with no enemy to oppose their progress, though 
several circumstances occurred which led them to suspect that some design 
was formed to surprise and cut them off". Many messengers arrived suc- 
cessively from Montezuma, permitting them one day to advance, requiring 
them on the next to retire, as his hopes or fears alternately prevailed ; and 
so wonderful was this infatuation, which seems to be unaccountable on any 
supposition but that of a superstitious dread of the Spaniards, as beings of 
a superior nature, that Cortes was almost at the gates of the capital, before 
the monarch had determined whether to receive him as a friend, or to 
oppose him as an enemy. But as no sign of open hostility appeared, the 
Spaniards, without regarding the fluctuations of Montezuma's sentiments, 

* Cortes Relat. Rsmug. iii. 331. B. Dia?., c. 8,1. Gomara Cron. c. 64. Ilrrrcra, dec. 2. lib. vii. 



AMERICA, 219 

continued their march along the causeAvay which led to Mexico through 
the lake, with great circumspection and the strictest discipline, though 
without seeming to suspect the prince whom they were about to visit. 

When they drew near the city, about a thousand persons, who appeared 
to be of distinction, came forth to meet them, adorned with plumes and 
clad in mantles of fine cotton. Each of these in his order passed by 
Cortes, Jmd saluted him according to the mode deemed most respectful 
and submissive in their country They announced the approach of Mon- 
tezuma himself, and soon after his harbingers came in sight. There appear- 
ed first two hundred persons in a uniform dress, with iai^e plumes of fea- 
thers, alike in fashion, marching two and two, in deep silence, bare!ooted, 
with their eyes fixed on the ground. These were followed by a company 
of higher rank, in their most showy apparel, in the midst of whom was 
Montezuma, in a chair or litter richly ornamented with gold, and feathers 
of various colours. Four of his principal favourites carried him on their 
shoulders, others supported a canopy of curious workmanship over his 
head. Before him marched three officers with rods of gold in their hands, 
which they lifted up on high at certain intervals, and at that signal all the 
people bowed their heads, and hid their faces, as unworthy to look on so 
great a monarch. When he drew near, Cortes dismounted, advancing to- 
wards him with officious haste, and in a respectful posture. At the same 
time Montezuma alighted from his chair, and, leaning on the arms of two 
of his near relations, approached with a slow and stately pace, his attend- 
ants covering the streets with cotton cloths, that he might not touch the 
OTound. Cortes accosted him Avith profound reverence, after the European 
fashion. He returned the salutation, according to the mode of his country, 
by touching the earth with his hand, and then kissing it. This ceremony, 
the customary expression of veneration from inferiors towards those who 
were above them in rank, appeared such amazing condescension in a proud 
monarch, who scarcely deigned to consider the rest of mankind as of the 
same species with himself, that all his subjects firmly believed those per- 
sons, before whom he humbled himself in this manner, to be something 
more than human. Accordingly, as they marched through the crowd, the 
Spaniards frequently, and with much satisfaction, heard themselves deno- 
minated Teules, or divinities. Nothing material passed in this first inter- 
view. Montezuma conducted Cortes to the quarters which he had pre- 
pared for his reception, and immediately took leave of him, with a polite- 
ness not unworthy of a court more refined. " You are now," says he, 
" with your brothers, in your own house ; refresh yourselves after your 
fatigue, and be happy until I retuin.''* The place allotted to the Spaniards 
for their lodging, was a house built by the father of Montezuma. It was 
surrounded by a stone wall, with towers at proper distances, which served 
for defence as well as for ornament, and its apartments and courts were so 
large as to accommodate both the Spaniards and their Indian allies. The 
first care of Cortes was to take precautions for his security, by planting the 
artillery so as to command the different avenues which led to it, by appoint- 
ing a lar^e division of his troops to be always on guard, and by posting 
sentinels at proper stations, with injunctions to observe the same vigilant 
discipline as if they were within sight of an enemy's camp. 

In the evening, Montezuma returned to visit hi* guests with the same 
pomp as in their first interview, and brought presents of such value, not 
only to Cortes and to his officers, but even to the private men, as proved 
the liberality of the monarch to be suitable to the opulence of his kingdom. 
A long conference ensued, in which Cortes learned what was the opinion 
of Montezuma with respect to the Spaniards. It was an established tra- 

* Cortes Rplat. Ram. iii. 232—235. P. Diaz, c. 83—83. Gomaia Cron. c,64. 0.5. Hcrrcra, dw. 
8. lib. vii. c, 3, 4, H. 



220 HISTORY OF [BookV. 

dition, be told him, among the Mexicans, that their ancestors came origin- 
ally from a remote region, and conquered the provinces now subject to his 
dominion ; that after they were settled there, the great captain who con- 
ducted this colony returned to his own country, promising that at some future 
period his descendants should visit them, assume the government, and reform 
their constitution and laws ; that from what he had heard and seen of 
Cortes and his followers, he was convinced that they were the very persons 
whose appearance the Mexican traditions and prophecies taught them to 
expect ; that accordingly he had received them, not as strangers, but as 
relations of the same blood and parentage, and desired that they might con- 
sider themselves as masters in his dominions, for both himself and his sub- 
jects should be ready to comply with their will, and even to prevent their 
wishes. Cortes made a reply m his usual style, with respect to the dig- 
nity and power of his sovereign, and his intention of sending him into 
that country ; artfully endeavourmg so to frame his discourse, that it might 
coincide as much as possible with the idea which Montezuma had formed 
concerning the origin of the Spaniards. Next morning, Cortes and some 
of his principal attendants were admitted to a public audience of the em- 
peror. The three subsequent days were employed in viewing the city ; 
the appearance of which, so far superior in the order of its buildings and 
the number of its inhabitants to any place the Spaniards had beheld in 
America, and yet so little resembling the structure of a European city, filled 
them with surprise and admiration. 

Mexico, or Tenuchtitlan, as it was anciently called by the natives, is 
situated in a large plain, evironed by mountains of such height that, though 
within the torrid zone, the temperature of its climate is mild and healthful. 
All the moisture which descends from the high grounds, is collected in 
several lakes, the two largest of which, of about ninety miles in circuit, 
communicate with each other. The waters of the one are fresh, those of 
the other brackish. On the banks of the latter, and on some small islands 
adjoining to them, the capital of Montezuma's empire was built. The 
access to the city was by artificial causeways or streets formed of stones 
and earth, about thirty feet in breadth. As the waters of the lake during 
the rainy season overflowed the flat countiy, these causeways were of 
considerable length. That of Tacuba, on the west, extended a mile and 
a half; that of '1 epeaca, on the north-west, three miles ; that of Cuoyacan, 
tov/ards the south, six miles. On the east* there was no causeway, and 
the city could be approached only by canoes.t In each of these cause- 
ways were openings at proper intervals, through which the waters /lowed, 
and over these beams of timber were laid, which being covered with earth, 
the causeway or street had ever}' where a uniform appearance. As the 
approaches to the city were singular, its construction was remarkable. 
Not only the temples of their gods, but the houses belonging to the monarch, 
and to persons of distinction, were of such dimensions, that, in comparison 
with any other buildings which hitherto had been discovered in America, 
they might be termed magnificent. The habitations of the common peo- 
ple were mean, resembling the huts of olher Indians, But they were all 
placed in a regular manner, on the banks of the canals which passed through 
the city, in some of its districts, or on the sides of the streets which inter- 
sected it in other quarters. In several places were laiffe openings or squares, 
one of which, allotted for the great market, is said to have been so spacious, 
that forty or fifty thousand persons carried on traffic there. In this city, 

* I am indebted to M. Clavigero for correcting an error of importance in my description of Mexico. 
From the enwt, where Te/.euco was situated, there was no causeway, as 1 have observed, and yet 
by some inattention on my part, or on that of tlie printer, in all the tonuer editions one of the 
causeways was said to lead to Tezeuco. M. Clavigero's measurement of tlie length of these 
causeways differs somewhat from that which I have adopted from F. Torrihio. Clavig. il. p. 7-?. 

* F. Torrihio MS. 



AMERICA. 221 

the pride of the New World, and the noblest monument of the industry 
and art of man, while unacquainted with the use of iron, and destitute of 
aid from any domestic animal, the Spaniards, who are most moderate in 
their computations, reckon that there were at least sixty thousand in- 
habitants.* 

But how much soever the novelty of those objects might amuse or 
astonish the Spaniards, they felt the utmost solicitude with respect to 
their own situation. From a concurrence of circumstances, no less un- 
expected than favourable to their progress, they had been allowed to 
penetrate into the heart of a powerful kingdom, and were now lodged in 
its capital without having once met with open opposition from its monarch. 
The Tlascalans, however, had earnestly dissuaded them from placing such 
confidence in Montezuma, as to enter a city of such peculiar situation as- 
Mexico, where that prince would have them at mercy, shut up as it were 
in a snare, from which it was impossible to escape. They assured them 
that the Mexican priests had, in the name of the gods, counselled their 
sovereign to admit the Spaniards into the capital, that he might cut them off 
there at one blow with perfect security.! 1 hey now perceived too plainly, 
that the apprehensions of their allies were not destitute of foundation ; that, 
by breaking the bridges placed at certain intervals on the causeways, or by 
destroying part of the causeways themselves, their retreat would be 
rendered impracticable, and they must remain cooped up in the centre of 
a hostile city, surrounded by multitudes sufficient to overwhelm them, and 
without a possibility of receiving aid from their allies. Montezuma had, 
indeed, received them with distinguished respect. But ought they to 
reckon upon this as real, or to consider it as feigned ? Even if it were 
sincere, could they promise on its continuance ? Their safety depended 
upon the will of a monarch in whose attachment they had no reason t(i 
confide ; and an order flowing from his caprice, or a word uttered by him 
in passion, might decide irrevocably concerning their fate.| 

These reflections, so obvious as to occur to the meanest soldier, did not 
escape the vigilant sagacity of their general. Before he set out from 
Cholula, Cortes had received advice from Villa Rica,§ that Qualpopoca^ 
one of the Mexican generals on the frontiers, having assembled an army 
in order to attack some of the people whom the Spaniards had encouraged 
to throw off the Mexican yoke, Escalante had marched out with part of 
the garrison to support his allies ; that an engagement had ensued, in which, 
though the Spaniards were victorious, Escalante, with seven of his meiv 
had been mortally wounded, his horse killed, and one Spaniard had been 
surrounded by the enemy and taken alive ; that the head of this unfortu- 
nate captive, after being carried in triumph to different cities, in order to 
convince the people that their invaders were not immortal, had been sent 
to Mexico.ll Cortes, though alarmed with this intelligence, as an indica- 
tion of Montezuma's hostile intentions, had continued his march. But as 
soon as he entered Mexico he became sensible, that, from an excess of 
confidence in the superior valour and discipline of his troops, as well as 
from the disadvantage of having nothing to guide him in an unknown 
country, but the detective intelligence which he had received from people 
with whom his mode of communication was very imperfect, he had pushed 
forward into a situation where it was difficult to continue, and from which 
it was dangerous to retire. Disgrace, and perhaps ruin, was the certain 
consequence of attempting the latter. The success of his enterprise 
depended upon supporting the high opinion which the people of New 
Spain had formed with respect to the irresistible power of his arms. Upon 

* Cortes Rclat. Ram. iii. 230. I). Rclat. delta gran Citta de Mexico, par nn Genlelhuomo di-1 
CoTtese. Ram. ibid. 304. E. Herrcra, dec. '2. lil». vii. c. 14, &c. T B. Diaz, c. 85, 86. t Ibid. 
f . 94. ft Cortos Relal. Ram. iii, 235. C. !1 B. Diaz, c. 93, "ll. ITcnera, d'-c. 2. lib. viii. c. 1. 



22^; HISTORY OF [Book V. 

the first ay rnptom of timidity on his part, their veneration would cease, 
and Montezuma, whom fear alone restrained at present, would let loose 
upon him the whole force of his empire. At the same time, he knew that 
the countenance of his own sovereign was to be obtained only by a series 
of victories, and that nothing but the merit of extraordinary success could 
screen his conduct from the censure of irregularity. From all these con- 
siderations, it was necessary to maintain his station, and to extricate himself 
out of the difficulties in which one bold step had involved him, by ven- 
turing upon another still bolder. The situation was trying, but his mind 
was equal to it ; and after revolving the matter with deep attention, he 
fixed upon a plan no less extraordinary than daring. He determined to 
seize Montezuma in his palace, and to carry him as a prisoner to the 
Spanish quarters. From the superstitious veneration of the Mexicans for 
the person of their monarch, as well as their implicit submission to his 
will, he hoped, by having Montezuma in his power, to acquire the 
supreme direction of their affairs ; or, at least, with such a sacred pledge 
in his hands, he made no doubt of being secure from any effort of their 
violence. 

This he immediately proposed to his officers. The timid startled at a 
measure so audacious, and raised objections. The more intelligent and 
resolute, conscious that it was the only resource in which there appeared 
any prospect of safety, warmly approved of it, and brought over their 
companions so cordially to the same opinion, that it was agreed instantly 
to make the attempt. At his usual hour of visiting Montezuma, Cortes 
went to the palace, accompanied by Alvarado, Sandoval, Lugo, Velasquez 
de Leon, and Davila, five of his principal officers, and as many trusty 
soldiers. Thirty chosen men follovved, not in regular order, but sauntering 
at some distance, as if they had no object but curiosity ; small parties 
were posted at proper intervals, in all the streets leading from the Spanish 
quarters to the court ; and the remainder of his troops, with the Tlascalan 
allies, were under arms ready to sally out on the first alarni. Cortes and 
his attendants were admitted without suspicion ; the Mexicans retiring, as 
usual, out of respect. He addressed the monarch in a tone very different 
from that which he had employed in former conferences, reproaching him 
bitterly as the author of the violent assault made upon the Spaniards by 
one of'^his officers, and demanded public reparation for the loss which they 
had sustained by the death of some of their campanions, as well as for 
the insult offered to the great prince whose servants they were. Mon- 
tezuma, confounded at this unexpected accusation, and changing colour, 
either from consciousness of guilt, or from feeling ihe indignity with which 
he was treated, asserted his own innocence with great earnestness, and, as 
a proof of it, gave orders instantly to bring Qiialpopoca and his accomplices 
prisoners to Mexico. Cortes replied with seeming complaisance, that a 
declaration so respectable left no doubt remaining in his own mind, but 
that something more was requisite to satisfy his followers, who would 
never be convinced that Montezuma did not harbour hostile intentions 
against them, unless, as an evidence of his confidence and attachment, he 
removed from his own palace, and took up his residence in the Spanish 
quarters, where he should be served and honoured as became a great 
monarch. The first mention of so strange a proposal bereaved Montezuma 
of speech, and almost of motion. At length indignation gave him utter- 
ance, and he haughtily answered, " That persons of his rank were not 
accustomed voluntarily to give up themselves as prisoners ; and were he 
mean enough to do so, his subjects would not permit such an affront to be 
offered to their sovereign." Cortes, unwilling to employ force, endeavoured 
alternately to soothe and to intimidate him. The altercation became 
warm; and having continued above three hours, Velasquez de Leon, ao 
imj>etuous and gallant young man, exclaimed with impatience, " Why 



AMERICA. 22S 

waste more time in vain ? Let us either seize him instantly, or stab him 
to the heart." The threatening voice and tierce gestures with which these 
words were uttered, struck Montezuma. The Spaniards, he was sensible, 
had now proceeded so far, as let't him no hope that they would recede. 
His own danger was imminent, the necessity unavoidable. He saw both, 
and, abandoning himself to his fate, complied with their request. 

His officers were called. He communicated to them his resolution. 
Though astonished and afflicted, they presumed not to question the will of 
their master, but carried him in silent pomp, all bathed in tears, to the 
Spanish quarters. When it was known that the strangers were conveying 
away the Emperor, the people broke out into the Avildest transports ot' 
grief and rage, threatening the Spaniards with immediate destruction, as 
the punishment justly due to their impious audacity. But as soon as Mon- 
tezuma appeared, with a seeming gayety of countenance, and waved his 
hand, the tumult was hushed ; and upon his declaring it to be of his own 
choice that he went to reside for some time among his new friends, the mul- 
titude, taught to revere every intimation of their sovereign's pleasure, quietly 
dispersed.* 

Thus was a powerful prince seized by a few strangers in the midst of 
his capital, at noonday, and carried off as a prisoner, without opposition or 
bloodshed. History contains nothing parallel to this event, either with 
respect to the temerity of the attempt, or the success of the execution ; 
and were not all the circumstances of this extraordinary transaction authen- 
ticated by the most unquestionable evidence, they would appear so wild 
and extravagant as to go far beyond the bounds of that probability which 
must be preserved even in fictitious narrations. 

Montezuma was received in the Spanish quarters with all the ceremo- 
nious respect which Cortes had promised. He was attended by his own 
domestics, and served with his usual state. His principal officers had free 
access to him, and he carried on eveiy function of^ government as if he had 
been at perfect liberty. The Spaniards, however, watched him with the 
scrupulous vigilance which was natural in guarding such an important 
prize [110], endeavouring at the same time to sooth and reconcile him to 
his situation by every external demonstration of regard and attachment. 
But from captive princes, the hour of humiliation and suffering is never far 
distant. Qualpopoca, his son, and five of the principal officers who served 
under him, were brought prisoners to the capital [Dec. 4], in consequence 
of the orders which Montezuma had issued. The Emperor gave them up 
to Cortes, that he might inquire into the nature of their crime, and deter- 
mine their punishment. They were formally tried by a Spanish court 
martial ; and though ihey had acted no other part than what became loyal 
subjects and brave men, in obeying the orders of their lawful sovereign, 
and in opposing the invaders of their country, they were condemned to be 
burnt alive. The execution of such atrocious deeds is seldom long sus- 
pended. The unhappy victims were instantly led forth. The pile on 
which they were laid was composed of the weapons collected in (he royal 
magazine for the public dcfience. An innumerable multitude of Mexicans 
beheld, in silent astonishment, the double insult offered to the majesty of 
their empire, an officer of distinction committed to the flames by the author- 
ity of strangers for having done what he owed in duty to his natural sove- 
reign; and the arms provided by the foresight ol their ancestors for 
avenging public wrongs, consumed before their eyes. 

But these were not the most shocking indignities which the Mexicans 
had to bear. The Spaniards, convinced that C^ualpopoca would not have 
ventured to attack Escalante without orders from his master, were not 

*Diaz, e. 95. Gomara Cron. r. 83. Cortes Relat. Ram. iii. p 2.15, ^M. Ilorrcra, dec. 2. liri. 
Tiii. c. 2, 3. 



224 11 i S I O il i U F [Book V. 

satisfied with inilicling vengeance on tlie instrument employed in commit- 
ting that crime while the author of it escaped with impunity. Just before 
QjLialpopoca was led out to sutler, Cortes entered the apartment of Monte- 
zuma, followed by some of his officers, and a soldier, carrying a pair of 
fetters ; and approaching the monarch with a stem countenance told bim, 
that as the persons who were now to undergo the punishment which they 
merited, had charged him as the cause of the outrage committed, it was 
necessary that he likewise should make atonement for that guilt ; then 
turning away abruptly, without waiting for a reply, commanded the sol- 
dier to clap the fetters on his legs. The orders were instantly executed. 
The disconsolate monarch, trained up with an idea that his person was 
sacred and inviolable, and considering this profanation of it as the prelude 
of immediate death, broke out into loud lamentations and complaints. His 
attendants, speechless with horror, fell at his feet, bathing them with their 
tears ; and, bearing up the fetters in their hands, endeavoured with officious 
tenderness to lighten their pressure. Nor did their grief and despondency 
abate, until Cortes returned from the execution, and with a cheerful coun- 
tenance ordered the fetters to be taken oft". As Montezuma's spirits had 
sunk with unmanly dejection, they now rose into indecent joy ; and with 
an unbecoming transition, he passed at once from the anguish of despair to 
transports of gratitude and expressions of fondness towards bis deliverer. 
In those transactions, as represented by the Spanish historians, we search 
in vain for the qualities which distinguish other parts of Cortes's conduct. 
To usurp a jurisdiction which could not belong to a stranger, who assumed 
no higher character than that of an ambassador from a foreign prince, and, 
under colour of it, to inflict a capital punishment on men whose conduct 
entitled them to esteem, appears an act of barbarous cruelty. To put the 
monarch of a great kingdom in irons, and, after such ignominious treat- 
ment, suddenly to release him, seems to be a display of power no less in- 
considerate than wanton. According to the common relation, no account 
can be given either of the one action or the other, but that Cortes, intoxi- 
cated with success, and presuming on the ascendant which he had acquired 
over the minds of the Mexicans, thought nothing too bold for him to urider- 
take, or too dangerous to execute. But, in one view, these proceedings, 
however repugnant to justice and humanity, may have flowed from that 
artful policy which regulated every part of Cortes's behaviour towards tlie 
Mexicans. They had conceived the Spaniards to be an order of beings 
superior to men. It was of the utmost consequence to cherish this illusion, 
and to keep up the veneration which it inspired. Cortes wished that 
shedding the blood of a Spaniard should be deemed the most heinous of 
all crimes ; and nothing appeared better calculated to establish this 
opinion than to condemn the first Mexicans who had ventured to commit 
it to a cruel death, and to oblige their monarch himself to submit to a mor- 
tifying indignity as an expiation for being accessary to a deed so atro- 
cious [ill] 

1520.] The rigour with which Cortes punished the unhappy persons 
who first presumed to lay violent hands upon his followers, seems accord- 
ingly to have made all the impression that he desired. The spirit of Mon- 
tezuma was not only overawed but subdued. During six inonths that 
Cortes remained in Mexico, the monarch continued in the Spanish quarters 
■with an appearance of as entire satisfaction and tranquillity as if he had 
resided there not from constraint, but through choice. His ministers and 
officers attended him as usual. He took cognisance of all affairs ; every 
order was issued in his name. The external aspect of government appear- 
ing the same, and all its ancient forms being scrupulously observed, the 
people were so little sensible of any change, that they obeyed the man- 
dates of their monarch with the same submissive reverence as ever. Such 
was the dread which both Montezuma and his subjects had of the Span- 



AMERICA. 225 

lards, or such the veneration in which they litld them, that j.o uttempt was 
made to dehver their sovereign from confinement ; and tiiough Cortes, rely- 
ing on this ascendant which he had acquired over their minds, permitted 
him not only to visit his temples, but to make hunting excursions beyond 
the lake, a guard of a few Spaniards carried with it such a terror as to 
intimidate the multitude, and secure the captive monarch.* 

Thus, by the fortunate temerity of Cortes in seizing Montezuma, the 
Spaniards at once secured to themselves more extensive authority in the 
Mexican Empire than it was possible to have acquired in a long course of 
time by open force ; and they exercised more absolute sway in the name 
of another, than they could have done in their own. The arts of polished 
nations, in subjecting such as are less improved, have been nearly the same 
in every period. The system of screening a foreign usurpation, under the 
sanction of authority derived from the natural rulers of a country, the device 
of employing the magistrates and forms already established as instruments 
to introduce a new dominion, of which we are apt to boast as sublime refine- 
ments in policy peculiar to the present age, were inventions of a more early 
period, and had been tried with success in the West long before they were 
practised in the East. 

Cortes availed himself to the utmost of the powers which he possessed 
by being able to act in the name of Montezuma. He sent some Spaniards, 
whom he judged best qualified for such commissions, into different parts of 
the empire, accompanied by persons of distinction, whom Montezuma ap- 
pointed to attend them, both as guides and protectors. They visited most 
of the provinces, viewed their soil and productions, surveyed with particular 
care the districts which yielded gold or silver, pitched upon several places 
as proper stations for future colonies, and endeavoured to prepare the minds 
of the people for submitting to the Spanish yoke. While they were thus 
employed, Cortes, in the name and by the authority of Montezuma, de- 
graded some of the principal officers in the empire, whose abilities or inde- 
{)endent spirit excited his jealousy, and substituted in their place persons 
ess capable or more obsequious. 

One thing still was wanting to complete his security. He wished to 
have such command of the lake as might ensure a retreat if, either from 
levity or disgust, the Mexicans should take arms against him, and break 
down the bridges or causeways. This, too, his own address, and the 
facility of Montezuma, enabled him to accomplish. Having frequently 
entertained his prisoner with pompous accounts of the European marine 
and art of navigation, he awakened his curiosity to see those moving 
palaces which made their way through the water without oars. Under 
pretext of gratifying this desire, Cortes persuaded Montezuma to appoint 
some of his subjects to fetch part of the naval stores which the Spaniards 
liad deposited at Vera Cruz to Mexico, and to employ others in cutting 
down and preparing timber. With their assistance, the Spanish carpenters 
soon completed two brigantines, which afforded a frivolous amusement to 
the monarch, and were considered by Cortes as a certain resource if he 
should be obliged to retire. 

Encouraged by so many instances of the monarch's tame submission to 
his will, Cortes ventured to put it to a proof still more trying. He urged 
Montezuma to acknowledge himself a vassal of the king of Castile, to 
hold his crown of him as superior, and to subject his dominions to the 

f payment of an annual tribute. VViih this requisition, the last and most 
tumbling that can be made to one possessed of sovereign authority, Mon- 
tezuma was so obsequious as to comply. He called together the chief 
men of his empire, and in a solemn harangue, reminding them of the tra- 
ditions and prophecies which led them to expect the arrival of a people 

* Concg Rclat. p. nn. E. n. Vmv.. r. 97. 9». 09. 

Vol. I.— 59 



220 ] i 1 S T O K Y 1' LBooK v. 

?l)rung^ from the sanit; slock with themselves, in order to take possession 
of the supreme power, he declared his belief that the Spaniards were this 
promised race ; that therefore he recognised the right of their monarch to 
govern the Mexican empire • that he would lay his crown at his feet, and 
obey him as a tributary. While uttering these words, Montezuma dis- 
covered how deeply he was affected in making such a sacrifice. Tears 
and groans frequently interrupted his discourse. Overawed and broken 
as his spirit was, it still retained such a sense of dignity as to feel that 
pang which pierces the heart of princes when constrained to resign inde- 
pendent power. The tirst mention of such a resolution struck the assembly 
dumb with astonishment. This was followed by a sudden murmur of 
sorrow, mingled with indignation, which indicated some violent irruption 
of rage to be near at hand. This Cortes foresaw, and seasonably inter- 
posed to prevent it by declaring that his master had no intention to deprive 
Montezuma of the royal dignity, or to make any innovation upon the con- 
stitution and laws of the Mexican empire. This assurance, added to their 
dread of the Spanish power and to the authority of their monarch's exaniple, 
extorted a reluctant consent from the assembly [112]. The act ol sub- 
mission and homage was executed with all the formalities which the Spa- 
niards were pleased to prescribe.* 

Montezuma, at the desire of Cortes, accompanied this profession of 
fealty and homage with a magnificent present to his new sovereign ; and 
after his example his subjects brought in very liberal contributions. The 
Spaniards now collected all the treasures which had been either voluntarily 
bestowed upon them at different times by Montezuma, or had been ex- 
torted from his people under various pretexts ; and having melted the 
gold and silver, the value of these, without including jewels and ornaments 
of various kinds, which were preserved on account of their curious work- 
manship, amounted to six hundred thousand pesos. The soldiers were 
impatient to have it divided, and Cortes complied with their desire. A 
fifth of the whole was first set apart as the tax due to the king. Another 
fifth was allotted to Cortes as commander in chief. The sums advanced 
by Velasquez, by Cortes, and by some of the officers, towards defraying 
the expense of fitting out the armament, were then deducted. The re- 
mainder was divided among the army, including the garrison of Vera 
Cruz, in proportion to their different ranks. After so many defalcations, 
the share of a private man did not exceed a hundred pesos. This sum 
fell so far below their sanguine expectations, that some soldiers rejected it 
with scorn, and others murmured so loudly at this cruel disappointment of 
their hopes, that it required all the address of Cortes, and no small ex- 
ertion of his liberality, to appease them. The complaints of the army 
Avere not altogether destitute of foundation. As the crown had contributed 
nothing towards the equipment or success of the armament, it was not 
without regret that the soldiers beheld it sweep away so great a proportion 
of the treasure purchased by their blood and toil. What fell to the share 
of the general appeared, according to the ideas of wealth in the sixteenth 
century, an enormous sum. Some of Cortes's favourites had secretly 
appropriated to their own use several ornaments of gold, which neither 
paid the royal fifth, nor were brought into account as part of the common 
stock. It was, however, so manifestly the interest of Cortes at this period 
to make a large remittance to the King, that it is. highly probable those 
concealments were not of great consequence. 

The total sum amassed by the Spaniards bears no proportion to the 
ideas which might be formed, either by reflecting on the descriptions given 
by historians of the ancient splendour of Mexico, or by considering the 
productions of its mines in modern times. But among the ancient Mexi- 

• Cortes Relat. 238. D B. Diaz, c. 101. Gomara Cron. c. 53. Hcrrera, Ucc. 2, lib. x. r. 4 



AMERICA. 227 

cans, gold and silver were not the standards by which the worth of other 
commodities was estimated ; and destitute of the artificial value derived 
from this circumstance, were no further in request than as they furnished 
materials for ornaments and trinkets. These were either consecrated to 
the gods in their temples, or were worn as marlis of distinction by their 
princes and some of their most eminent chiefs. As the consumption of the 
precious metals was inconsiderable, the demand for them was not such as 
(o put either the ingenuity or industiy of the Mexicans on the stretch in 
order to augment their store. They were altogether unacquainted with 
the art of working the rich mines with which their country abounded. 
What gold they had was gathered in the beds of rivers, native, and ripened 
into a pure metallic state.* The utmost effort of their labour in search of 
it was to wash the earth carried down liy torrents from the mountains, and 
to pick out the grains of gold which subsided ; and even this simple ope- 
ration, according to the report of the persons whom Cortes appointed to 
survey the provinces where there was a prospect of finding mines, they 
performed very unskilfully.! From all those causes, the whole mass of 
gold in possession of the Mexicans was not gre;'.t. As silver is rarely found 
pure, and the Mexican art was too rude to conduct the process for refining 
it in a proper manner, the quantity of this metal was still less considerable.^ 
Thus, though the Spaniards had exerted all the power which they pos- 
sessed in Mexico, and often with indecent rapacity, in order to gratify their 
predominant passion, and though Montezuma had fondly exhausted his 
treasures, in hopes of satiating their thirst for gold, the product of both, 
which probably included a great part of the Dullion in the empire, did 
not rise in value above what has been mentioned [113]. 

But however pliant Montezuma might be in other matters, with respect 
to one point he was inflexible. Though Cortes often urged him, with the 
importunate zeal of a missionary, to renounce his false gods, and to em- 
brace the Christian faith, he always rejected the proposition with horror. 
Superstition, among the Mexicans, was formed into such a regular and 
complete system, that its institutions naturally took fast hold of the mind ; 
and while the rude tribes in other parts of America were easily induced 
to relinquish a few notions and rites, so loose and arbitrary as hardly to 
merit the name of a public religion, the Mexicans adhered tenaciously to 
their mode of worship, which, liowever barbarous, was accompanied with 
such order and solemnity as to render it an object of the highest venera- 
tion, Cortes, finding all bis attempts ineffectual to shake the constancy of 
Montezuma, was so much enraged at his obstinacy, that in a transport of 
zeal he led out his soldiers to throw down the idols in the grand temple 
by force. But the priests taking arms in defence of their altars, and the 
people crowding with great ardour to support them, Cortes's prudence 
overruled his zeal, and induced him to desist from his rash attempt, after 
dislodgir^ the idols from one of the shrines, and placing in their stead an 
image of the Virgin Mary flH]. 

From that moment the Mexicans, who had permitted the imprisonment 
of their sovereign, and suffered the exactions of strangers without a 
struggle, began to meditate how they might expel or destroy the Spaniards, 
and tnought themselves called upon to avenge their insulted deities. The 
priests and leading men held frequent consultations with Montezuma for 
this purpose. But as it might prove fatal to the captive monarch to 
attempt either the one or the other by violence, he was willing to try more 
gentle means. Having called Cortes into his presence, he oDserved, that 
now, as all the purposes of his embassy were fully accomplished, the gods 
had declared their will, and the i)eople signified their desire, that he and 
his followers should instantly depart out of the empire. With this he re- 

• Cortes Relat. p. BOG. F. B Pia/., c 102. 10?. f.'oinara Crf>n r. W + b. Diaz. r. 1<(3. 

} Ilerrera, dec. 2, lib, ix. c 1. 



228 HISTORY OF [BookV. 

quired them to comply, or unavoidable destruction would fall suddenly on 
their heads. The tenour of this unexpected requisition, as well as the 
determined tone in which it was uttered, left Cortes no room to doubt, that 
it was the result of some deep scheme concerted between Montezuma and 
his subjects. He quickly perceived that he might derive more advantage 
from a seeming compliance with the monarch's inclinations, than from an 
ill-timed attempt to change or to oppose it ; and replied, with great com- 
posure, that he had already begun to prepare for returning to his own 
countiy ; but as he had destroyed the vessels in which he arrived, some 
time was requisite for building other ships. This appeared reasonable. 
A number of Mexicans were sent to Vera Cruz to cut down timber, and 
some Spanish carpenters were appointed to superintend the work. Cortes 
flattered himself that during this interval he might either find means to 
avert the threatened danger, or receive such reinforcements as would 
enable him to despise it. 

Almost nine months Avere elapsed since Portocarrero and Montejo had 
sailed with his despatches to Spain ; and he daily expected their return 
with a confirmation of his authority from the King. Without this, his con- 
dition was insecure and precarious ; and after all the great things which 
he had done, it might be his doom to bear the name and suffer the punish- 
ment of a traitor. Rapid and extensive as his progress had been, he could 
not hope to complete tne reduction of a great empire with so small a body 
of men, which by this time diseases of various kinds considerably thinned*; 
nor could he apply for recruits to the Spanish settlements in the islands, 
until he received the royal approbation of his proceedings. 

While he remained in this cruel situation, anxious about what was past, 
uncertain with respect to the future, and, by the late declaration of Monte- 
zuma, oppressed with a new addition of cares, a Mexican courier arrived 
with an account of some ships having appeared on the coast. Cortes, with 
fond credulity, imagining that his messengers were returned from Spain, and 
that the completion of all his wishes and hopes was at hand, imparted the 
glad tidings to his companions, who received them with transports of mutual 
gratulation. Their joy was not of long continuance. A courier from 
Sandoval, whom Cortes had appointed to succeed Escalante in command 
at Vera Cruz, brought certain information that the armament was fitted 
out by Velasquez, governor of Cuba, and, instead of bringing the aid 
which they expected, threatened them with immediate destruction. 

The motives which prompted Velasquez to this violent measure are 
obvious. From the circumstances of Cortes' departure, it was impossible 
not to suspect his intention of throwing off all dependence upon him. 
His neglecting to transmit any account of his operations to Cuba, 
strengthened this suspicion, which was at last confirmed beyond doubt by 
the indiscretion of the officers whom Cortes sent to Spain. They, from 
some motive which is not clearly explained by the contemporary historians, 
touched at the island of Cuba, contrary to the peremptory' orders of their 
general.* By this means Velasquez not only learned that Cortes and his 
followers, after formally renouncing all connection with him, had esta- 
blished an independent colony in New Spain, and were soliciting the King 
to confirm their proceedings by his authority ; but he obtained particular 
information concerning the opulence of the countrj', the valuable presents 
which Cortes had received, and the inviting prospects of success that 
opened to his view. Every passion which can agitate an ambitious mind ; 
shame, at having been so grossly overreached ; indignation, at being 
betrayed by the man whom he had selected as the object of his favour 
and confidence ; grief, for having wasted his fortune to aggrandize an 
enemy ; and despair of recovering so fair an opportunity of establishing 

* B. Piaz, c. 54, 55. Hcrrora, dec. 2. lib. v. c. 14- Gomara Cron. c. 9*5. 



AMERICA. 229 

his fame and extending his power, now raged in the bosom of Velasquez. 
All these, with united force, excited him to make an extraordinary effort 
in order to be avenged on the author of his wrongs, and to wrest Irom him 
his usurped authority and conquests. Nor did he want the appearance of 
a good title to justify such an attempt. The agent whom he sent to Spain 
with an account of Grijalva's voyage, had met with a most favourable 
reception ; and from the specimens which he produced, such high expec- 
tations were formed concerning the opulence oi New Spain, that Velasquez 
was authorized to prosecute the discovery of the country, and appointed 
governor of it during life, with more extensive power and privileges than 
had been granted to any adventurer from the time of Columbus.* Elated 
by this distinguishing mark of favour, and warranted to consider Cortes 
not only as intruding upon his jurisdiction, but as disobedient to the royal 
mandate, he determined to vindicate his own rights, and the honour of 
his sovereign by force of arms [ll5]. His ardour in carrying on his pre- 
parations was such as might have been expected from the violence of the 
passions with which he was animated ; and in a short time an armament was 
completed, consisting of eighteen ships which had on board fourscore 
horsemen, eight hundred foot soldiers, of which eighty were musketeers, 
and a hundred and twenty cross-bow men, together with a train of twelve 
pieces of cannon. As Velasquez's experience of the fatal consequence of 
committing to another what he ought to have executed himsen, had not 
rendered him more enterprising, he vested the command of this formi- 
dable body, which, in the infancy of the Spanish power in America, merits 
the appellation of an army, in Pamphilo de Narvaez, with instructions to 
seize Cortes and his principal officers, to send them prisoners to him, and 
then to complete the discovery and conquest of the countiy in his name. 

After a prosperous voyage, Narvaez landed his men without opposition 
near St. Juan de Ulua [April]. Three soldiers, whom Cortes had sent 
to search for mines in that district, immediately joined him. By this 
accident he not only received information concerning the progress and 
situation of Cortes, but, as these soldiers had made some progress in the 
knowledge of the Mexican language, he acquired interpreters, by whose 
means he was enabled to hold some intercourse with the people of the 
country. But, according to the low cunning of deserters, they framed their 
intelligence with more attention to what they thought would be agreeable 
than to what they knew to be true ; and represented the situation of Cortes 
to be so desperate, and the disaffection of his followers to be so general, 
as increased the natural confidence and presumption of Narvaez. His 
first operation, however, might have taught him not to rely on their partial 
accounts. Having sent to summon the governor of Vera Cruz to sur- 
render, Guevara, a priest whom he employed in that service, made the 
requisition with such insolence, that Sandoval, an officer of high spirit, 
and zealously attached to Cortes, instead of complying with his demands, 
seized him and his attendants, and sent them in chains to Mexico. 

Cortes received them not like enemies, but as friends, and, condemnina: 
the severity of Sandoval, set them immediately at liberty. By this well 
timed clemency, seconded by caresses and presents, he gained their con- 
fidence, and drew from them such particulars concerning the force and 
intentions of Narvaez, as gave him a view of the impending danger in its 
full extent. He had not to contend now with half naked Indians, no match 
for him in war, and still more inferior in the arts of policy, but to take the 
field against an army in courage and martial discipline equal to his own, 
in number far superior, acting under the sanction of royal authority, and 
commanded by an officer oi known bravciy. He was informed that 
Narvaez, more solicitous to gratify the resentment of Velasquez than 

* llerrera, dec ?, Uv, iii. c. II. 



23U H I S T O R Y O F [Book V. 

attentive to the honour or interest of his country, had begun his intercourse 
with the natives, by representing him and his followers as fugitives and 
outlaws, guilty of rebellion against their own sovereign, and of injustice in 
invading the Mexican empire ; and had declared that his chief object in 
visiting the country was to punish the Spaniards who had committed these 
crimes, and to rescue the Mexicans from oppression. He soon perceived 
that the same unfavourable representations of his character and actions had 
been conveyed to Montezuma, and that Naivaez had found means to assure 
him, that as the conduct of those who kept him under restraint was hi<'hly 
displeasing to the King his master, he had it in charge not only to rescue 
an injured monarch Irom confinement, but to reinstate him in the possession 
of his ancient power and independence. Animated with this prospect of 
being set free from subjection to strangers, the Mexicans in several provinces 
began openly to revolt from Cortes, and to regard Narvaez as a deliverer 
no less able than willing to save them. Montezuma himself kept up a 
secret intercourse with the new commander, and seemed to court him as 
a person superior in power and dignity to those Spaniards whom he had 
hitherto revered as the first of men [116]. 

Such were the various aspects of danger and difficulty which presented 
themselves to the view of Cortes. No situation can be conceived more 
trying to the capacity and firmness of a general, or where the choice of the 
plan which ought to be adopted was more difficult. If he should wait the 
approach of Narvaez in Mexico, destruction seemed to be unavoidable ; 
for, while the Spaniards pressed him from without, the inhabitants, whose 
turbulent spirit he could hardly restrain with all his authority and attention, 
would eagerly lay hold on such a favourable opportunity of avenging all 
their wrongs. If he should abandon the capital, set the captive monarch 
at liberty, and march out to meet the enemy, he must at once forego the 
fruits of all his toils and victories, and relinquish advantages which could 
not be recovered without extraordinary efforts and infinite danger. If, 
instead of employing force, he should have recourse to conciliating 
measures, and attempt an accommodation with Narvaez ; the natural 
haughtiness of that officer, augmented by consciousness of his present 
superiority, forbade him to cherish any sanguine hope of success. After 
revolving every scheme with deep attention, Cortes fixed upon that which 
in execution was most hazardous, but, if successful, would prove most 
beneficial to himself and to his country ; and with the decisive intrepidity 
suited to desperate situations, determined to make one bold eflfort for victory 
under every disadvantage, rather than sacrifice his own conquests and the 
Spanish interests in Mexico. 

But though he foresaw that the contest must be terminated finally by 
arms, it would have been not only indecent but criminal to have niarched 
against his countiymen, without attempting to adjust matters by an amicable 
negotiation. In this service he employea Olmedo, his chaplain, to whose 
character the function was well suited, and who possessed, besides, such 
prudence and address as qualified him to carry on the secret intrigues in 
which Cortes placed his chief confidence. Narvaez rejected with scorn 
every scheme of accommodation that Olmedo proposed, and was with 
difficulty restrained from laying violent hands on him and his attendants. 
He met, however, with a more favourable reception among the followers of 
Narvaez^to many of whom he delivered letters, either from Cortes or his 
officers, their ancient friends and companions. Cortes artfully accompanied 
these with presents of rings, chains of gold, and other trinkets of value, 
which inspired those needy adventurers with high ideas of the wealth 
tliat he had acquiied, and with envy of their good fortune who were 
engaged in his service. Some, from hopes of becoming sharers in those 
rich S{)oils, declared for an immediate accommodation with Cortes. Others, 
jioin public sjiirit, laboured to prevent a civil war, which, whatever party 



AMERICA. 23X 

should prevail, must shake, and perhaps subvert the Spanish power in a 
country where it was so imperiectly estabhshed. Narvaez disregarded 
both, and by a pubhc proclamation denounced Cortes and his adherents 
rebels and enemies to their country. Cortes, it is probable, was not much 
surprised at the untractable arrogance of Narvaez ; and after having given 
such a proof of his own pacific disposition as might justify his recourse to 
other means, he determined to advance towards an enemy whom he had 
laboured in vain to appease. 

He left a hundred and fifty men in the capital [May], under the com- 
mand of Pedro de Alvarado, an officer of distinguished courage, for whom 
the Mexicans had conceived a singular degree of respect. To the custody 
of this slender garrison he committed a great city, with all the wealth he 
had amassed, and, what was of still greater importance, the person of the 
imprisoned monarch. His utmost art was employed in concealing from 
Montezuma the real cause of his march. He laboured to persuade him, that 
the strangers who had lately arrived were his friends and fellow-subjects ; 
and that, after a short interview with them, they would depart together, and 
return to their own countiy. The captive prince, unable to comprehend 
the designs of the Spaniard, or to reconcile what he now heard with the 
declarations of Nar\'aez, and afraid to discover any symptom of suspicion or 
distrust of Cortes, promised to remain quietly in the Spanish quarters, and to 
cultivate the same friendship with Alvarado which he had uniformly main- 
tained with him. Cortes, with seeming confidence in this promise, but 
relying principally upon the injunctions which he had given Alvarado to 
guard his prisoner with the most scrupulous vigilance, set out from Mexico. 

His strength, even after it was reinforce t by the junction of Sandoval and 
the garrison of Vera Cruz, did not exceed two hundred and fifty men. As 
he hoped for success chiefly from the rapidity of his motions, his troops 
were not encumbered either with baggage or artillery. But as he dreaded 
extremely the impression which the enemy might make with their cavalry, 
he had provided against this danger with the foresight and sagacity which 
distinguish a great commander. Having observed that the Indians in the 
province of Chinantla used spears of extraordinary length and force, he 
armed his soldiers with these, and accustomed them to that deep and com- 
pact arrangement which the use of this formidable weapon, the best per- 
haps that was ever invented for defence, enabled them to assume. 

With this small but firm battalion, Cortes advanced towards Zempoalla, 
of which Narvaez had taken possession. During his march, he made 
repeated attempts towards some accommodation with his opponent. But 
Narvaez requiring that Cortes and his followers should instantly recognise 
his title to be governor of New Spain, in virtue of the powers which he 
derived from Velasquez ; and Cortes refusing to submit to any authority 
which was not founded on a commission from the Emperor himself, under 
whose immediate protection he and his adherents had placed their infant 
colony ; all these attempts proved fruitless. The intercourse, however, 
which this occasioned between the two parties, proved of no small advan- 
tage to Cortes, as it aflforded him an opportunity of gaining some of Nar- 
vaez's officers by liberal presents, of softening others by a semblance of 
moderation, and of dazzling all by the appearance of wealth among his 
troops, most of his soldiers having converted their share of the Mexican gold 
into chains, bracelets, and other ornaments, which they displayed with 
military ostentation. Narvaez and a little junto of his creatures excepted, 
all the army leaned towards an accommodation with their countrymen. 
This discoveiy of their inclination irritated his violent temper almost to 
madness. In a transport of rage, he set a price upon the head of Cortes, 
and of his principal officers ; and having learned that he was now advanced 
within a league of Zempoalla with his small body of men, he considered 



232 HISTORY OF [BookV. 

this as an insult which merited immediate chastisement, and marched out 
with all his troops to ofli'er him battle. 

But Cortes was a leader of greater abilities and experience than, on equal 
ground, to tight an enemy so far superior in number, and so much better 
appointed. Having taken his station on the opposite bank of the river de 
Canoas, where he knew that he could not be attacked, he beheld the ap- 

firoach of the enemy without concern, and disregarded this vain bravade. 
t was then the beginning of the wet season,* and the rain had poured down, 
during a great part of the day, with a violence peculiar to the torrid zone. 
The followers of Narvaez, unaccustomed to the hardships of military service, 
murmured so much at being thus fruitlessly exposed, that, from their unsol- 
dierlike impatience, as well as his own contempt of his adversary', their 
general permitted them to retire to Zempoalla. The very circumstance 
which induced them to quit the field, encouraged Cortes to form a scheme 
by which he hoped at once to terminate the war. He observed that his 
hardy veterans, though standing under the torrents which continued to fall, 
without a single tent or any shelter whatsoever to cover them, were so far 
trom repining at hardships which were become familiar to them, that they 
were still fresh and alert for service. He foresaw that the enemy would 
naturally give themselves up to repose after their fatigue, and that, judging 
ot the conduct of others by their own effeminacy, they would deem them- 
selves perfectly secure at a season so unfit for action. He resolved, there- 
fore, to fall upon them in the dead of night, when the surprise and terror of 
this unexpected attack might more than compensate the inferiority of his 
numbers. His soldiers, sensible that no resource remained but in some des- 
perate effort of courage, approved of the measuie with such warmth, that 
Cortes, in a military oration which he addressed to them before they began 
their march, was more solicitous to temper than to inflame their ardour. 
He divided them into three parties. At the head of the first he placed 
Sandoval ; intrusting this gallant officer with the most dangerous and impor- 
tant service, that of seizing the enemy's artillery, which was planted before 
the principal tower of the temple where Narvaez had fixed his head-quar- 
ters. Christoval de Olid commanded the second, with orders to assault 
the tower, and lay hold on the general. Cortes himself conducted the third 
and smallest division, which was to act as a body of reserve, and to support 
the other two as there should be occasion. Having passed the river de 
Canoas, which was much swelled with the rains, not without difficulty, the 
water reaching almost to their chins, they advanced in profound silence, 
without beat of drum, or sound of any warlike instrument ; each man 
armed with his sword, his dagger, and his Chinantlan spear. Narvaez, 
remiss in proportion to his security, had posted only two sentinels to watch 
the motions of an enemy whom he had such good cause to dread. One of 
these was seized by the advanced guard of Cortes's troops ; the other 
made his escape, and, hunying to the town with all the precipitation of fear 
and zeal, gave such timely notice of the enemy's approach, that there was 
full leisure to have prepared for their reception. But, through the arro- 
gance and infatuation of Narvaez, this important interval was lost. He 
imputed this alarm to the cowardice of the sentinel, and treated with 
derision the idea of being attacked by forces so unequal to his own. The 
shouts of Cortes's soldiers, rushmg on to the assault, convinced him at last 
that the danger which he despised was real. The rapidity with which 
they advanced was such that only one cannon could be hred before Sando- 
val s party closed with the enemy, drove them from their guns, and began 
to force their way up the steps of the tower. Narvaez, no less brave in 
action than presumptuous in conduct, armed himself in haste, and by his 

* (lakluyt, vol. iii. 4CT. De I.ae! Vetcr. In(J. Occid. 921 



AMERICA. 233 

voice and example animated his men to the combat. Olid advanced to 
sustain his companions ; and Cortes himself rushing to the front, conducted 
and added new vigour to the attack. The compact order in which this 
small body pressed on, and the impenetrable front which they presented 
with their long spears, bore down all opposition before it. They had now 
reached the gate, and were struggling to burst it open, when a soldier 
having set tire to the reeds with which the tower was covered, compelled 
Narvaez to sally out. In the first encounter he was wounded in the eye 
with the spear, and, falling to the ground, was dragged down the steps, and 
in a moment clapped in tetters. The cry of victory resounded among the 
troops of Cortes. Those who had sallied out with their leader now main- 
tained the conflict feebly, and began to surrender. Among the remainder 
of his soldiers, stationed in two smaller towers of the temple, terror and 
confusion prevailed. The darkness was so great, that they could not dis- 
tinguish between their friends and foes. Their own artillery was pointed 
against them. Wherever they turned their eyes, they beheld lights gleam- 
ing through the obscurity of the night, which, though proceeding only from 
a variety of shining insects that abound in moist and sultry chmates, their 
affrighted imaginations represented as numerous bands oi musketeers ad- 
vancing with kindled matches to the attack. After a short resistance, the 
soldiers compelled their officers to capitulate, and betbre morning all laid 
down their arms, and submitted quietly to their conquerors. 

This complete victory proved more acceptable, as it was gained almost 
.without bloodshed, only two soldiers being killed on the side of Cortes, and 
two officers, with fifteen private men of the adverse faction. Cortes treated 
the vanquished not like enemies, but as countrymen and friends, and offered 
either to send them back directly to Cuba, or to take them into his service, 
as partners in his fortune, on equal terms with his own soldiers. This 
latter proposition, seconded by a seasonable distribution of some presents 
from Cortes, and liberal promises of more, opened prospects so agreeable to 
the romantic expectations which had invited them to engage in this service, 
that all, a few partisans of Narvaez excepted, closed with it, and vied with 
each other in professions of fidelity and attachment to a general, whose 
recent success had given them such a striking proof of his abilities for com- 
mand. Thus, by a series of events no less fortunate than uncommon, Cortes 
not only escaped from perdition which seemed inevitable, but, when he 
had least reason to expect it, was placed at the head of a thousand 
Spaniards, ready to follow wherever he should lead them. Whoever 
reflects upon the facility with which this victory was obtained, or considers 
with what sudden and unanimous transition the followers of Narvaez ranged 
themselves under the standard of his rival, will be apt to ascribe both 
events as much to the intrigues as to the arms of Cortes, and cannot but 
suspect that the ruin of Narvaez was occasioned no less by the treachery 
oi his own followers, than by the valour of the enemy.* 

But in one point the prudent conduct and good fortune of Cortes were 
equally conspicuous. If, by the rapidity of his operations after he began 
his march, he had not brought matters to such a speedy issue, even this 
decisive victory would have come too late to have saved his cornpanions 
whom he left in Mexico. A few days after the discomfiture of Narvaez, 
a courier arrived with an account that the Mexicans had taken arms, and, 
having seized and destroyed the two brigantines which Cortes had built 
in order to secure the command of the lake, and attacked the Spaniards 
in their quarters, had killed several of them, and wounded more, had 
reduced to ashes their magazine of provisions, and carried on hastilities 
with such fury, that though Alvarado and his men defended themselves 

* Cortes Relat. 242, D. B, Diaz, c. 110— 125 Herrcra, dec. 0. lib. ii.c. 18, &c. Goamra Cmn. 
c. 97, &.C. 

Vol.. I.— 30 



234 HIST R Y O F [Book V. 

with undaunted resolution, they must either be soon cut off by famine, or 
sink under the multitude of their enemies. This revolt was excited by 
motives which rendered it still more alarming. On the departure of 
Cortes for Zempoalla, the Mexicans flattered themselves that the long- 
expected opportunity of restoring their sovereign to liberty, and of vindi- 
cating their country from the odious dominion of strangers, was at length 
arrived ; that while the forces of their oppressors were divided, and the 
arms of one party turned against the other, they might triumph with 
greater facility over both. Consultations were held, and schemes formed 
with this intention. The Spaniards in Mexico, conscious of their own 
feebleness, suspected and dreaded those machinations. Alvarado, though 
a gallant officer, possessed neither that extent of capacity nor dignity- of 
manners, by which Cortes had acquired such an ascendant over the mmds 
of the Mexicans, as never allowed them to form a just estimate of his 
weakness or of their own strength. Alvarado knew no mode of supporting 
his authority but force. Instead of employing address to disconcert the 
plans or to soothe the spirits of the Mexicans, he waited the return of 
one of their solemn festivals. When the principal persons in the empire 
were dancing, according to custom, in the court of the great temple, he 
seized all the avenues which led to it ; and allured partly by the rich 
ornaments which they wore in honour of their gods, and partly by the 
facility of cutting oft" at once the authors of that conspiracy which he 
dreaded, he fell upon them, unarmed and unsuspicious of any danger, and 
massacred a great number, none escaping but such as made their way over 
the battlements of the temple. An action so cruel and treacherous filled 
not only the city, but the whole empire with indignation and rage. All 
called aloud for vengeance ; and regardless of the safety of their monarch, 
whose life was at the mercy of the Spaniards, or of their own danger in 
assaulting an enemy who had been so long the object of their terror, they 
committed all those acts of violence of which Cortes received an account. 

To him the danger appeared so imminent as to admit neither of de- 
liberation nor delay. He set out instantly with all his forces, and returned 
from Zempoalla with no less rapidity than he had advanced thither. At 
Tlascala he was joined by two thousand chosen warriors. On entering 
the Mexican territories, he found that disaffection to the Spaniards was 
not confined to the capital. The principal inhabitants had deserted the 
towns through which he passed ; no person of note appearing to meet him 
with the usual respect ; no provision was made for the subsistence of his 
troops ; and though he was permitted to advance without opposition, the 
solitude and silence which reigned in every place, and the horror with 
which the people avoided all intercourse with him, discovered a deep- 
rooted antipathy that excited the most just alarm. But implacable as the 
enmity of the Mexicans was, they were so unacquainted with the science 
of war, that they knew not how to take the proper measures either for their 
own safety or the destruction of the Spaniards. Uninstructed by their 
former error in admitting a formidable enemy into their capital, instead of 
breaking down the causeways and bridges, by which they might have 
enclosed Alvarado and his party, and have effectually stopped the career 
of Cortes, they again suffered him to march into the city [June 24] without 
molestation, and to take quiet possession of his ancient station. 

The transports of joy with which Alvarado and his soldiers received 
their companions cannot be expressed. Both parties were so much elated, 
the one with their seasonable deliverance, and the other with the great 
exploits which they had achieved, that this intoxication of success seems 
lo have reached Cortes himself; and he behaved on this occasion neither 
with his usual sagacity nor attention. He not only neglected to visit 
Montezuma, but embittered the insult by expressions full of contempt for 
that unfortunate prince and his people. The forces of which he had now 



AMERICA. 235 

the command appeared to him so irresistible that he might assume a 
higher tone, and lay aside the mask of moderation under which he had 
hitherto concealed his designs. Some Mexicans, who understood the 
Spanish language, heard the contemptuous words which Cortes uttered, 
and, reporting them to their countrymen, kindled their rage anew. They 
were now convinced that the intentions of the general were equally bloody 
with those of Alvarado, and that his original purpose in visitmg their 
country had not been, as he pretended, to court the alliance of their 
sovereign, but to attempt the conquest of his dominions. They resumed 
their arms with the additional fury which this discovery inspired, attacked 
a considerable body of Spaniards who were marching towards the great 
square in which the public market was held, and compelled them to retire 
with some loss. Emboldened by this success, and delighted to find that 
their oppressors were not invincible, they advanced the next day with extra- 
ordinary martial pomp to assault the Spaniards in their quarters. Their 
number was formidable, and their undaunted courage still more so. Though 
the artillery pointed against their numerous battalions, crowded together 
in narrow streets, swept off multitudes at every discharge ; though every 
blow of the Spanish weapons fell with mortal effect upon their naked 
bodies, the impetuosity of the assault did not abate. Fresh men rushed 
forward to occupy the places of the slain, and, meeting with the same 
fate, were succeeded by others no less intrepid and eager for vengeance- 
The utmost efforts of Cortes's abilities and experience, seconded by the 
disciplined valour of his troops, were hardly sufficient to defend the forti- 
fications that surrounded the post where the Spaniards were stationed, into 
which the enemy were more than once on the point of forcing their way. 

Cortes behela with wonder the implacable ferocity of a people who 
seemed at first to submit tamely to the yoke, and had continued so long 
passive under it. The soldiers of Narvaez, who fondly imagined that 
they followed Cortes to share in the spoils of a conquered empire, were 
astonished to find that they were involved in a dangerous war with an 
enemy whose vigour was still unbroken, and loudly execrated their own 
weakness in giving such easy credit to the delusive promises of their new 
loader.* But surprise and complaints were of no avail. Some immediate and 
extraordinary efibrt was requisite to extricate themselves out of their present 
situation. As soon as the approach of evening induced the Mexicans to 
retire in compliance with their national custom of ceasing from hostilities 
with the setting sun, Cortes began to prepare for a sally, next day, with 
such a considerable force as might either drive the enemy out of the city, 
or compel them to listen to terms of accommodation. 

He conducted in person the troops destined for this important service. 
Every invention known in the European art of war, as well as every pre- 
caution suggested by his long acquaintance with the Indian mode of fight- 
ing were employed to ensure success. But he found an enemy prepared 
and determined to oppose him. The force of the Mexicans was greatly 
augmented by fresh troops, which poured in continually from the countiy* 
and their animosity was in no degree abated. They were led by their 
nobles, inflamed by the exhortations of their priests, and fought in defence 
of their temples and families, under the eye of their gods, and in presence of 
their wives and children. Notwithstanding their numbers, and enthusiastic 
contempt of danger and death, wherever the Spaniards could close with 
them, the superiority of their discipline and arms obliged the Mexicans to 
give vvay. But in narrow streets, and where many of the bridges of com- 
munication were broken down, the Spaniards could seldom come to a fair 
rencounter with the enemy, and, as they advanced, were exposed to 
showers of arrows and stones from the tops of houses. After a day of 

* B. nia7, c. !26. 



236 HISTORY OF [Book V. 

incessant exertion, thougjh vast numbers of the Mexicans fell, and part of 
the city was burnt, the Spaniards weary with the slaughter, and harassed 
by multitudes which successively relieved each other, were obliged at 
length to retire, with tiie mortification of having accomplished nothing so 
decisive as to compensate the unusual calamity of having twelve soldiers 
killed, and above sixty wounded. Another sally, made with greater force, 
was not more effectual, and in it the general himself was wounded in the 
hand. 

Cortes now perceived, too late, the fatal error into which he had been 
betrayed by his own contempt of the Mexicans, and was satisfied that he 
could neither maintain his present station in the centre of a hostile city, 
nor retire trom it without the most imminent danger. One resource still 
remained, to try what effect the interposition of Montezuma might have 
to soothe or overawe his subjects. U hen the Mexicans approached next 
morning to renew the assault, that unfortunate prince, at the mercy of the 
Spaniards, and reduced to the sad necessity of becoming the instrument of 
his own disgrace, and of the slavery of his people [IHJ, advanced to the 
battlements in his royal robes, and with all the pomp in which he used to 
appear on solemn occasions. At sight of their sovereign, whom they had 
long been accustomed to honour, and almost to revere as a god, the weapons 
dropped from their hands, eveiy tongue was silent, all bowed their heads, 
and many prostrated themselves on the ground. Montezuma addressed 
them with every ai^ument that could mitigate their rage, or persuade them 
to cease from hostilities. When he ended his discourse, a sullen murmur 
of disapprobation ran through the ranks ; to this succeeded reproaches and 
threats ; and the fury of the multitude rising in a moment above eveiy 
restraint of decency or respect, flights of arrows and volleys of stones 
poured in so violently upon the ramparts, that before the Spanish soldiers, 
appointed to cover Montezuma with their bucklers, had time to lift them 
in his defence, two arrows wounded the unhappy monarch, and the blow 
of a stone on his temple struck him to the ground. On seeing him fall, the 
Mexicans were so much astonished, that with a transition not uncommon 
in popular tumults, they passed in a moment from one extreme to the other, 
remorse succeeded to insult, and they fled with horror, as if the vengeance 
of heaven were pursuing the crime which they committed. The Spaniards 
without molestation carried Montezuma to his apartments, and Cortes hast- 
ened thither to console him under his misfortune. But the unhappy 
monarch now perceived how low he was sunk ; and the haughty spirit 
which seemed to have been so long extinct, returning, he scorned to survive 
this last humiliation, and to protract an ignominious life, not only as the 
prisoner and tool of his enemies, but as the object of contempt or detesta- 
tion among his subjects. In a transport of rage he fore the bandages from 
his wounds, and refused, with such obstinacy, to take any nourishment, that 
he soon ended his wretched days, rejecting with disdain all the solicitations 
of the Spaniards to embrace the Christian faith. 

Upon the death of Montezuma, Cortes, having lost all hope of bringing 
the Mexicans to an accommodrtion, saw no prospect of safety but in at- 
tempting a retreat, and began to prepare for it. But a sudden niotion of 
the Mexicans engaged him in new conflicts. They took possession of a 
high tower in the great temple which overlooked the Spanish quarters, 
and placing there a garrison of their principal warriors, not a Spaniard 
could stir without being exposed to their missile weapons. From this post 
it was necessary to dislodge them at any risk ; and Juan de Escobar, with 
a numerous detachment of chosen soldiers, was ordered to make the attack. 
But Escobar, though a gallant officer, and at the head of troops accustomed 
to conquer, and who now fought under the eyes of their countrymen, was 
thrice repulsed. Cortes, sensible that not only the reputation but the safety 



AMERICA. 237 

of his army depended on the success of this assault, ordered a buckler to 
be tied to his arm, as he could not manag-e it with his wounded hand, and 
rushed with his drawn sword into the thickest of the combatants. Encou- 
raged by the presence of their general, the Spaniards returned to the charge 
with such vigour, that they gradually forced their way up the steps, and 
drove the Mexicans to the platform at the top of the tower. There a 
dreadful carnage began ; when two young Mexicans of high rank, observing 
Cortes as he animated his soldiers by his voice and example, resolved to 
sacrifice their own lives in order to cut off the author of all the calamities 
which desolated their country. They approached him in a suppliant pos- 
ture, as if they had intended to lay down their arms, and seizing him in a 
moment, hurried hiui towards the battlements, over which they threw 
themselves headlong, in hopes of dragging hiin along to be dashed in pieces 
by the same tall. But Cortes, by his stiength and agility, broke loose from 
their grasp, and the gallant youtlis perished in this generous though unsuc- 
cessful attempt to save their country.* As soon as the Spaniards became 
masters of the tower, they set fire to it, and, without farther molestation, 
continued the preparations for their retreat. 

This became the more necessary, as the Mexicans were so much asto- 
nished at the last effort of the Spanish valour, that they began to change 
their whole system of hostility, and, instead of incessant attacks, endea- 
voured, by barricading the streets and breaking down the causeways, to 
cut off the communication of the Spaniards with the continent, and thus to 
starve an enemy whom they could not subdue. The first point to be de- 
termined by Cortes and his followers, was, whether they should march out 
openly in the face of day, when they could discern every danger, and see 
how to regulate their own motions, as well as how to resist the assaults of 
the enemy; or, whether they should endeavour to retire secretly in the 
night ? The latter was preferred, partly from hopes that their national 
superstition would restrain the Mexicans from venturing to attack them in 
the night, and partly from their own fond belief in the predictions of a 
private soldier, who having acquired universal credit by a smattering of 
learning, and his pretensions to astrology, boldly assured his countrymen of 
success, if they made their retreat in this manner. They began to move, 
towards midnight, in three divisions. Sandoval led the van ; Pedro Alva- 
rado and Velasquez de Leon had the conduct of the rear ; and Cortes com- 
manded in the centre, where he placed the prisoners, among whom were 
a son and two daughters of Montezuma, together with several Mexicans of 
distinction, the artillery, the baggage, and a portable bridge of timber in- 
tended to be laid over the breaches in the causeway. They marched in 
profound silence along the causeway which led to 1 acuba, because it was 
shorter than any of the rest, and, lying most remote from the road towards 
Tlascala and the sea-coast, had been left more entire by the Mexicans. 
They reached the first breach in it without molestation, hoping that their 
retreat was undiscovered. 

But the Mexicans, unperceived, had not only watched all their motions 
with attention, but had made proper dispositions for a most formidable 
attack. While the Spaniards were intent upon placing their bridge in the 
breach, and occupied in conducting their horses and artillery along it, they 
were suddenly alarmed with a tremendous sound of warlike instruments, 
and a general shout from an innumerable multitude of enemies ; the lake 
was covered with canoes ; flights of arrows and showers of stones poured 
in upon them from every quarter; the Mexicans rushing forward to the 

* M. ClaviC'To lias cpnsuriul mo with asperity for r<'lalin(» this gallant action of the two 
Mexicarts, ami for supposing lliat there were batllemetils rounfl the temple of M<:xico. I relaled 
the attempt to destroy Cortes on the authority of Her. dec. 2. hb. x. c. i). and of Tori|ueniado, \\b. 
iv. c. 69. I followed them likewise in supiKising llic uppermost platform of the temple to he eiKoni- 
pa3ied l)y a battlement or rail. 



S38 H I S T O K Y OF LBook V. 

charge with fearless impetuosity, as if they hoped in that moment to be 
avenged for all their wrongs. Unfortunately the wooden bridge, by the 
weight of the artiller}', was wedged so fast into the stones and mud, that 
it was impossible to remove it. Dismayed at this accident, the Spaniards 
advanced with precipitation towards the second breach. The Mexicans 
hemmed them in on every side ; and though they defended themselves 
with their usual courage, yet crowded together as they were on a narrow 
causeway, their discipline and military skill were of little avail, nor did 
the obscurity of the night permit them to derive great advantage from their 
fire-arms, or the superiority of their other weapons. All Mexico was now 
in arms ; and so eager were the people on the destruction of their oppres- 
sors, that they who were not near enough to annoy them in person, impa- 
tient of the delay, pressed forward with such ardour as drove on their 
countrymen in the front with irresistible violence. Fresh warriors instantly 
tilled the place of such as fell. The Spaniards, weary with slaughter, and 
unable to sustain the weight of the torrent that poured in upon them, began 
to give way. In a moment the confusion was universal ; horse and foot, 
officers and soldiers, friends and enemies, were mingled together ; and while 
all fought, and many fell, they could hardly distinguish from what hand 
the blow came. 

Cortes, with about a hundred foot soldiers and a kw horse, forced his 
way over the two remaining breaches in the causeway, the bodies of the 
dead serving to fill up the chasms, and reached the main land. Having 
formed them as soon as they arrived, he returned with such as were yet 
capable of service to assist his friends in their retreat, and to encouras^e 
them, by his presence and example, to persevere in the efforts requisite to 
effect it. He met with part of his soldiers who had broke through the 
enemy, but found many more overwhelmed by the multitude of their aggres- 
sors, or perishing in the lake ; and heard the piteous lamentations of others, 
whom the Mexicans, having taken alive, were carrying off in triumph to 
be sacrificed to the god of war. Before day, all who had escaped assem- 
bled at Tacuba. But when the morning dawned, and discovered to the 
view of Cortes his shattered battalion reduced to less than half its num- 
ber, the survivors dejected, and most of them covered with wounds, the 
thoughts of what they had suffered, and the remembrance of so many faith- 
ful friends and gallant followers who had fallen in that night of sorrow,* 
pierced his soul with such anguish, that while he was forming their ranks, 
and issuing some necessary orders, his soldiers observed the tears trickling 
from his eyes, and remarked with much satisfaction, that Avhile attentive to 
the duties of a general, he was not insensible to the feelings of a man. 

In this fatal retreat many officers of distinction perished [HB], and among 
lliese Velasquez de Leon, who having forsaken the party of his kinsman, 
the governor of Cuba, to follow the fortune of his companions, was, on that 
account, as well as for his superior merit, respected by them as the second 
person in the army. All the artilleiy, ammunition, and baggage, were lost ; 
the greater part of the horses, and above two thousand Tlascalans, were 
killed, and only a very small portion of the treasure which they had 
amassed was saved. This, which had been always their chief object, 
proved a great cause of their calamity ; for many ot the soldiers having so 
overloaded themselves with bars of gold as rendered them unfit for action, 
and retarded their flight, fell ignominiously, the victims of their own incon- 
siderate avarice. Amidst so many disasters, it was some consolation to find 
that Aguilar and Marina, whose function as interpreters was of such essen- 
tial importance, had made their escape.! 

The first care of Cortes was to find some shelter for his wearied troops ; 



• JVoche triate is the name by which it is still distinpuished i 
248 B. Diaz, c. 123. (ionmra Cron. c. 109. Herrera, dec. 2. 



in New Spain. t Cortes Relat. p, 
lib. X. c. 11. 13 



AMERICA 239 

for, as the Mexicans infested them on eveiy side, and the people of Tacuba 
began to take arms, he could not continue in his present station. He di- 
rected his march towards the rising ground, and, having fortunately disco- 
vered a temple situated on an eminence, took possession of it. There he 
found not only the shelter for which he wished, but, what was no less 
wanted, some provisions to refresh his men ; and though the enemy did 
not intermit their attacks throughout the day, they were with less difficulty 
prevented from making any impression. During this time Cortes was en- 
gaged in deep consultation with his officers, concerning the route which 
tiiey ought to take in their retreat. They were now on the west side of 
the lake. Tlascala, the only place where they could hope for a friendly 
reception, lay about sixty-four miles to the east of Mexico ;* so that they 
were obliged to go round the north end ol' the lake before they could fall 
into the road which led thither. A Tlascalan soldier undertook to be their 
guide, and conducted them through a country in some places marshy, in 
others mountaincis, in all ill cultivated and thinly peopled. They marched 
for six days with little respite, and under continual alarms, numerous bodies 
of the Mexicans hovering around them, sometimes harassing them at a dis- 
tance with their missile weapons, and sometimes attacking them closely in 
front, in rear, in flank, with great boldness, as they now knew that they 
were not invincible. Nor were the fatigue and danger of those incessant 
conflicts the worst evils to which they were exposed. As the barren coun- 
try through which they passed afforded hardly any provisions, they were 
reduced to feed on berries, roots, and the stalks of green maize ; and at 
the very time that famine was depressing their spirits and wasting their 
strength, theii situation required the most vigorous and unremitting exer- 
tions of courage and activity. Amidst those complicated distresses, one 
circumstance supported and animated the Spaniards. Their commander 
sustained this sad reverse of fortune with unshaken magnanimity. His 
presence of mind never forsook him ; his sagacity foresaw every event, 
and his vigilance provided for it. He was foremost in every danger, and 
endured every hardship with cheerfulness. The difficulties with which 
he was surrounded seemed to call forth new talents ; and his soldiers, 
though despairing themselves, continued to follow him with increasing con- 
fidence in his abilities. 

On the sixth day they arrived near to Otumba, not far from the road 
between Mexico and Tlascala. Early next morning they began to advance 
towards it, flying parties of the enemy still hanging on their rear ; and, 
amidst the insults with which they accompanied their hostilities, Marina 
remarked that they often exclaimed with exultation, " Go on, robbers ; go 
to the place where you shall quickly meet the vengeance due to your 
crimes." The meaning of this threat the Spaniards did not comprehend, 
until they reached the summit of an eminence before them. There a 
spacious valley opened to their view, covered with a vast army, extending 
as far as the eye could reach. The Mexicans, while with one body of 
their troops they harassed the Spaniards in their retreat, had assembled 
their principal force on the other side of the lake ; and marching along the 
road which led directly to Tlascala, posted it in the plain of Otumba, 
through which they knew Cortes must pass. At the sight of this incredible 
multitude, which they could survey at once from the rising ground, the 
S|>aniards were astonished, and even the boldest began to despair. But 
Cortes, without allowing leisure for their fears to acquire strength by reflec- 
tion, after wamine them briefly that no alternative now remained but to 
conquer or to die, led them instantly to the charge. The Mexicans waited 
their approach with unusual fortitude. Such, however, was the superiority 
of the Spanish discipline and arms, that the impression of this small body 

* Villa Segnor Teatro Americanos, lib. ii. c. IJ. 



240 HISTORY OF [BookV. 

was irresistible ; and whichever way its force was directed, it penetrated 
and dispersed the most numerous battalions. But while these jefave way 
in one quarter, new combatants advanced from another, and the Spaniards, 
though successful in every attack, were ready to sink under those repeated 
efforts, without seeing any end of their toil, or any hope of victory. At 
that time Cortes observed the great standard of the empire, which was 
carried before the Mexican general, advancing; and fortunately recollecting 
to have heard, that on the fate of it depended the event of every battle, 
he assembled a few of his bravest officers, whose horses were still capable 
of service, and, placing himself at their head, pushed forward towards the 
standard with an impetuosity which bore down every thing before it. A 
chosen body of nobles, who guarded the standard, made some resistance, 
but were soon broken. Cortes, with a stroke of his lance, wounded the 
Mexican general, and threw him on the ground. One of the Spanish 
officers, alighting, put an end to his life, and laid hold of the imperial 
standard. The moment that their leader fell, and the standard, towards 
which all directed their eyes, disappeared, a universal panic struck the 
Mexicans ; and, as if the bond which held them together had been dis- 
solved, every ensign was lowered, each soldier threw away his weapons, 
and all fled with precipitation to the mountains. The Spaniards unable to 
pursue them far, returned to collect the spoils of the field, which were so 
valuable as to be some compensation for the wealth which they had lost in 
Mexico ; for in the enemy's army were most of their principal warriors 
dressed out in their richest ornaments as if they had been marching to 
assured victory. Next day [July 8], to their great joy, they entered the 
Tlascalan territories.* 

But amidst their satisfaction in having got beyond the precincts of a 
hostile country, they could not look forward without solicitude, as they 
were Still uncertain what reception they might meet with from allies to 
whom tliey returned in a condition very different from that in which they 
had lately set out from their dominions. Happily for them, the enmity of 
the Tlascalans to the Mexican name was so inveterate, their desire to avenge 
the death of their countrymen so vehement, and the ascendant which 
Cortes had acquired over the chiefs of the republic so complete, that, far 
from entertaining a thought of taking any advantage of the distressed 
situation in which they beheld the Spaniards, they received them with a 
tenderness and cordiality which quickly dissipated all their suspicions. 

Seme interval of tranquillity and indulgence was now absolutely neces- * 
sary ; not only that the Spaniards might give attention to the cure of their 
wounds, which had been too long neglected, but in order to recruit their 
strength, exhausted by such a long succession of fatigue and hardships. 
During this, Cortes learned that he and his companions were not the only 
Spaniards who had felt the effects of the Mexican enmity. A considerable 
detachment which was marching from Zempoalla towards the capital, had 
been cut off by the people of Tepeaca. A smaller party, returning from 
Tlascala to Vera Cruz, with the share of the Mexican gold allotted to the 
garrison, had been surprised and destroyed in the mountains. At a juncture 
when the life of every Spaniard was of importance, such losses were deeply 
felt. The schemes which Cortes was meditating rendered them peculiarly 
afflictive to him. While his enemies, and even many of his own followers, 
considered the disasters which had befallen him as fatal to the progress of 
his arms, and imagined that nothing now remained but speedily to abandon 
a country which he had invaded with unequal force, his mind, as eminent 
for perseverance as for enterprise, was still bent on accomplishing his 
original purpose, of subjecting the Mexican empire to the crown of Castile. 
Severe and unexpected as the check was which he had received, it did not 

» Cortea Rclat. p. 210. B. Diaz, c. 1.28. Oomara Cron. c. 110. Hetrera, dec. 2. lib, x. c. 13, 13 



AMEIiiCA. S41 

appear to him a sufficient reason for relinquishing the conquests which he^ 
had already made, or against resuming his operations with better hopes of 
success. The colony at Vera Cruz was not only safe, but had remained 
unmolested. The people of Zempoalla and the adjacent districts had 
discovered no symptoms of defection. The TlascaJans continued faithful 
to their alliance. On their martial spirit, easily roused to arms, and in- 
flamed with implacable hatred of the Mexicans, Cortes depended for 
powerful aid. ine had still the command of a body of Spaniards, equal 
m number to that with which he had opened his way into the centre of the 
empire, and had taken possession of the capital ; so that with the benefit 
of greater experience, as well as more perfect knowledge of the country, 
he did not despair of quickly recovering all that he had been deprived of 
by untoward events. 

Full of this idea, he courted the Tlascalan chiefs with such attention, 
and distributed among them so liberally the rich spoils of Otumba, that he 
was secure of obtaining whatever he should require of the republic. He 
drew a small supply of ammunition and two or three fieldpieces from his 
stores at Vera Cruz. He despatched an officer of confidence with four 
ships of Narvaez's fleet to Hispaniola and Jamaica, to engage adventurers, 
and to purchase horses, gunpowder, and other military stores. As he knew 
that it would be vain to attempt the reduction of Mexico, unless he could 
secure the command of the lake, he gave orders to prepare in the mountains 
of Tlascala, materials for building twelve brigantines, so as they might be 
carried thither in pieces ready to be put together, and launched when he 
stood in need of their service.* 

But while, with provident attention, he was taking those necessary stepg 
towards the execution of his measures, an obstacle arose in a quarter where 
it was least expected, but most formidable. The spirit of discontent and 
mutiny broke out in his own army. Many of Narvaez's followers were 
planters rather than soldiers, and had accompanied him to New Spain with 
sanguine hopes of obtaining settlements, but with little inclination to engage 
in the hardships and dangers of war. As the same motives had induced 
them to enter into their new engagements with Cortes, they no sooner 
became acquainted with the nature of the service, than they bitterly 
repented of their choice. Such of them as had the good fortune to survive 
the perilous adventures in which their own imprudence had involved them, 
happy in having made their escape, trembled at the thoughts of being 
exposed a second time to similar calamities. As soon as they discovered 
the intention of Cortes, they began secretly to murmur and cabal, and, 
waxing gradually more audacious, they, in a body, offered a remonstrance 
to their general against the imprudence of attacking a powerful empire 
with his shattered forces, and formally required him to lead them back 
directly to Cuba. Though Cortes, long practised in the arts of command, 
employed arguments, entreaties, and presents to convince or to soothe them ; 
though his own soldiers, animated with the spirit of their leader, warmly 
seconded his endeavours ; he found their fears too violent and deep rooted 
to be removed, and the utmost he could effect was to prevail with them 
to defer their departure for some time, on a promise that he would, at a 
more proper juncture, dismiss such as should desire it. 

That the malecontents might have no leisure to brood over the causes of 
their disaffection, he resolved instantly to call forth his troops into action. 
He proposed to chastise the people of Tepeaca for the outrage which they 
had committed ; and as the detachment which they had cut off" happened 
to be composed mostly of soldiers who had served under Narvaez, their 
companions, from the desire of vengeance, engaged the more willingly in 
this war. He took the command in person, [August] accompanied by a 

* Corlcg Rclat. p. 253. E. Goinara Croi)»c 117. 

Vor. 1.-31 



242 (IISTORV OF {BookV. 

numerous body of TIascalans, and in the space of a few weeks, after various 
encounters, with great slaughtei^f the T epeacans, reduced that province 
to subjection. During several months, while he waited for the supplies of 
men and ammunition which he expected, and was carrying on his prepara- 
tions for constructing the brigantines, he kept his troops constantly em- 
ployed in various expeditions against the adjacent provinces, all of which 
were conducted with a uniform tenour of success. By these, his men 
became again accustomed to victory, and resumed their wonted sense of 
superiority ; the Mexican power was weakened ; the Tlascalan warriors 
acquired the habit of acting in conjunction with the Spaniards ; and the 
chiefs of the republic delighted to see their country enriched with the 
spoils of all the people around them ; and astonished every day with fresh 
discoveries of the irresistible prowess of their allies, they declined no effort 
requisite to support them. 

All those preparatory arrangements, however, though the most prudent 
and efficacious which the situation of Cortes allowed him to make, would 
have been of little avail without a reinforcement of Spanish soldiers. Of 
this he was so deeply sensible, that it was the chief object of his thoughts 
and wishes ; and yet his only prospect of obtaining it from the return of 
the officer whom he had sent to the isles to solicit aid, was both distant and 
uncertain. But what neither his own sagacity nor power could have pro- 
cured, he owed to a series of fortunate and unforeseen incidents. The 
governor of Cuba, to whom the success of Narvaez appeared an event of 
infallible certainty, having sent two small ships after him with new instruc- 
tions, and a supply of men and militaiy stores, the officer whom Cortes had 
appointed to command on the coast, artfully decoyed them into the harbour 
ot Vera Cruz, seized the vessels, and easily persuaded the soldiers to fol- 
low the standard of a more able leader than him whom they were destined 
to join.* Soon after, three ships of more considerable force came into the 
harbour separately. These belonged to an armament fitted out by Fran- 
cisco de Garay, governor of Jamaica, who, being possessed with tne rage 
of discovery and conquest which animated every Spaniard settled in 
America, had long aimed at intruding into some district of New Spain, and 
dividing with Cortes the glory and gain of annexing that empire to the 
crown of Castile. They unadvisedly made their attempt on the northern 
provinces, where the country was poor, and the people fierce and warlike ; 
and after a cruel succession of disasters, famine compelled them to venture 
into Vera Cruz, and cast themselves upon the mercy of their countrymen 
[Oct. 28]. Their fidelity was not proof against the splendid hopes and 
promises which had seduced other adventurers ; and, as if the spirit of 
revolt had been contagious in New Spain, they likewise abandoned the 
master whom they were bound to serve, and enlisted under Cortes. t Nor 
was it America alone that furnished such unexpected aid ; a ship arrived 
from Spain, freighted by some private merchants with military stores, in 
hopes of a profitable market in a country, the fame of whose opulence 
began to spread over Europe. Cortes eagerly purchased a cargo which to 
him was invaluable, and the crew, following the general example, joined 
him at Tlascala.| 

From those various quarters, the army of Cortes was augmented with a 
hundred and eighty men, and twenty horses, a reinforcement too incon- 
siderable to produce any consequence which would have entitled it to 
have been mentioned in the histoiy of other parts of the globe. But in that 
of America, where great revolutions weie brought about by causes which 
seemed to bear no proportion to their effects, such small events rise into im- 
iwrtance, because they were sufficient to decide with respect to the fate of 

•B.Dlaz. c. 131. t Cortes Relat. 253. F. B. Diaz, c 183. J Cortes Relet. 253. F. B. 

Diaz, c. l,!i> 



Ax^IERlCA. 24a 

kingdoms. Nor is it the least remarkable instance ot" the singiilar felicity 
conspicuous in many passages of Cortes's story, that the two persons chiefly 
instrumental in furnishing him with those seasonable supplies, should be an 
avowed enemy who aimed at his destruction, and an envious rival who 
wished to supplant him. 

The iirst effect of the junction with his new followers was to enable him 
to dismiss such of Narvaez's soldiers as remained with reluctance in his 
service. Atler their departure, he still mustered ^ve hundred and iifty 
infantiy, of which fourscore were armed with muskets or crossbows, forty 
horsemen, and a train of nine Held-pieces<* At the head of these, accom- 
panied by ten thousand Tlascalans and other friendly Indians, Cortes began 
his march towards Mexico, on the twenty-eighth of December, six months 
after his disastrous retreat from that city.t 

Nor did he advance to attack an enemy unprepared to receive him. 
Upon the death of Montezuma, the Mexican chiets, in whom the right of 
electing the emperor was vested, had instantly raised his brother Quetla- 
vaca to the throne. His avowed and inveterate enmity to the Spaniards 
would have been sutficient to gain their suffrages, although he had been less 
distinguished for courage and capacity. He had an immediate opportunity 
of showing that he was worthy oi iheir choice, by conducting in person those 
tierce attacks which compelled the Spaniards to abandon his capital ; and 
as soon as their retreat afforded him any respite from action, he took 
measures for preventing their return to Mexico, with prudence equal to the 
spirit which he had displayed in driving them out of it. As from the 
vicinity of Tlascala, he could not be unacquainted with the motions and 
intentions of Cortes, he observed the storm that was gathering, and began 
early to provide against it. He repaired what the Spaniards had ruined 
in the city, and strengthened it with such new fortifications as the skill of 
his subjects was capable of erecting. Besides filling his magazines with 
the usual weapons of war, he gave directions to make long spears headed 
with the swords and daggers taken from the Spaniards, in order to annoy 
the cavalry. He summoned the people in every province of the empire to 
take arms against their oppressors, and as an encouragement to exert them- 
selves with vigour, he promised them exemption from all the taxes which 
his predecessors had imposed.^ But what he laboured with the greatest 
earnestness was, to deprive the Spaniards of the advantages which they 
derived from the friendship of the Tlascalans, by endeavouring to persuade 
that people to renounce all connexion with men who were not only avowed 
enemies of the gods whom they worshipped, but who would not fail to 
subject them at last tO the same yoke which they were now inconsiderately 
lending their aid to impose upon others. These representations, no less 
striking than well founded, were urged so forcibly by his ambassadors, that 
it required all the address of Cortes to prevent their making a dangerous 
impression. § 

But while Qjuetlavaca was arranging his plan of defence, with a degree 
of foresight uncommon in an American, his days were cut short by the 
small-pox. This distemper, which raged at that time in New Spain with 
fatal malignity, was unknown in that quarter of the globe until it was 
introduced by the Europeans, and may be reckoned among the greatest 
calamities brought upon them by their invaders. In his stead the Afexicans 
raised to the throne Guatimozin, nephew and son-in-law of Montezuma, a 
young man of such high reputation for abilities and valour, that in this 
dangerous crisis, his countrymen, with one voice, called him to the supreme 
command.ll 

* Cortes Relat. 255. E. t Rolat. 256. A. B. Diaz, c. 1.17. t Cortes Relaf. p. 253. K. 

Q.i4. .\. B. Diaz, c. 14Vt. <^ B. Diaz, c. ISU. Herreia; dec. 2. lib. x. c. 14. 19, (|U,DiH/, 

e. 130. 



244 HISTORY OF [Book V. 

1521.] As soon as Cortes entered the enemies territories, he discovered 
various preparations to obstruct his progress. But his troops forced their 
way with little difficulty, and took possession of Tezeuco, the second city 
of the empire, situated on the banks of the lake about twenty miles from 
Mexico.* Here he determined to establish his head-quarters, as the most 
proper station for launching his brigantines, as well as for making his ap- 
proaches to the capital. In order to render his residence there more secure, 
lie deposed the cazique, or chief, who was at the head of that community, 
under pretext of some defect in his title, and substituted in his place a per- 
son whom a faction of the nobles pointed out as the right heir of that dig- 
nity. Attached to him by this benefit, the cazique and his adherents served 
the Spaniards with inviolable fidelity.! 

As the preparations for constructing the brigantines advanced slowly 
under the unskilful hands of soldiers and Indians, whom Cortes was obliged 
to employ in assisting three or four carpenters who happened fortunately to 
be in his service ; and as he had not yet received the reinforcement which 
he expected from Hispaniola, he was not in a condition to turn his arms 
directly against the capital. To have attacked at this period, a city so 
populous, so well prepared for defence, and in a situation of such peculiar 
strength, must have exposed his troops to inevitable destruction. Three 
months elapsed before the materials for the brigantines were finished, and 
before he heard any thing with respect to the success of the officer whom 
he had sent to Hispaniola. This, however, was not a season of inaction to 
Cortes. He attacked successively several of the towns situated around the 
lake; and though all the Mexican power was exerted to obstruct his 
operations, he either compelled them to submit to the Spanish crown, or 
reduced them to ruins. The inhabitants of other towns he endeavoured 
to conciliate by more gentle means ; and though he could not hold any 
intercourse with them but by the intervention of interpreters, yet, under 
all the disadvantages of that tedious and imperfect mode of communication 
he had acquired such thorough knowledge of the state of the country, as 
well as of the dispositions of the people, that he conducted his negotiations 
and intrigues with astonishing dexterity and success. Most of the cities 
adjacent to Mexico were originally the capitals of small independent states ; 
and some of them having been but lately annexed to the Mexican empire, 
still retained the remembrance of their ancient liberty, and bore with im- 
patience the rigorous yoke of their new masters. Cortes, having early 
observed symptoms of their disaffection, availed himself of this knowledge 
to gain their confidence and friendship. By offering with confidence to 
deliver them from the odious dominion of the Mexicans, and by liberal 
promises of more indulgent treatment if they would unite with him against 
their oppressors, he prevailed on the people of several considerable dis- 
tricts, not only to acknowledge the King of Castile as their sovereign, but 
to supply the Spanish camp with provisions, and to strengthen his army 
with auxiliary troops. Guatimozin, on the first appearance of defection 
among his subjects, exerted himself with vigour to prevent or to punish their 
revolt; but, in spite of his efforts, the spirit continued to spread. The 
Spaniards gradually acquired new allies, and with deep concern ht beheld 
Cortes arming against his empire those very hands which ought to have 
been active in its defence, and ready to advance against the capital at the 
head of a numerous body of his own subjects.| 

While, by those various methods, Cortes was gradually circumscribing: 
the Mexican power in such a manner that his prospect of overtufning it 
seemed neither to be uncertain nor remote, all his schemes were well nigh 

♦ Villa Senor Theatro Americano, i. 156. t Cortes Rclat. 256, &c. B. Diaz, c. 137. Go- 

niara Cron. c. 121. Herrera, dec. 3. c. 1. { Cort«;s Relat. 256—200. B. Uiaz, c. 137—140 

Ciuiuara Crou. c. 122, 123. fhrrrera, dec. 3. lib. i. c. 1, 2. 



AMERICA. 246 

defeated by a conspiracy no less unexpected than dangerous. The soldiers 
of Narvaez had never united perfectly with the original companions of 
Cortes, nor did they enter into his measures with the same cordial zeal. 
Upon every occasion that required any extraordinary effort of courage or 
of patience, their spirits were apt to sink ; and now, on a near vievv of 
what they had to encounter, in attempting to reduce a city so inaccessible 
as Mexico, and defiended by a numerous army, the resolution even of those 
among them who had adhered to Cortes when he was deserted by their 
associates, began to fail. Tlieir fears led them to presumptuous and un- 
soldierlike discussions concerning the propriety of their general's measures, 
and the improbability of their success. From these they proceeded to 
censure and invectives, and at last began to deliberate how they might 
provide for their own safety, of which they deemed their commander to 
be totally negligent. Antonio Villefagna, a private soldier, but bold, in- 
triguing, and strongly attached to Velasquez, artfully fomented this growing 
spirit of disafi'ection. His quarters became the rendezvous of the male- 
contents, where, after many consultations, they could discover no method 
of checking Cortes in his career, but by assassinating him and his most 
considerable officers, and conferring the command upon some person who 
would relinquish his wild plans, and adopt measures more consistent with 
the general security. Despair inspired them with courage. The hour 
for perpetrating the crime, the persons whom they destined as victims, 
the officers to succeed them in command, were all named : and the con- 
spirators signed an association, by which they bound themselves ivith 
most solemn oaths to mutual fidelity. But on the evening before the ap- 
pointed day, one of Cortes's ancient followers, who had been seduced into 
the conspiracy, touched with compunction at the imminent danger of a 
man whom he had fong been accustomed to revere, or struck with horror 
at his own treachery, went privately to his general, and revealed to him 
all that he knew. Cortes, though deeply alarmed, discerried at once what 
conduct was proper in a situation so critical. He repaired instantly to 
Villefagna 's quarters, accompanied by some of his most trusty officers. 
The astonishment and confusion of the man at this unexpected visit anti- 
cipated the confession of his guilt. Cortes, while his attendants seized 
the traitor, snatched from his bosom a paper, containing the association, 
signed by the conspirators. Impatient to know how far the infection ex- 
tended, he retired to read it, and found there names which filled him vvith 
surprise and sorrow. But aware how dangerous a strict scrutiny might 
prove at such a juncture, he confined his judicial inquiries to Villefagna 
alone. As the proofs of his guilt were manifest, he was condemned after 
a short trial, and next morning he was seen hanging before the door of the 
house in which he had lodged. Cortes called his troops together, and 
having explained to them the atrocious purpose of the conspirators, as well 
as the justice of the punishment inflicted on Villefagna, he added, with an 
appearance of satisfaction, that he was entirely ignorant with respect to all 
the circumstances of this dark transaction, as the traitor, when arrested, had 
suddenly torn and swallowed a paper which probably contained an account 
of it, and under the severest tortures possessed such constancy as to con- 
ceal the names of his accomplices. This artful declaration restored tran- 
quillity to many a breast that was throbbing, while he spoke, with con- 
sciousness of guilt and dread of detection ; and by this prudent nioderation, 
Cortes had the advantage of having discovered, and of being able to 
observe such of his followers as were disaffected ; while they, flattering 
themselves that their past crime was unknown, endeavoured to avert any 
suspicion of it by redoubling their activity and zeal in his service.* 
Cortes did not allow them leisure to ruminate on what had happened ; 

• Cortes Rclat, !W3. C. B, Diax, c. 146. Ilcircra, dec. 3, lib. i, e. 1. 



246 HISTORY OF [Book V. 

and as the most effectual means of preventing the return of a mutinous 
spirit, he determined to call forth his troops immediately to action. For- 
tunately, a proper occasion for this occurred without his seeming to court 
it. He received intelligence that the materials for building the brigantines 
were at length completely finished, and waited only for a body of Spaniards 
to conduct them to Tezeuco. The command of this convoy, consisting of 
two hundred foot soldiers, fifteen horsemen, and two tield-pieces, he gave 
to Sandoval, who, by the vigilance, activity, and courage which he mani- 
fested on everjf occasion, was growing daily in his confidence, and in the 
estimation of his fellow-soldiers. The service was no less singular than 
important ; the beams, the planks, the masts, the cordage, the sails, the 
ironwork, and all the infinite variety of articles requisite for the construction 
of thirteen brigantines, were to be carried sixty miles over land, through a 
mountainous country, by people who were unacquainted with the ministry 
of domestic animals, or the aid of machines to facilitate any work of 
labour. The Tlascalans furnished eight thousand Tamenes, an inferior 
order of men destined for servile tasks, to carry the materials on their 
shoulders, and appointed fifteen thousand warriors to accompany and defend 
them. Sandoval made the disposition for their progress with great pro- 
priety, placing the Tamenes in the centre, one body of warriors in the 
front, another in the rear, with considerable parties to cover the flanks. 
To each of these he joined some Spaniards, not only to assist them in danger, 
but to accustom them to regularity and subordination. A body so numerous, 
and so much encumbered, advanced leisurely but in excellent order ; and 
in some places, where it was confined by the woods or mountains, the line 
of march extended above six miles. Parties of Mexicans frequently ap- 
peared hovering around them on the high grounds ; but perceiving no 
prospect of success in attacking an enemy continually on his guard, and 
prepared to receive them, they did not venture to molest him ; and Sandoval 
had the glory of conducting safely to Tezeuco, a convoy on which all the 
future operations of his countrymen depended.* 

This was followed by another event of no less moment. Four ships 
arrived at Vera Cruz from Hispaniola, with two hundred soldiers, eighty 
horses, two battering cannon, and a considerable supply of ammunition and 
arms.t Elevated with observing that all his preparatory schemes, either 
for recruiting his own army, or impairing the force of the enemy, had now 
produced their full effect, Cortes, impatient to begin the siege in form, 
hastened the launching of the brigantines. To facilitate this, he had em- 
ployed a vast number of Indians for two months, in deepening the small 
rivulet which runs by Tezeuco into the lake, and in forming it into a canal 
near two miles in length [tl9] ; and though the Mexicans, aware of his 
intentions, as well as of the danger which threatened them, endeavoured 
frequently to interrupt the labourers, or to burn the brigantines, the work 
was at last compIeted.| On the twenty-eighth of April, all the Spanish 
troops, together with the auxiliaiy Indians, were drawn up on the banks of 
the canal ; and with extraordinary military pomp, rendered more solemn 
by the celebration of the most sacred rites of religion, the brigantines were 
launched. As they fell down the canal in order. Father Olmedo blessed 
them, and gave each its name. Every eye followed them with wonder and 
hope, until they entered the lake, when they hoisted their sails and bore 
away before the wind. A general shout of joy was raised ; all admiring 
that bold inventive genius, which, by means so extraordinajy that their 
success almost exceeded belie!', had acquired the command of a fleet, 
without the aid of which Mexico would have continued to set the Spanish 
power and arms at defiance. § 

* Cortes R<,-Iat. 2fi0. C. E. B. Diaz, c. HO. t Cortr>s Belat. 259. F. S!62. D. Gomara Croii. 

C. 129. 1 B, Diaz, c. 140. ft CorteH Rrlat. 2rt«. Herrera. dor. 3. lib. i, c. T). Gomara 

('ron. c. 12?i. 



AMERICA. 247 

Cortes determined to attack the city from three different quarters ; from 
Tepeaca on the north side of the lake, from Tacuba on the west, and from 
Cuyocan towards the south. Those towns were situated on the principal 
causeways which led to the capital, and intended for their defence. He 
appointed Sandoval to command in the first, Pedro de Alvarado in the 
second, and Christoval de Olid in the third ; allotting to each a numerous 
body of Indian auxiliaries, together with an equal division of Spaniards, 
who, by the junction of the troops from Hispaniola, amounting now to 
eighty-six horsemen, and eight hundred and eighteen foot soldiers ; of 
whom one hundred and eighteen were armed with muskets or crossbows. 
The train of artillery consisted of three battering cannon, and fifteen field- 
pieces.* He reserved for himself, as the station of greatest importance and 
danger, the conduct of the brigantines, each armed with one of his small 
cannon, and manned with twenty-five Spaniards. 

As Alvarado and Olid proceeded towards the posts assigned them [May 
10], they broke down the aqueducts which the ingenuity of the Mexicans 
had erected for conveying water into the capital, and, by the distress to 
which this reduced the inhabitants, gave a beginning to the calamities which 
they were destined to suffer.! Alvarado and Olid found the towns of which 
they were ordered to take possession deserted by their inhabitants, who 
had fled for safety to the capital, where Guatimozin had collected the chief 
force of his empire, as there alone he could hope to make a successful 
stand against the formidable enemies who were approaching to assault him. 

The first effort of the Mexicans was to destroy the fleet of brigantines, 
the fatal effects of whose operations they foresaw and dreaded. Though 
the brigantines, after all the labour and merit of Cortes in forming them, 
were of inconsiderable bulk, rudely constructed, and manned chiefly with 
landsmen hardlj possessed of skill enough to conduct them, they must have 
been objects of terror to a people unacquainted with any navigation but 
that of their lake, and possessed of no vessel larger than a canoe. Neces- 
sit}', however, urged Guatimozin to hazard the attack ; and hoping to sup- 
ply by numbers what he wanted in force, he assembled such a multitude 
of canoes as covered the face of the lake. They rowed on boldly to the 
charge, while the brigantines, retarded by a dead calm, could scarcely ad- 
vance to meet them. But as the enemy drew near, a breeze suddenly 
sprung up ; in a moment the sails were spread, the brigantines, with the 
utmost ease, broke through their feeble opponents, overset many canoes, 
and dissipated the whole armament with such slaughter, as convinced the 
Mexicans, that the progress of the Europeans in knowledge and arts ren- 
dered their superiority greater on this new element than they had hitherto 
found it by land.| 

From that time Cortes remained master of the lake, and the brigantines 
not only preserved a communication between the Spaniards in their differ- 
ent stations, though at considerable distance from each other, but were 
employed to cover the causeways on each side, and keep off the canoes 
when they attempted to annoy the troops as they advanced towards the 
city, Cortes formed the brigantines in three divisions, appointing one to 
cover each of the stations from which an attack was to be carried on against 
the city, with orders to second the operations of the oflicer who conimand- 
ed there. From all the three stations he pushed on the attack against the 
city with equal vigour ; but in a manner so very different from the conduct 
of sieges in regular war, that he himself seems afraid it would appear 
no less improper than singular to persons unacquainted with his situation. 6 
Each morning his troops assaulted the barricades which the enemy had 
erected on the causeways, forced their way over the trenches which they 

• Cortes Relat 266. C. t Cortes Relat. 267. B. B. Diaz, c. 150, Herrera, dec. 3. lib. i. c. 13. 
J Cortei Relal. 267. C. B. Diaz, c. 150. JJoinara Cron. c. 131. Herrera. dnc. 3. lib. I. C. 17 
\ Cortes Relat. 270. F 



2 ;8 11 i S T O R Y OF [Book V. 

had dug, and tlirough the canals where the bridges were broken down, and 
endeavoured to penetrate into the heart of the city, in hopes of obtaining 
some decisive advantage which might force the enemy to surrender, and 
terminate the war at once ; but wJien the obstinate valour of the Mexicans 
rendered the efforts of the day ineffectual, the Spaniards retired in the 
evening to their former quarters Thus their toil and danger were in some 
measure continually renewed ; the Mexicans repairing in the night what 
the Spaniards had destroyed through the day, and recovering the posts 
from which they had driven them. But necessity prescribed this slow and 
untoward mode ol operation. The number of his troops were so small 
that Cortes durst not, with a handful of men, attempt to make a lodgment 
in a city where he might be surrounded and annoyed by such a multitude 
of enemies. The remembrance of what he had already suffered by the 
ill judged confidence with which he had ventured into such a dangerous 
situation, was still fresh in his mind. The Spaniards, exhausted with 
fatigue, were unable to guard the various posts which they daily gained ; 
and though their camp was filled with Indian auxiliaries, they durst not 
devolve this charge upon them, because they were so little accustomed to 
discipline, that no confidence could be placed in their vigilance. Besides 
this, Cortes was extremely solicitous to preserve the city as much as pos- 
sible from being destroyed, both because he destined it to be the capital 
of his conquests, and wished that it might remain as a monument ol his 
glory. From all these considerations, he adhered obstinately, for a month 
after the siege was opened, to the system which he had adopted. The 
Mexicans, in their own det'ence, displayed valour which was hardly inferior 
to that with which the Spaniards attacked them. On land, on water, by 
night and by day, one furious conflict succeeded to another. Several Span- 
iards were killed, more wounded, and all were ready to sink under the 
toils of unintermitting service, which were rendered more intolerable by the 
injuries of the season, the periodical rains being now set in with their usual 
violence.* 

Astonished and disconcerted with the length and difficulties of the siege, 
Cortes determined to make one great effort to get possession of the city, 
before he relinquished the plan which he had hitherto followed, and had 
recourse to any other mode of attack. With this view he sent instructions 
to Alvarado and Sandoval to advance with their divisions to a general as- 
sault, and took the command in person [July 3] of that posted on the cause- 
way of Cuyocan. Animated by his presence, and the expectation of some 
decisive event, the Spaniards pushed forward with irresistible impetuosity. 
Tliey broke through one barricade after another, forced their way over 
the ditches and canals, and, having entered the city, gained ground inces- 
santly in spite of the multitude and ferocity of their opponents. Cortes, 
though delighted with the rapidity of his progress, did not forget that he 
might still find it necessary to retreat ; and, in order to secure it, appointed 
Julien de Alderete, a captain of chief note in the troops which he had re- 
ceived from Hispaniola, to fill up the canals and gaps in the causeway as 
the main body advanced. That officer, deeming it inglorious to be thus 
employed, while his companions were in the heat of action and the career 
of victory, neglected the important charge committed to him, and hurried 
on, inconsiderately, to mingle with the combatants. The Mexicans, whose 
military attention and skill were daily improving, no sooner observed this 
than they carried an account of it to their monarch. 

Guatimozin instantly discerned the consequence of the error which the 
Spaniards had committed, and, with admirable presence of mind, prepared 
to take advantage of it. He commanded the troops posted in the front to 
slacken their efforts, in order to allure the Spaniards to push forward, while 

♦ B. Diaz, c. 151. 



AMERICA. 249 

he despatched a large body of chosen warriors through different streets, 
some by land, and others by water, towards the great breach in the cause- 
way which had been left open. On a signal which he gave, the priests 
in the principal temple strucK the great drum consecrated to the god of 
war. No sooner did the Mexicans hear its doleful solemn sound, calculated 
to inspire them with contempt of death, and enthusiastic ardour, than they 
rushed upon the enemy with frantic rage. The Spaniards, unable to resist 
men ui^ed on no less by religious fury than hope of success, began to re- 
tire, at first leisurely, and with a good countenance ; but as the enemy 
pressed on, and their own impatience to escape increased, the terror and 
confusion became so general, that when they arrived at the gap in the 
causeway, Spaniards and Tlascalans, horsemen and infantry, plunged in 
promiscuously, while the Mexicans rushed upon them fiercely from eveiy 
side, their light canoes carrying them through shoals which the brigantines 
could not approach. In vain did Cortes attempt to stop and rally his flying 
troops ; fear rendered them regardless of his entreaties or commands. 
Finding all his endeavours to renew the combat fruitless, his next care was 
to save some of those who had thrown themselves into the water ; but 
while thus employed, with more attention to their situation than to his own, 
six Mexican captains suddenly laid hold of him, and were hurrying him 
off in triumph ; and though two of his officers rescued him at the expense 
of their own lives, he received several dangerous wounds before he could 
break loose. Above sixty Spaniards perished in the rout ; and what ren- 
dered the disaster more afflicting, forty of these fell alive into the hands 
of an enemy never known to show mercy to a captive.* 

The approach of night, though it delivered the dejected Spaniards from 
the attacks of the enemy, ushered in what was hardly less grievous, the 
noise of their barbarous triumph, and of the horrid festival with which 
they celebrated their victory. Every quarter of the city was illuminated ; 
the great temple shone with such peculiar splendour, that the Spaniards 
could plainly see the people in motion, and the priests busy in hastening 
the preparations for the death of the prisoners. Through the gloom, they 
fancied that they discerned their companions by the whiteness of their 
skins, as they were stript naked, and compelled to dance before the image 
of the god to whom they were to be offered. They heard the shrieks of 
those who were sacrificed, and thought that they could distinguish each 
unhappy victim by the well known sound of his voice. Imagination added 
to what they really saw or heard, and augmented its horror. The most 
unfeeling melted into tears of compassion, and the stoutest heart trembled 
at the dreadful spectacle which they beheld [120]. 

Cortes, who, besides all that he felt in common with his soldiers, was 
oppressed with the additional load of anxious reflections natural to a general 
on such an unexpected calamity, could not, like them, relieve his mind by 
giving vent to its anguish. He was obliged to assume an air of tranquil- 
lity, in order to revive the spirit and hopes of his followers. The junc- 
ture, indeed, required an extraordinary exertion of fortitude. The Mexi- 
cans, elated with their victory, sallied out next morning to attack him in 
his quarters. But they did not rely on the efforts of their own arms alone. 
They sent the heads of Spaniards whom they had sacrificed to the leading 
men in the adjacent provinces, and assured them that the god of war, ap- 
peased by the blood of their invaders, which had been shed so plentifully 
on his altars, had declared with an audible voice, that in eight days time 
those hated enemies should be finally destroyed, and peace and prosperity 
re-established in the empire. 

A prediction uttered with such confidence, and in terms so void of 
ambiguity, gained universal credit among a people prone to superstition. 

• Cortes Relat. p. 273. B. Diaz, c. 152. Gomva Cron. c. 138. Herrera, dec. 3. lib. i. c. 23. 
Vor,. I.— 32 



850 HISTORY OF [BookV. 

The zeal of the provinces, which had already declared against the Spa- 
niards, augmented ; and several which had hitherto remained inactive, took 
arms, with enthusiastic ardour, to execute the decree of the gods. The 
Indian auxiliaries who had joined Cortes, accustomed to venerate the 
same deities with the Mexicans, and to receive the responses of their 
priests with the same implicit faith, abandoned the Spaniards as a race of 
men devoted to certain destruction. Even the fidelity of the Tlascalans 
was shaken, and the Spanish troops were left almost alone in their stations. 
Cortes, finding that he attempted in vain to dispel the superstitious fears 
of his confederates by argument, took advantage, from the imprudence of 
those who had framed the prophecy in fixing its accomplishment so near 
at hand, to give a striking demonstration of its falsity. He suspended all 
military operations, during the period marked out by the oracle. Under 
cover of the brigantines, which kept the enemy at a distance, his troops 
lay in safety, and the fatal term expired without any disaster.* 

Many of his allies, ashamed of their own credulity, returned to their 
station. Other tribes, judging that the gods, who had now deceived the 
Mexicans, had decreed finally to withdraw their protection from them, 
joined his standard ; and such was the levity of a simple people, moved 
by every slight impression, that in a short time after such a general defec- 
tion of his confederates, Cortes saw himself, if we may believe his own 
account, at the head of a hundred and fifty thousand Indians. Even with 
such a numerous army, he found it necessary to adopt a new and more 
wary system of operation. Instead of renewing his attempts to become 
master of the city at once, by such bold but dangerous efforts of valour as 
be had already tried, he made his advances gradually, and with every 
possible precaution against exposing his men to any calamity similar to 
that which they still bewailed. As the Spaniards pushed forward, the 
Indians regularly repaired the causeways behind them. As soon as they 
got possession of any part of the town, the houses were instantly levelled 
with the ground. Day by day, the Mexicans, forced to retire as their 
enemies gained ground, were hemmed in within more narrow limits. 
Guatimozin, though unable to stop the career of the enemy, continued to 
defend his capital with obstinate resolution, and disputed every inch of 
ground. The Spaniards not only varied their mode of attack, but, by 
orders of Cortes, changed the weapons with which they fought. They 
were again armed with the long Chinantlan spears which they had em- 
ployed with such success against Narvaez ; and, by the firm array in which 
this enabled them to range themselves, they repelled, with little danger, 
the loose assault of the Mexicans : incredible numbers of them fell in the 
conflicts which they renewed every day.j While war wasted without, 
famine began to consume them within the city. The Spanish brigantines 
having the entire command of the lake, rendered it almost impossible to 
convey to the besieged anj' supply of provisions by water. The immense 
number of his Indian auxiliaries enabled Cortes to shut up the avenues to 
the city by land. The stores which Guatimozin had laid up were ex- 
haustea by the multitudes which had crowded into the capital to defend 
their sovereign and the temples of their gods. Not only the people, but 
persons of the highest rank, felt the utmost distresses of famine. What 
they suffered brought on infectious and mortal distempers, the last calamity 
that visits besieged cities, and which filled up the measure of their woes.J 

But, under the pressure of so many and such various evils, the spirit of 
Guatimozin remained firm and unsubdued. He rejected with scorn every 
overture of peace from Cortes ; and, disdaining the idea of submitting 
to the oppressors of his country, determined not to survive its ruin. The 
Spaniards continued their prepress. At length all the three divisions 

• B. Diaz, c. 153. Gomara Croii. r. 138. t Cortes Relat. p. 075. C. 276. F. B Diaz, c. 

15.T t Cortes Relat. 276. K. 277. F. B. Diaz, 1.55. Goinara Cron. r. 141. 



AMERICA. 251 

penetrated into the great square in the centre of the city, and made a 
secure lodgment there [July 27]. Three-fourths of the city were now 
reduced and laid in ruins. The remaining quarter was so closely pressed, 
that it could not long withstand assailants, who attacked it from their new 
station with superior advantage, and more assured expectation of success. 
The Mexican nobles, solicitous to save the life of a monarch whom they 
revered, prevailed on Guatimozin to retire from a place where resistance 
was now vain, that he might rouse the more distant provinces of the empire 
to arms, and maintain there a more successful struggle with the public 
enemy. In order to facilitate theexecution of this measure, they endeavoured 
to amuse Cortes with overtures of submission, that, while his attention 
was employed in adjusting the articles of pacification, Guatimozin might 
escape unperceived. But they made this attempt upon a leader of greater 
sagacity and discernment than to be deceived by their arts. Cortes, sus- 
pecting their intention, and aware of what moment it was to defeat it, 
appointed Sandoval, the officer on whose vigilance he could most per- 
fectly rely, to take the command of the brigantines, with strict injunctions 
to watch every motion of the enemy. Sandoval, attentive to the charge, 
observing some large canoes crowded with people rowing across the lake 
with extraordinary rapidity, instantly gave the signal to chase. Garcia 
Holguin, who commaiided the swiftest sailing brigantine, soon overtook 
them, and was preparing to fire on the foremost canoe, which seemed to 
carry some person whom all the rest followed and obeyed. At once the 
rowers dropped their oars, and all on board, throwing down their arms, 
conjured him with cries and tears to forbear, as the emperor was there. 
Holguin eagerly seized his prize ; and Guatimozin, with a dignified com- 
posure, gave himself up into his hands, requesting only that no insult 
might be offered to the empress or his children. When conducted to Cortes, 
he appeared neither with the sullen fierceness of a barbarian, nor with the 
dejection of a supplicant. " I have done," said he, addressing himself to 
the Spanish general, " what became a monarch. I have defended my 
people to the last extremity. Nothing now remains but to die. Take 
this dagger," laying his hand on one which Cortes wore, " plant it in my 
breast, and put an end to a life which can no longer be of use."* 

As soon as the fate of their sovereign was known, the resistance of the 
Mexicans ceased ; and Cortes took possession of that small part of the 
capital which yet remained undestroyed [Aug. 13]. Thus terminated the 
siege of Mexico, the most memorable event in the conquest of America. 
It continued seventy-five days, hardly one of which passed without some 
extraordinary effort of one party in the attack, or of the other in the 
defence of a city, on tli?^ate of which both knew that the fortune of the 
empire depended. As the^ruggle here was more obstinate, it was like- 
wise more equal than any b^tg^een the inhabitants of the Old and New 
Worlds. The great abilities of ^Guatimozin, the number of his troops, 
the peculiar situation of his capitafj-sp far counterbalanced the superiority 
of the Spaniards in arms and discipline, that they must have relinquished 
the enterprise if they had trusted for success to themselves alone. But 
Mexico was overturned by the jealousy of neighbours who dreaded its 
power, and by the revolt of subjects impatient to shake off its yoke. By 
their effectual aid, Cortes was enabled to accomplish what, without such 
support, he would hardly have ventured to attempt. How much soever 
this account of the reduction of Mexico may detract, on the one hand, 
from the marvellous relations of some Spanish writers, by ascribing that 
to simple and obvious causes which they attribute to the romantic valour 
of their countrymen, it adds, on the other, to the merit and abilities of 
Cortes, who, under every disadvantage, acquired such an ascendant over 

* f'.irtfs Rclat. 070. T?. niaz, c. Ififi. Oomam Tron. r. ^4'i. Urrrorn. dor. 3. lib. ii. r. 7. 



252 HISTORY OF [BookV. 

unknown nations, as to render them instruments towards carrying his 
schemes into execution [121]. 

The exultation of the Spaniards, on accomplishing this arduous enter- 
prise, was at first excessive. But this was quickly damped by the cruel 
disappointment of those sanguine hopes which had animated them amidst 
so many hardships and dangers. Instead of the inexhaustible wealth 
which they expected from becoming masters of Montezuma's treasures, 
and the ornaments of so many temples, their rapaciousness could only 
collect an inconsiderable booty amidst ruins and desolation.* Guatimozin, 
aware of his impending fate, had ordered what remained of the riches 
amassed by his ancestors, to be thrown into the lake. The Indian auxilia- 
ries, while the Spaniards were engaged in conflict with the enemy, had 
carried off the most valuable part of the spoil. The sum to be divided 
among the conquerors was so small that many of them disdained to accept 
of the pittance which fell to their share, and all murmured and exclaimed ; 
some against Cortes and his confidants, whom they suspected of having 
secretly appropriated to their own use a large portion of the riches which 
should have been brought into the common stock ; others, against Guati- 
mozin, whom they accused of obstinacy in refusing to discover the place 
where he had hiaden his treasure. 

Arguments, entreaties, and promises were employed in order to soothe 
them, but with so little effect, that Cortes, from solicitude to check this 
growing spirit of discontent, gave way to a deed which stains the glory 
of all his great actions. Without regarding the former dignity of Guati- 
mozin, or feeling any reverence for those virtues which he nad displayed, 
he subjected the unhappy monarch, together with his chief favourite, to 
torture, in order to force from them a discovery of the royal treasures, 
which it was supposed they had concealed. Guatimozin bore whatever 
the refined cruelty of his tormentors could inflict, with the invincible for- 
titude of an American warrior. His fellow-sufferer, overcome by the vio- 
lence of the anguish, hirned a dejected eye towards his master, which 
seemed to implore his permission to reveal all that he knew. But the 
high spirited prince, darting on him a look of authority mingled with 
scorn, checked his weakness by asking, " Am I now reposing on a bed of 
flowers ?" Overawed by the reproach, the favourite persevered in his 
dutiful silence, and expired. Cortes, ashamed of a scene so horrid, 
rescued the royal victim from the hands of his torturers, and prolonged a 
life reserved for new indignities and sufferings.! 

The fate of the capital, as both parties had foreseen, decided that of the 
empire. The provinces submitted one after another to the conquerors. 
Small detachments of Spaniards marching through them without interrup- 
tion, penetrated in different quarters to the great Southern Ocean, which, 
according to the ideas of Columbus, they imagined would open a short 
as well as easy passage to the East Indies, and secure to the crown of 
Castile all the envied wealth of those fertile regions ;| and the active 
mind of Cortes began already to form schemes for attemptmg this important 
discovery. § 

He did not know, that during the progress of his victorious arms in 
Mexico, the very scheme, of which he began to form some idea, had been 
undertaken and accomplished. As this is one of the most splendid events 
in the history of the Spanish discoveries, and has been productive of effects 
peculiarly interesting to those extensive provinces which Cortes had now 
subjected to the crown of Castile, the account of its rise and progress 
merits a particular detail. 

* The gold and silver according to Cortes, amounted only to 120,000 pesos. Relat. 280. A. a sum 
much inferior to that which the Spaniards had formerly divided in Mexico. t B. Diaz, c. LIT. 

Gomara Cron. c. 146. Herrera, dec. 3. lib. ii. c. 8. Torquem, Mon. Fnd. i. 574. t Cortes Rclot. 
990. D. 4;c. B. Diaz, c. 157. <J Herrera, dec. 3. lib. ii. e. J7. ttomara Cron. c. 149. 



AMERICA. 253 

Ferdinand Magalhaens, or Magellan, a Portuguese gentleman of honour- 
able birth, having served several years in the East Indies, with distin- 
guished valour, under the famous Albuquerque, demanded the recompense 
which he thought due to his serv'ices, with the boldness natural to a high 
spirited soldier. But as his general would not grant his suit, and he 
expected greater justice from his sovereign, whom he knew to be a good 
judge and a generous rewarder of merit, he quitted India abruptly, and 
returned to Lisbon. In order to induce Emanuel to listen more favourably 
to his claim, he not only stated his past services, but offered to add to 
them by conducting his countrymen to the Molucca or Spice Islands, by 
holding a westerly course ; which he contended would be both shorter and 
less hazardous than that which the Portuguese now followed by the Cape 
of Good Hope, through the immense extent of the Eastern Ocean. This 
was the original and favourite project of Columbus, and Magellan founded 
his hopes of success on the ideas of that great navigaior, confirmed by 
many observations, the result of his own naval experience, as well as that 
of his countrymen in their intercourse with the East. But though the 
Portuguese monarchs had the merit of having first awakened and encou- 
raged the spirit of discovery in that age, it was their destiny, in the course 
of a few years, to reject two grand schemes for this purpose, the execution 
of which would have been attended with a great accession of glory to 
themselves, and of power to their kingdom. In consequence of some ill 
founded prejudice against Magellan, or of some dark intrigue which con- 
temporary historians have not explained, Emanuel would neither bestow 
the recompense which he claimed, nor approve of the scheme which he 
proposed ; and dismissed him with a disdainful coldness intolerable to a 
man conscious of what he deserved, and animated with the sanguine hopes 
of success peculiar to those who are capable of forming or of conducting 
new and great undertakings. In a transport of resentment [1517], Magellan 
formally renounced his allegiance to an ungrateful master, and fled to the 
court of Castile, where he expected that his talents would be more justly 
estimated. He endeavoured to recommend himself by offering to execute, 
under the patronage of Spain, that scheme which he had laid before the 
court of Portugal, the accomplishment of which, he knew, would wound 
the monarch against whom he was exasperated in the most tender part. 
In order to establish the justness of his theorj', he produced the same 
arguments which he had employed at Lisbon ; acknowledging, at the 
?ame time, that the undertaking was both arduous and expensive, as it could 
not be attempted but with a squadron of considerable force, and victualled 
for at least two years. Fortunately, he applied to a minister who was not 
apt to be deterred, either by the boldness of a design, or the expense of 
carrying it into execution. Cardinal Ximenes, who at that time directed 
the affairs of Spain, discerning at once what an increase of wealth and 

f;lory would accrue to his countiy by the success of Magellan's proposal, 
islened to it with a most favourable ear. Charles V., on his arrival m his 
Spanish dominions, entered into the measure with no less ardour, and orders 
were issued for equipping a proper squadron at the public charge, of which 
the command was given to Magellan, whom the King honoured with the 
habit of St. Jago and the title of Captain general.* 

On the tenth of August, one thousand five hundred and nineteen, Ma- 
gellan sailed from Seville with five ships, which, according to the ideas of 
the age, were deemed to be of considerable force, though the burden of 
the largest did not exceed one hundred and twenty tons. The crews of 
the whole amounted to two hundred and thirty-four men, among whom 
were some of the most skilful pilots in Spain, and several Portuguese 

* Herrera, dec. 2. lib. ii. c. 19. lib. iv. r. 9. Guinara Hist. c. 91. Dalrvmple'a Collect, of Vnyujrf 
to llic South Pacitic Ocean, vol. i. p. 1, &c. 



254 HISTORY OF [Book V. 

sailors, in wiiose experience, as more extensive, Magellan placed still 
greater confidence. After touching at the Canaries, he stood directly 
south towards the equinoctial line along the coast of America, but was so 
longretarded by tedious calms, and spent so much time in searching every 
bay and inlet for that communication with the Southern Ocean which he 
wished to discover, that he did not reach the river De la Plata till the 
twelfth of Januajy [1520]. That spacious opening through which its vast 
body of water pours into the Atlantic allured him to enter ; but after 
sailing up it for some days, he concluded from the shallowness of the 
stream and the freshness of the water, that the wished-for strait was not 
situated there, and continued his course towards the south. On the thirty- 
first of March he arrived in the Port of St. Julian, about forty-eight degrees 
south of the line, where he resolved to winter. . In this uncomfortable 
station he lost one of his squadron ; and the Spaniards suffered so much 
from the excessive rigour of the climate, that the crews of three of his 
ships, headed by their oflScers, rose in open mutiny, and insisted on relin- 
quishing the visionary project of a desperate adventurer, and returning 
directly to Spain. This dangerous insurrection Magellan suppressed, by 
an effort of courage no less prompt than intrepid, and inflicted exemplary 
punishment on the ringleaders. With the remainder of his followers, 
overawed but n6t reconciled to his scheme, he continued his voyage towards 
the south, and at length discovered, near the fifty-third degree of latitude, 
the mouth of a strait, into which he entered, notwithstanding the murmurs 
and remonstrances of the people under his command. After sailing twenty 
days in that winding dangerous channel, to which he gave his own name, 
and where one of his ships deserted him, the great Southern Ocean opened 
to his view, and with tears of joy he returned thanksio Heaven for having 
thus far crowned his endeavours with success.* 

But he was still at a greater distance than he imagined from the object 
of his wishes. He sailed during three months and twenty days in a uniform 
direction towards the north-west, without discovering land. In this voyage, 
the longest that had ever been made in the unbounded ocean, he sutlered 
incredible distress. His stock of provisions was almost exhausted, the 
water became putrid, the men were reduced to the shortest allowance 
with which it was possible to sustain life, and the scui-vy, the most dreadful 
of all the maladies with which seafaring people are inflicted, began to 
spread among the crew. One circumstance juone affoided them some 
consolation; uiey enjoyed an uninterrupted course of fair weather, with 
such favourable winds that Mag'ellan bestowed on that ocean the name of 
Pacific, which it still retains. When reduced to such extremity that they 
must have sunk under their sufferings, they fell in with a cluster of small 
but fertile islands [March 6], whicli afforded them refreshments in such 
abundance, that their health was soon re-established. From these isles, 
which he called De los Ladrones, he proceeded on his voyage, and soon 
made a more important discovery of the islands now knowti by the name 
of the Pliilimmies. In one of these he got into an unfortunate quarrel 
with the natives, who attacked him with a numerous body of troops well 
amied ; and while he fought at the head of his men with his usual valour, 
he lell [April 26] by the hands of those barbarians, together with several 
of his principal officers. 

The expedition was prosecuted under other commanders. After visiting 
many of the smaller isles scattered in the eastern part of the Indian ocean, 
they touched at the great island of Borneo [Nov. 8], and at length landed 
in Tidore, one of the Moluccas, to the astonishment of the Portuguese, 
who could not comprehend how the Spaniards, by holding a westerly 

* Herrera, dec. 2. lib. iv. c. 10. lib. is. c. 10, &c, Goniara Hist. c. 92. Pigafetta Viaggio ap. 

Ramus, ii. p. ^52, Sec. 



A M E K I (; A. 255 

course, had arrived at that sequestered seat of their most valuable com- 
merce, which they themselves had discovered by sailing in an opposite 
direction. There, and in the adjacent isles, the Spaniards found a people 
acquainted with the benefits ot*^ extensive trade, and willing to open an 
intercourse with a new nation. They took in a cargo of the precious 
spices, which are the distinguished production of these islands ; and with 
that, as well as with specimens of the rich commodities yielded by the 
other countries which they had visited, the Victory, which, of the two ships 
that remained of the squadron, was most fit for a long voyage, set sail for 
Europe [Jan. 1522], under the command of Juan Sebastian del Cano. He 
followed the course of the Portuguese, by the Cape of Good Hope, and 
after many disasters and sufferings he arrived at St. Lucar on the seventh 
of September, one thousand five hundred and twenty-two, having sailed 
round the globe in the space of three years and twenty-eight days.* 

Though an untimely fate deprived Magellan of the satisfaction of 
accomplishing this great undertaking, his contemporaries, just to his 
memory and talents, ascribed to him not only the honour of having formed 
the plan, but of having surmounted almost every obstacle, to the completion 
of it ; and in the present age his name is still ranked among the highest 
in the roll of eminent and successful navigators. The naval gloiy of Spain 
now eclipsed that of every other nation ; and by a singular felicity she had 
tiie merit, in the course of a iew years, of discovering a new continent 
almost as large as that part of the earth which was formerly known, and 
of ascertaining by experience the form and extent of the whole of the 
terraqueous globe. 

The Spaniards were not satisfied with the glory of having first encom- 
passed the earth ; they expected to derive great commercial advantages 
from this new and boldest effort of their maritime skill. The men of 
science among them contended, that the Spice Islands, and several of the 
richest countries in the East, were so situated as to belong of right to the 
crown of Castile, in consequence of the partitions made by Alexander VI. 
The merchants, without attending to this discussion, engaged eagerly in that 
lucrative and alluring commerce, which was now open to them. The 
Portuguese, alarmed at the intrusion of such formidable rivals, remonstrated 
and negotiated in Europe, while in Asia they obstructed the trade of the 
Spaniards by force of arms. Charles V., not sufficiently instructed with 
respect to the importance of this valuable branch of conmierce, or distracted 
by the multiplicity of his schemes and operations, did not afford his sub- 
jects proper protection. At last, the low state of his finances, exhausted 
by the efforts of his arms in every part of Europe, together with the dread 
of adding a new war with Portugal to those in which he was already en- 
gaged, induced him to make over his claim of the Moluccas to the Portu- 
guese for three hundred and fifty thousand ducats. He reserved, however, 
to the crown of Castile the right of reviving its pretensions on repayment 
of that sum ; but other objects engrossed his attention and that of his suc- 
cessors ; and Spain was finally excluded from a branch of commerce in 
which t was engaging with sanguine expectations of profit.! 

Though the trade with the Moluccas was relinquished, the voyage of 
Magellan was followed by commercial effects of great moment to Spain. 
Philip 11., in the year one thousand five hundred and sixty-four, reduced 
those islands which he discovered in the Eastern ocean to subjection, and 
established settlements there ; between which and the kingdom of New 
Spain a regular intercourse, the nature of which shall be explained in its 
proper place, is still canied on. I return now to the transactions in New 
Spain. 

* Uenera, dec. 3. lib. i. c. 3. 9. lib. iv. c. 1. Gomnra Cron. c. 9.3, &c. Tigafetta ap. Ramus, it. 
p. 361, &c. t Herrcra, dec. 3. lib. iii. c. 5, Jcc. dec. 4. lib. v. c. 7, &v. 



256 HISTORY OF LBook V. 

At the time that Cortes was acquiring such extensive territories for his 
native country, and preparing the way for future conquests, it was his 
singular fate not only to be destitute of any commission or authority from 
the sovereign whom he was serving with such successful zeal, but to be 
regarded as an undutiful and seditious subject. By the influence of Fon- 
seca, Bishop of Burgos, his conduct in assuming the government of New- 
Spain was declared to be an irregular usurpation, in contempt of the royal 
authority ; and Christoval de Tapia received a commission, empowering 
him to supersede Cortes, to seize his person, to confiscate his effects, to 
make a strict scrutiny into his proceedings, and to transmit the result of 
all the inquiries carried on in New Spain to the Council of the Indies, of 
which the Bishop of Burgos was president. A few weeks after the reduc- 
tion of Mexico, Tapia landed at Vera Cruz with the royal mandate to 
strip its conqueror of his power, and treat him as a criminal. But Fonseca 
had chosen a very improper instrument to wreak his vengeance on Cortes. 
Tapia had neither the reputation nor the talents that suited the high com- 
mand to which he was appointed. Cortes, while he publicly expressed 
the most respectful veneration for the emperor's authority, secretly took 
measures to defeat the effect of his commission ; and having involved 
Tapia and his followers in a multiplicity of negotiations and conferences, 
in which he sometimes had recourse to threats, but more frequently em- 
ployed bribes and promises, he at length prevailed upon that weak man 
to abandon a province which he was unworthy of governing.* 

But notwithstanding the fortunate dexterity with which he had eluded 
this danger, Cortes was so sensible of the precarious tenure by which he 
held his power, that he despatched deputies to Spain [May 15], with a 
pompous account of the success of his arms, with further specimens of the 
productions of the country, and with rich presents to the emperor, as the 
earnest of future contributions from his new conquests ; requesting, in 
recompense for all his services, the approbation of his proceedings, and 
that he might be intrusted with the government of those dominions, which 
his conduct and the valour of his followers had added to the crown of Castile. 
The juncture in which his deputies reached the court was favourable. The 
internal commotions in Spain, which had disquieted the beginning of 
Charles's reign, were just appeased. t The ministers had leisure to turn 
their attention towards foreign affairs. The account of Cortes's victories 
filled his countrymen with admiration. The extent and value of his con- 
quests became the object of vast and interesting hopes. Whatever stain 
he might have contracted, by the iixegularity ot the steps which he took 
in order to attain power, was so fully effaced by the splendour and merit 
of the great actions which this had enabled him to perform, that every 
heart revolted at the thought of inflicting any censure on a man whose 
services entitled him to the highest marks of distinction. The public 
voice declared warmly in favour of his pretensions ; and Charles, arriving 
in Spain about this time, adopted the sentiments of his subjects with a 
youthful ardour. Notwithstandingthe claims of Velasquez, and the partial 
representations of the Bishop of Burgos, the emperor appointed Cortes 
captain general and governor of New Spain, judging that no person was 
so capable of maintaining the royal authority, or of establishing good order 
both among his Spanish and Indian subjects, as the victorious leader whom 
the former had long been accustomed to obey, and the latter had been 
taught to fear and to respect.J 

Even before his jurisdiction received this legal sanction, Cortes ventured 
to exercise all the powers of a governor, and, by various arrangements, 

* Herrera, dec. 3. lib. iii. c. 16. 3. der. 4. c. 1. Cort. Belat. 381. E. B. Diaz. c. 158. t His:, 
of Charles V. b. iii. t Hyrrera, dw. 3. lib. iv. r, 3. Gomara Cron. c. 164, 105. B. Diaz, 
1(>7, lf)H. 



AMERICA. 257 

endeavoured to render his conquest a secure and beneficial acquisition 
to his country. He determined to establish the seat of government in its 
ancient station, and to raise Mexico again from its ruins ; and having con- 
ceived high ideas concerning the future grandeur of the state of which he 
was laying the foundation, he began to rebuild its capital on a plan which 
hath gradually foriried the most magnificent city in the New World. At 
the same time, he employed skilful persons to search for mines, in diflferent 
parts of the country, and opened some which were found to be richer than 
any which the Spaniards had hitherto discovered in America. He detached 
his principal officers into the remote provinces, and encouraged them to 
settle there, not only by bestowing upon them lai^e tracts of land, but by 
granting them the same dominion over the Indians, and the same right to 
their service, which the Spaniards had assumed in the islands. 

It was not, however, without difficulty that the Mexican empire could 
be entirely reduced into the form of a Spanish colony. Enraged and ren- 
dered desperate by oppression, the natives often forgot the superiority of 
their enemies, and ran to arms in defence of their liberties. In every 
contest, however, the European valour and discipline prevailed. But 
fatally for the honour of their country, the Spaniards sullied the glory 
redounding from these repeated victories by their mode of treating the 
vanquished people. After taking Guatimozin, and becoming masters of 
his capital, they supposed that the king of Castile entered on possession of 
all the rights of the captive monarch, and affected to consider eveiy effort 
of the Mexicans to assert their own independence, as the rebellion of 
vassals against their sovereign, or the mutiny of slaves against their master. 
Under the sanction of those ill founded maxims, they violated every right 
that should be held sacred between hostile nations. After each insurrec- 
tion, they reduced the common people, in the provinces which they sub- 
dued, to the most humiliating of all conditions, that of personal servitude. 
Their chiefs, supposed to be more criminal, were punished with greater 
severity, and put to death in the most ignominious or the most excruciating 
mode that the insolence or the cruelty of their conquerors could devise. 
In almost every district of the 3Iexican empire, the progress of the Spa- 
nish arms is marked with blood, and with deeds so atrocious as disgrace 
the enterprising valour that conducted them to success. In the country of 
Panuco, sixty caziques or leaders, and four hundred nobles, were burned 
at one time. Nor was this shocking barbarity perpetrated in any sudden 
sally of rage, or by a commander of inferior note. It was the act of San- 
doval, an officer whose name is entitled to the second rank in the annals of 
New Spain, and executed after a solemn consultation with Cortes ; and to 
complete the horror of the scene, the children and relations of the wretched 
victims were assembled, and compelled to be spectators of their dying 
agonies.* It seems hardly possible to exceed in horror this dreadful ex- 
ample of severity ; but it was followed by another, which affected the 
Mexicans still more sensibly, as it gave them a most feeling proof of their 
own degradation, and of the small regard which their haughty masters 
retained for the ancient dignity and splendour of their state. On a slight 
suspicion, confirmed by very imperfect evidence, that Guatimozin had 
formed a scheme to shake off the yoke, and to excite his fonner subjects 
to take arms, Cortes, without the formality of a trial, ordered the unhappy 
monarch, together with the caziques of Tezeuco and Tacuba, the two 
persons of greatest eminence in the empire, to be hanged ; and the 
Mexicans, with astonishment and horror, beheld this disgraceful punish- 
ment inflicted upon persons to whom they were accustomed to look up 
"With reverence hardly inferior to that which they paid to the gods them- 
selvest [122]. The example of Cortes and his principal officers encou- 

* CortosRelat. 291. C. Comnra Cron. c. l.W. t ComaraCron. c. iro. B, nia?.. t 177; 

Herrera, dec. :<. lili. viii. c. it. 

Vol. 1.-33 



25\s HISTORY OF [Book V. 

raged and justified persons of subordinate rank to venture upon committing 
greater excesses. Nuno de Guzman, in particular, stained an illustrious 
name by deeds of peculiar enormity and rigour, in various expeditions 
which he conducted.* 

One circumstance, however, saved the Mexicans from further consump- 
tion, perhaps from as complete as that which had depopulated the islands. 
The first conquerors did not attempt to search for the precious metals in 
the bowels of the earth. They were neither sufficiently wealthy to carry 
on the expensive works which are requisite for opening tnose deep recesses 
where nature has concealed the veins of gold and silver, nor sufficiently 
skilful to perform the higenious operations by which those precious metals 
are separated from their respective ores. They were satisfied with the 
more simple method, practised by the Indians, of washing the earth car- 
ried down rivers and torrents from the mountains, and collecting the grains 
of native metal deposited there. The rich mines of New Spain, which 
have poured forth their treasures with such profusion on every quarter of 
the globe, were not discovered for several years after the conquest. t By 
that time [1552, &c.], a more orderly government and police were intro- 
duced into the colony ; experience, derived from former errors, had sug- 
gested many useful and humane regulations for the protection and preser- 
vation of the Indians ; and though it then became necessary to increase 
the number of those employed in the mines, and they were engaged in a 
species of labour more pernicious to the human constitution, they suffered 
less hardship or diminution than from the ill judged, but less extensive, 
schemes of the first conquerors. 

While it was the lot of the Indians to suffer, their new masters seemed 
not to have derived any considerable wealth from their ill conducted re- 
searches. According to the usual fate of first settlers in new colonies, it 
was their lot to encounter danger and to struggle Avith difficulties ; the 
fruits of their victories and toils were reserved for times of tranquillity, 
and reaped by successors of great industry, but of inferior merit. The 
early historians of America abound with accounts of the sufferings and of 
the poverty of its conquerors.]; In New Spain, their condition was ren- 
dered more grievous by a peculiar arrangement. When Charles V. ad- 
vanced Cortes to the government of that country, he at the same time 
appointed certain commissioners to receive and administer the royal reve- 
nue there, with independent jurisdiction.^ These men, chosen from infe- 
rior stations in various departments of puolic business at Madrid, were so 
much elevated with their promotion, that they thought they were called 
to act a part of the first consequence. But being accustomed to the 
minute formalities of office, and having contracted the narrow ideas suited 
to the sphere in which they had hitherto moved, they were astonished on 
arriving in Mexico [1524], at the high authority which Cortes exercised, 
and could not conceive that the mode of administration, in a country re- 
cently subdued and settled, must be different from what took place in one 
where tranquillity and regular government had been long established. In 
their letters, they represented Cortes as an ambitious tyrant, who, having 
usurped a jurisdiction superior to law, aspired at independence, and, by 
his exorbitant wealth and extensive influence, niight accomplish those dis- 
loyal schemes which he apparently meditated.il These insinuations made 
such deep impression upon the Spanish ministers, most of whom had been 
formed to business under the jealous and rigid administration of Ferdi- 
nand, that, unmindful of all Cortes's past services, and regardless of what 
he was then suffering in conducting that extraordinary expedition, in which 
he advanced from the lake of Mexico to the western extremities of Hon- 

* Herrera, dec. 4 and 5. passim. t Ibid. dec. 8. lil>. x. c. 21. t Cortca Relaf. 333. F. R 
Diaz, c. 309. ^ Herrera, dec. 3. lib. iv. c 3. |1 Ibid. dec. 3. lib. v. v. 14. 



AMERICA. 259 

duras [123], they infused the same suspicions into the minds of their mas- 
ter, and pievailed on him to order a solemn inquest to be made into his 
conduct [1525], with powers to the licentiate Ponce de Leon, intrusted 
with that commission, to seize his person, if he should find that expedient, 
and send him prisoner to Spain.* 

The sudden death of Ponce de Leon, a few days after his arrival in New_ 
Spain, prevented the execution of this commission. But as the object of 
his appointment was known, the mind of Cortes was deeply wounded 
\vith this unexpected return for services which far exceeded whatever any 
subject of Spain had rendered to his sovereign. He endeavoured, how- 
ever, to maintain his station, and to recover the confidence ot the court. 
But every person in office, who had arrived from Spain since the conquest, 
was a spy upon his conduct, and with malicious ingenuity gave an unfa- 
vourable representation of all his actions. The apprehensions of Charles 
and his ministers increased. A new commission of inquiry was issued 
[1528], with more extensive powers, and various precautions were taken 
in order to prevent or to punish him, if he should be so presumptuous as 
to attempt what was inconsistent with the fidelity of a subject.! Cortes 
beheld the approaching crisis of his fortune with all the violent emotions 
natural to a haughty mind conscious of high desert, and receiving unworthy 
treatment. But though some of his desperate followers urged him to assert 
his own rights against his ungrateful country, and with a bold hand to seize 
that power which the courtiers meanly accused him of coveting,| he re- 
tained such self command, or was actuated with such sentiments of loyalty, 
as to reject their dangerous counsels, and to choose the only course in 
which he could secure his own dignity, without departing from his duty. 
He resolved not to expose himself to the ignominy of a trial in that coun- 
try which had been the scene of his triumphs ; but, without waiting for 
the arrival of his judges, to repair directly to Castile, and commit himself 
and his cause to the justice and generosity of his sovereign. § 

Cortes appeared in his nativ^e country with the splendour that suited the 
conqueror of a mighty kingdom. He brought with him a great part of his 
wealth, many jewels and ornaments of great value, several curious produc- 
tions of the country [124], and was attended by some Mexicans of the first 
rank, as well as by the most considerable of his own officers. His arrival 
in Spain removed at once every suspicion and fear that had been enter- 
tained with respect to his intentions. The emperor, having now nothing 
to apprehend from the designs of Cortes, received him like a person whom 
consciousness of his own innocence had brought into the presence of his 
master, and who was entitled, by the eminence of his services, to the 
highest marks of distinction and respect. The order of St. Jago, the title 
of Marquis del Valle de Guaxaca, the grant of an ample territory in New 
Spain, were successively bestowed upon him ; and as his manners were 
correct and elegant, aUhough he had passed the greater part of his life 
among rough adventurers, the emperor admitted him to the same familiar 
intercourse with himself, that was enjoyed by noblemen of the first rank.|| 

But, amidst those external proofs of regard, symptoms of remaining dis- 
trust appeared. Though Cortes earnestly solicited to be reinstated in the 
government of New Spain, Charles, too sagacious to commit such an im- 
portant charge to a man whom he had once suspected, peremptorily re- 
fused to invest him again with powers which he might find it impossible 
to control. Cortes, though dignified with new titles, returned to Mexico 
[1530], with diminished authority. The military department, with 
powers to attempt new discoveries, was left in his hands ; but the supremo 
direction of civil affairs was placed in a board called The Audience of 

* Herrera, dec. 3. lib. viii. c. 14, l.'>. f Iliid. dec. 3. liii. viii. c. 15. Aoc. 4. lih. ii. c. 1. lil>. iv 

C. 9, 10. B. Diaz, c. 172. 19(i. Gomarn Cron. o. Ifiti. i B. Diaz, c. 194. ^ lloiTcra, doc. :t. 
lib. iv. c. S. II IMd. d.'c. 3. lih. iv. c. I.Iib. vj. c. 4. B. Diaz. c. JSlfi. Gomara Croii. c. l'.>3. 



-26U HISTORY OF [Book V. 

New Spain. At a subsequent period, when, upon the increase of the 
col(Miy, the exertion of authority more united and extensive became neces- 
sary, Antonio de Mendoza, a nobleman of high rank, was sent thither as 
Viceroy, to take the government into his hands. 

This division of power in New Spain proved, as was unavoidable, the 
source of perpetual dissension, which imbittered the life of Cortes, and 
thwarted all his schemes. As he had now no opportunity to display his 
active talents but in attempting new discoveries, he formed various schemes 
for that purpose, all of which bear impressions of a genius that delighted 
in what was bold and splendid. He early entertained an idea, that, either 
by steering through the Gulf of Florida along the east coast of North 
America, some strait would be found that communicated with the western 
ocean ; or that, by examining the isthmus of Darien, some passage would 
be discovered between the North and South Seas.* But having been dis- 
appointed in his expectations with respect to both, he now confined his 
views to such voyages of discovery as he could make from the ports of 
New Spain in the South Sea. There he fitted out successively several 
small squadrons, which either perished in the attempt, or returned without 
making any discovery of moment. Cortes, weary of intrusting the con- 
duct of his operations to others, took the command of a new armament in 
person [1536] ; and, after enduring incredible hardships, and encountering 
dangers of every species, he discovered the large peninsula of California, 
and surveyed the greater part of the gulf which separates it from New 
Spain. The discovery of a country of such extent would have reflected 
credit on a common adventurer ; but it could add little new honour to the 
name of Cortes, and was far from satisfying the sanguine expectations 
which he had Ibrmed.t Disgusted with ill success, to which he had not 
been accustomed, and weary of contesting with adversaries to whom he 
considered it as a disgrace to be opposed, he once more sought for redress 
in his native country [1540]. 

But his reception there was very different from that which gratitude, and 
even decency, ought to have secured for him. The merit of his ancient 
exploits was already, in a great measure, forgotten or eclipsed by the fame 
of recent and more valuable conquests in another quarter of America. No 
service of moment was now expected from a man of declining years, and 
who began to be unfortunate. The emperor behaved to him with cold 
civility ; his ministers treated hina sometimes with neglect, sometimes with 
insolence. His grievances received no redress ; his claims were ui^ed 
without effect ; and after several years spent in fruitless application to 
ministers and judges, an occupation the most irksome and mortifying to a 
man of high spirit, who had moved in a sphere where he was more ac- 
customed to command than to solicit, Cortes ended his days on the second 
of December, one thousand five hundred and forty-seven, in the sixty- 
second year of his age. His fate was the same with that of all the per- 
sons who distinguished themselves in the discovery or conquest of the 
New World. Envied by his contemporaries, and ill requited by the court 
which he served, he has been admired and celebrated by succeeding ages. 
Which has formed the most just estimate of his character, an impartial 
consideration of his actions must determine. 

* Cortes Relat. Ram. iii. 294. B. t Hcirera, dec. 5. lib. viii. c. 9, 10. dec 8. lib. Vl. C \i Vo- 

negaa Hist, of Calilbrn. i. 125. Lorenvdana Ilist. p. 322, &c. 



AMERICA. ^si 



BOOK Yl. 

1323.] From the time that Nugnez de Balboa discovered the great 
Southern Ocean, and received the first obscure hints concerning the opulent 
countries with which it might open a communication, the wishes and 
schemes of every enterprising person hi the colonies of Darien and Pa- 
nama were turned towards the wealth of those unknown regions. In an 
age when the spirit of adventure was so ardent and vigorous, that large 
fortunes were wasted, and the most alarming dangers braved, in pursuit 
of discoveries merely possible, the faintest ray of hope was followed with 
an eager expectation, and the slightest information was sutficient to inspire 
such perfect confidence as conducted men to the most arduous under- 
takings [125]. 

Accordingly, several armaments were fitted out in order to explore and 
take possession of the countries to the east of Panama, but under the con- 
duct of leaders whose talents and resources were unequal to the attempt.* 
As the excursions of those adventurers did not extend beyond the limits 
of the province to which the Spaniards have given the name of Tierra 
Firme, a mountainous region covered with woods, thinly inhabited, and 
extremely unhealthy, they returned with dismal accounts concerning the 
distresses to vvhich they had been exposed, and the unpromising aspect of 
the places which they had visited. Damped by these tidings, the rage 
for discovery in that direction abated ; and it became the general opinion 
that Balboa had founded visionary hopes, on the tale of an ignorant Indian, 
ill understood, or calculated to deceive. 

1524.] But there were three persons settled in Panama, on whom the 
circumstances which deterred others made so little impression, that, at the 
very moment when all considered Balboa's expectations of discovering a 
rich country, by steering towards the east, as chimerical, they resolved to 
attempt the execution of his scheme. The names of those extraordinary 
men were Francisco Pizarro, Diego de Almagro, and Hernando Luque. 
Pizarro was the natural son of a gentleman of an honourable family by a 
very low woman, and, according to the cruel fate which often attends the 
offspring of unlawful lo\fe, had been so totally neglected in his youth by 
the author of his birth, that he seems to have destined him never to rise 
beyond the condition of his mother. In consequence of this ungenerous 
idea, he set him, when bordering on manhood, to keep hogs. But the 
aspiring mind of young Pizarro disdaining that ignoble occupation, he 
abruptly abandoned his charge, enlisted as a soldier, and after serving 
some years in Italy, embarked for America, which, by opening such a 
boundless range to active talents, allured every adventurer whose fortune 
was not equal to his amlaitious thoughts. There Pizarro early distinguished 
himself. With a temper of mind no less daring than the constitution of 
his body was robust, he was foremost in every danger, patient under the 
greatest hardships, and unsubdued by any fatigue. Though so illiterate 
that he could not even read, he was soon considered as a man formed to 
command. Every operation committed to his conduct proved successful, 
as, by a happy but rare conjunction, he united perseverance with ardour, 
and was as cautious in executing as he was bold in forming his plans. By 
engaging early in active life, without any resource but his own talents and 
industry, and by depending on himself alone in his struggles to emerge 
from obscurity, ne acquired such a thorough knowledge o? affairs, and of 

* Calancha Coronica, p. 100. 



262 HISTORY OF [Book VI. 

men, that he was fitted to assume a superior part in conducting the former, 
and in governing the latter.* 

Almagro had as little to boast of his descent as Pizarro. The one was 
a bastard, the other a foundling. Bred, like his companion, in the camp, 
he yielded not to him in any of the soldierly qualities of intrepid valour, 
indefatigable activity, or insurmountable constancy in enduring the hard- 
ships inseparable from military service in the New World. But in Almagro 
these virtues were accompanied with the openness, generosity, and candour, 
natural to men whose profession is ;yms ; in Pizarro, they were united with 
the address, the craft, and the dissimulation of a politician, with the art of 
concealing his own purposes, and with sagacity to penetrate into those of 
other men. 

Hernando de Luque was an ecclesiastic, who acted both as priest and 
schoolmaster at Panama, and, by means which the contemporary writers 
have not described, had amassed riches that inspired him with thoughts 
of rising to greater eminence. 

Such were the men destined to overturn one of the most extensive em- 
pires on the face of the earth. Their confederacy for this purpose was 
authorized by Pedrarias, the governor of Panama. Each engaged to 
employ his whole fortune in the adventure. Pizarro, the least wealthy of 
the three, as he could not throw so large a sum as his associates into the 
common stock, engaged to take the department of greatest fatigue and 
danger, and to command in person the armament wnich was to go first 
upon discovery. Almagro offered to conduct the supplies of provisions 
and reinforcements of troops, of which Pizarro might stand in need. 
Luque was to remain at Panama to negotiate with the governor, and 
superintend whatever was carrying on for the general interest. As the 
spirit of enthusiasm imiformly accompanied that of adventure in the New 
World, and by that strange union both acquired an increase of force, this 
confederacy, iormed by ambition and avarice, was confirmed by the most 
solemn act of religion. Luque celebrated mass, divided a consecrated 
host into three, and, reserving one part to himself, gave the other two to 
his associates, of which they partook ; and thus, in the name of the Prince 
of Peace, ratified a contract of which plunder and bloodshed were the 
objects.! 

The attempt was begun with a force more suited to the humble con- 
dition of the three associates than to the greatness of the enterprise in 
Avhich they were engaged. Pizarro set sail fronf Panama [Nov. 14], with 
a single vessel of small burden and a hundred and twelve men. "But in 
that age, so little were the Spanish acquainted with the peculiarities of 
the climate in America, that the time which Pizarro chose for his departure 
was the most improper in the whole year ; the periodical winds, which 
were then set in, being directly adverse to the course which he proposed 
to steer.J _ After beating about for seventy days, with much danger and 
incessant fatigue, Pizarro's progress towards the south-east was not greater 
than what a skilful navigator will now make in as many hours. He 
touched at several places on the coast of Tierra Firme, but found every 
where the same uninviting country which former adventurers had described ; 
the low grounds converted into swamps by an overflowing of rivers ; the 
higher, covered with impervious woods ; lew inhabitants, and those fierce 
and hostile. Famine, fatigue, frequent rencounters with the natives, and, 
above all, the distetnpers of a moist, sultry climate, combined in wasting 
his slender band of followers. [1525.J The undaunted resolution of their 
leader continued, however, for some time, to sustain their spirits, although 
no sign had yet appeared of discovering those golden regions to which he 

• Ilerrpra, iloc. 1 & ?. passim, dec. 4. lib. vi. c. 107. Gomar.i Hi-Jt. c. 144. Zar.itp, lih. iv. c. 9. 
r Ilerrera. dec. J. lib. vi. c. Ki. /Hnite, lib. i.r.\. t Ibid. ,\-c. 4. lib. ii. c. 8, Xrrnz, p. 170. 



AMERICA. 263 

had promised to conduct them. At length he was obliged to abandon that 
inhospitable coast, and retire to Chuchania, opposite to the pearl islands, 
where he hoped to receive a supply of provisions and troops from Panama. 
But Almagro, having sailed from that port with seventy men, stood 
directly towards that part of the continent where he hoped to meet with 
his associates. Not finding him there, he landed his soldiers, who, in 
searching for their companions, underwent the same distresses, and were 
exposed to the same dangers, which had driven them out of the country'. 
Repulsed at length by the Indians in a sharp conflict, in which their leader 
lost one of his eyes by the wound of an arrow, they likewise were com- 
pelled to re-embark. Chance led them to the place of Pizarro's retreat, 
where they found some consolation in recounting to each other their ad- 
ventures, and comparing their sufferings. As Almagro had advanced as 
far as the river St. Juan [June 24], in the province of Popayan, where 
both the country and inhabitants appeared with a more promising aspect, 
that dawn of better fortune was sufficient to determine such sanguine pro- 
jectors not to abandon their scheme, notwithstanding all that they had 
suffered in prosecuting it* [126]. 

1326.] Almagro repaired to Panama in hopes of recruiting their shat- 
tered troops. But what he and Pizarro had suffered gave his countrymen 
such an unfavourable idea of the service, that it was with difficulty he could 
levy fourscore men.f Feeble as this reinforcement was, Almagro took the 
command of it, and, having joined Pizarro, they did not hesitate about 
resuming their operations. After a long series of disasters and disappoint- 
ments, not inferior to those which they had already experienced, part of 
the armament reached the Bay of St. Matthew, on the coast of Quito, and 
landing at Tacamez, to the south of the river of Emeraulds, they beheld 
a country more champaign and fertile than any they had yet discovered in 
the Southern Ocean, the natives clad in garments of woollen or cotton stuflF, 
and adorned with several trinkets of gold and silver. 

But notwithstanding those favourable appearances, magnified beyond the 
truth, both by the vanity of the persons who brought the report from Taca- 
mez, and by the fond imagination of those who listened to them, Pizan'o 
and Almagro durst not venture to invade a country so populous with a 
handful of men enfeebled by fatigue and diseases. They retired to the 
small island of Gallo, where Pizarro remained with part of the troops, and 
his associate returned to Panama, in hopes of bringing such a reinforcement 
as might enable them to take possession of the opulent territories whose 
existence seemed to be no longer doubtful.J 

But some of the adventurers, less enterprising, or less hardy, than their 
leaders, having secretly conveyed lamentable accounts of their sufferings 
and losses to their friends at Panama, Almagro met with an unfavourable 
reception from Pedro de los Rios, who had succeeded Pedrarias in the 
government of that settlement. After weighing the matter with that cold 
economical prudence which appears the first of all virtues to persons whose 
limited faculties are incapable of conceiving or executing great designs, he 
concluded an expedition, attended with such certain waste of men, to be so 
detrimental to an infant and feeble colony, that he not only prohibited the 
raising of new levies, but despatched a vessel to bring home Pizarro and 
liis companions from the island of Gallo. Almagro and Luque, though 
deeply affected with those measures, which they could not prevent, and 
durst not oppose, found means of communicating their sentiments privately 
to Pizarro, and exhorted him not to relinquish an enterprise that was the 
foundation of all their hopes, and the only means of re-establishing their 
reputation and fortune, which were both on the decline. Pizarro's mind, 

* Hcrrera, dec. 3. lib. viii. c. 11, K. ♦ Zaiaf, lib. i. c. 1. J Xerrz, 181. Herrera, dec- 

•Xlilt viii. c. r.l 



264 HISTORY OF [Book VI. 

bent with inflexible obstinacy on all its purposes, needed no incentive to 
persist in the scheme. He peremptorily retused to obey the governor of 
Panama's orders, and employed all his address and eloquence in persuading 
his men not to abandon him. But the incredible calamities to which they 
had been exposed were still so recent in their memories, and the thoughts 
of revisiting their families and friends, after a long absence, rushed with 
such joy into their minds, that when Pizarro drew a line upon the sand 
with nis sword, permitting such as wished to return home to pass over it, 
only thirteen of all the daring veterans in his service had resolution to remain 
with their commander.* 

This small but determined band, whose names the Spanish historians 
record with deserved praise, as the persons to whose persevering fortitude 
their country is indebted for the most valuable of all its American posses- 
sions, fixed their residence in the island of Gorgona. This, as it was further 
removed from the coast than Gallo, and uninhabited, they considered as a 
more secure retreat, where, unmolested, they might wait for supplies from 
Panama, which they trusted that the activity of their associates would be 
able to procure. Almagro and Luque were not inattentive or cold solicitors, 
and their incessant importunity was seconded by the general voice of the 
colony, which exclaimed loudly against the infamy of exposing brave men, 
engaged in the public service, and chargeable with no error but what flowed 
from an excess of zeal and courage, to perish like the most odious criminals 
in a desert island. Overcome by those entreaties and expostulations, the 
governor at last consented to send a small vessel to their relief But that 
he might not seem to encourage Pizarro to any new enterprise, he would 
n»t permit one landman to embark on board oi it. 

By this time, Pizarro and his companions had remained five months in 
an island infamous for the most unhealthy climate in that region of Ameri- 
ca [l27l. During all this period, their eyes were turned towards Panama, in 
hopes 01 succour from their countrymen ; but worn out at length with truit- 
less expectations, and dispirited with suffering hardships of wnich they saw 
no end, they, in despair, came to a resolution of committing themselves to 
the ocean on a float, rather than continue in that detestable abode. But, on 
the arrival of the vessel from Panama, they were transported with such joy 
that all their sufferings were forgotten. Their hopes revived ; and, with a 
rapid transition not unnatural among men accustomed by their mode of life 
to sudden vicissitudes of fortune, high confidence succeeding to extreme 
dejection, Pizarro easily induced not only his own followers, but the crew 
of the vessel from Panama, to resume his former scheme with fresh ardour. 
Instead of returning to Panama, they stood towards the south-east, and, 
more fortunate in this than in any of their past efforts, they, on the twentieth 
day after their departure from Gorgona, discovered the coast of Peru. 
After touching at several villages near the shore, which they found to be 
nowise inviting, they landed at Tumbez, a place of some note about three 
degrees south of the line, distinguished for its stately tenvple, and a palace 
of the Incas or sovereigns of the country.! There the Spaniards feasted 
their eyes with the first view of the opulence and civilization of the Peru- 
vian empire. They beheld a country fully peopled, and cultivated with 
an appearance of regular industry ; the natives decently clothed, and pos- 
sessed of ingenuity so far surpassing the other inhabitants of the New World 
as to have the use of tame domestic animals. But what chiefly attracted 
their notice was such a show of gold and silver, not only in the ornaments 
of their persons and temples, but in several vessels and utensils for common 
use, formed of those precious metals, as left no room to doubt that they 
abounded with profusion in the country. Pizarro and his companions 

Hoiiora doc. X lib. x. c '2, :!. 7,;iiati\ lib. i. r. 2. Xcrez. ]81. Goiiiara Hist. c. 109. < t'a- 

iaticlia, |i IlKi 



AMERICA. 265 

seemed now to have attained to the completion of their most sanguine hopes, 
and fancied that all their wishes and dreams of rich domains, and inex- 
haustible treasures, would soon be realized. 

But with the slender force then under his command, Pizarro could only 
view the rich country of which he hoped hereafter to obtain possession. 
He ranged, however, for some time along the coast, maintaining eveiy 
where a peaceable intercourse with the natives, no less astonished at their 
new visitants than the Spaniards were with the uniform appearance of opu- 
lence and cultivation which they beheld. [1527,] Having explored the 
country as far as requisite to ascertain the importance of the discovery, 
Pizarro procured from the inhabitants some of their Llamas or tame cattle, 
to which the Spaniards gave the name of sheep, some vessels of gold and 
silver, as well as some specimens of their other works of ingenuity, and two 
young men, whom he proposed to instruct in the Castilian language, that 
they might serve as interpreters in the expedition which he meditated. 
With these he arrived at Panama, towards the close of the third year from 
the time of his departure thence.* No adventurer of the age suflfered hard- 
ships or encountered dangers which equal those to which he was exposed 
during this long period. The patience with which he endured the one, 
and the fortitude with which he surmounted the other, exceed whatever is 
recorded in the history of the New World, where so many romantic dis- 
plays of those virtues occur. 

1528.] Neither the splendid relation that Pizarro gave of the incredible 
opulence of the country which he had discovered, nor his bitter complaints 
on account of that unreasonable recall of his forces, which had put it out of 
his power to attempt making any settlement there, could move the governor 
of Panama to swerve from his former plan of conduct. He still contended, 
that the colony was not in a condition to invade such a mighty empire, and 
refused to authorize an expedition which he foresaw would be so alluring 
that it might ruin the province in which he presided, by an effort beyond 
its strength. His coldness, however, did not in any degree abate the ardour 
of the three associates ; but they perceived that they could not carry their 
scheme into execution without the countenance of superior authority, and 
must solicit their sovereign to grant that permission which they could not 
extort from his delegate. With this view, after adjusting among themselves 
that Pizarro should claim the station of governor, Alniagro that of lieutenant- 
governor, and Luque the dignity of bishop in the country which they pro- 
posed to conquer, they sent Pizarro as their agent to Spain, though their 
fortunes were now so much exhausted by the repeated efforts which they 
had made, that they found some difficulty in borrowing the small sum 
requisite towards equipping him for the voyage.j 

Pizarro lost no time in repairing to court ; and new as the scene 
might be to him, he appeared before the emperor with the unembarrassed 
dignity of a man conscious of what his services merited ; and he conducted 
his negotiations with an insinuating dexterity of address, which could not 
have been expected either from his education or former habits of life. His 
feeling description of his own sufferings, and his pompous account of the 
country which he had discovered, confirmed by the specimens of its pro- 
ductions which he exhibited, made such an impression both on Charles and 
his ministers, that they not only approved of the intended expedition, but 
seemed to be interested in the success of its leader. Presuming on those 
dispositions in his favour, Pizarro paid little attention to the interest of his 
associates. As the pretensions of Lu(]ue did not interfere with his own, he 
obtained for him the ecclesiastical dignity to which he aspired. For Al- 
magro he claimed only the command of the fortress which should be erected 

* Hrrrrra, dnc X lib. x. c. 3— ft. doc. 4. lib. ii. c. 7, 8. Vega, 2. lib. i. c. 10—14. Zarate, lib. i. 
c 2. Bfiizi) Hist. N'ovi Orbin, lib. iii. r.. 1. t Herrcra, di-c. 4. lib. iil, c. 1. Wga. 2. lib, i. c. 14. 

Vo7,. ].—?A 



266 HISTORY OF [Book VI. 

at Tumbez. To himself he secured whatever his boundless ambition 
could desire. He was appointed [July 26], governor, captain-general, and 
adelantado of all the country which he had discovered, and hoped to con- 
quer, with supreme authority, civil as well as military ; and with full right 
to all the privileges and einoluments usually granted to adventurers in the 
New World. His jurisdiction was declared to extend two hundred leagues 
along the coast to the south of the river St. Jago ; to be independent of the 
governor of Panama ; and he had power to nominate all the officers who 
were to serve under him. In return for those concessions, which cost the 
court of Spain nothirtg, as the enjoyment of them depended upon the success 
of Pizarro's own efforts, he engaged to raise two hundred and fifty men, 
and to provide the ships, arms, and warlike stores requisite towards sub- 
jecting to the crown of Castile the country of which the government was 
allotted him. 

1529.] Inconsiderable as the' body of men was which Pizarro had un- 
dertaken to raise, his funds and credit were so low that he could hardly 
complete half the number ; and after obtaining his patents from the crown, 
he was obliged to steal privately out of the port of Seville, in order to 
elude the scrutiny of the officers, who had it in charge to examine whether 
he had fulfilled the stipulations in his contract.* Before his departure, 
however, he received some supply of money from Cortes, who having 
returned to Spain about this time, was willing to contribute his aid towards 
enabling an ancient companion, with whose talents and courage he was 
well acquainted, to begin a career of glory similar to that which he himself 
had finished.! 

He landed at Nombre de Dios, and marched across the isthmus to 
Panama, accompanied by his three brothers Ferdinand. Juan, and Gon- 
zalo, of whom the first was born in lawful wedlock, the two latter, like 
himself, were of illegitimate birth, and by Francisco de Alcantara, his 
mother's brother. They were all in the prime of life, and of such abilities 
and courage as fitted them to take a distinguished part in his subsequent 
transactions. 

1530.] On his arrival at Panama, Pizarro found Almagro so much exas- 
perated at the manner in which he had conducted his negotiation, that he 
not only refused to act any longer in concert with a man by whose perfidy 
he had been excluded from the power and honours to which he had a just 
claim, but laboured to form a new association, in order to thwart or to 
rival his former confederate in his discoveries. Pizarro, however, had 
more wisdom and address than to suffer a rupture so fatal to all his schemes, 
to become irreparable. By offering voluntarily to relinquish the office of 
adelantado, and promising to concur in soliciting that title, with an inde- 
pendent government for Almagro, he gradually mitigated the rage of an 
open-hearted soldier, which had been violent, but was not implacable. 
Luque, highly satisfied with having been successful in all his own preten- 
sions, cordially seconded Pizarro s endeavours. A reconciliation was 
effected, and the confederacy renewed on its original terms, that the enter- 
prise should be carried on at the common expense of the associates, and 
the profits accruing from it should be equally divided among them.| 

Even after their reunion, and the utmost efforts of their interest, three 
small vessels, with a hundred and eighty soldiers, thirty-six of whom were 
horsemen, composed the armament which they were able to fit out. But 
the astonishing progress of the Spaniards in America had inspired them 
with such ideas of their own superiority, that Pizarro did not hesitate to 
sail with this contemptible force, [Feb. 1531] to invade a great empire. 
Almagro was left at Panama, as formerly, to follow hira with what rein- 

• Herrera, dec. 4. lib. vii. c. 9. t Ibid. lib. vii. c. 10. t lb"', d^c- 4. lib. vii. c. 9. Zaral 
lib. L c. 3. Vega, 9. lih. i. r. 11. 



AMERICA. 267 

lorceinent ot' men lie should be able to muster. As the season tor embarking 
was properly chosen, and the course of navigation between Panama and 
Peru was now better known, Pizarro completed the voyage in thirteen 
days ; though by the force of the winds and currents he was carried above 
a hundred leagues to the north of Tumbez, the place of his destination, 
and obliged to land his troops in the bay of Saint lAIatthew. Without 
losing a moment, he began to advance towards the south, taking care, how- 
ever, not to depart larTrom the seashore, both that he might easily effect a 
junction with the supplies which he expected trom Panama, and secure a 
retreat in case of any disaster, by keeping as near as possible to his ships. 
But as the country in several parts on the coast of Peru is barren, unhealth- 
ful, and thinly pecipled ; as the Spaniards had to pass all the rivers near 
their mouth, where the body of water is greatest ; and as the imprudence 
of Pizarro, in attacking the natives whence should have studied to gain 
their confidence, had forced them to abandon their habitations ; famine, 
fatigue, and diseases of various kinds brought upon him and his followers, 
calamities hardly inferior to those which they had endured in their former 
expedition. What they now experienced corresponded so ill with the 
alluring description of the country given by Pizarro, that many began to 
reproach him, and every soldier must have become cold to the service, if 
even in this unfertile region of Peru, they had not met with some appear- 
ances of wealth and cultivation, which seemed to justify the report of 
their leader. At length they reached the province of Coaq.ue [April 14] ; 
and having surprised the principal settlement of the natives, they seized 
their vessels and ornaments of gold and silver, to the amount of thirty 
thousand pesos, with other booty of such value as dispelled all their doubts, 
atid inspired the most desponding with sanguine hopes.* 

Pizarro himself was so much delighted with this rich spoil, which he 
considered as the first fruits of a land abounding with treasure, that he 
instantly despatched one of his ships to Panama with a lai^e remittance to 
Almagro ; and another to Nicaragua with a considerable sum to several 
persons of influence in that province, in hopes of alluring adventurers by 
this early display of the wealth which he had acquired. Meanwhile, he 
continued his march along the coast, and disdaining to employ any means 
of reducing the natives but force, he attacked them with such violence in 
their scattered habitations, as compelled them either to retire into the inte- 
rior country, or to submit to his yoke. This sudden appearance ot invaders, 
whose aspect and manners were so strange, and whose power seemed to 
be so irresistible, made the same dreadful impression as in other parts of 
America. Pizarro hardly met with resistance until he attacked the island 
of Puna in the bay of Guayaquil. As that was better peopled than the 
country through which he had passed, and its inhabitants fiercer and less 
civilized than those of the continent, they defended themselves with such 
obstinate valour, that Pizarro spent six months in reducing them to sub- 
jection. From Puna he proceeded to Tumbez, where the distempers 
which raged among his men compelled him to remain for three months.! 

While he was thus employed, he began to reap ad\antage from his 
attention to spread the lame of his first success to Coaque. Two dif- 
ferent detachments arrived from Nicaragua [1532], which, though neither 
exceeded thirty men, he considered as a reinforcement of great conseniience 
to his feeble band, especially as the one was under the command o( Sebas- 
tian Benalcazar, and the other of Hernando Soto, oificers not inferior in 
inerit and reputation to any who had served in America. From Tumbez 
lie proceeded to the river riura [May 16], and in an advantageous station 
j)ear the mouth of it he established the first Spanish colony in Peru ; to 
\vhich he gave the name of St. Michael. 

* Herrcra, di'c. 4. lib. vii. c. 9. lib. ii. c. 1. Xerez, 182. t P- Sanclio ap Ramus, iii. p. 371. F. 
Ilfrrcra, d-.c. 4. lib vii. c. IS. lib. i\. c. 1. Zarate, lib. ii. c. 0. 3. Xurez. p. 182, &c. 



26b HISTORY OF [Book VI. 

As Pizarro continued to advance towards the centre of the Peruvian 
empire, he gradually received more full information concerning its extent 
and policy, as well as the situation of its aflfairs at that juncture. Without 
some knowledge of these, he could not have conducted his operations with 
propriety ; and without a suitable attention to them, it is impossible to 
account for the progress which the Spaniards had already made, or to 
unfold the causes of their subsequent success. 

At the time when the Spaniards invaded Peru, the dominions of its 
sovereigns extended in length, from north to south, above fifteen hundred 
miles along the Pacific Ocean. Its breadth, from east to west, was much 
less considerable ; being uniformly bounded by the vast ridge of the Andes, 
stretching trom its one extremity to the other. Peru, like the rest of the 
New World, was originally possessed by small independent tribes, differing 
from each other in manners, and in their forms of rude policy. All, how- 
ever, were so little civilized, that, if the traditions concerning their mode 
of life, preserved among their descendants, deserve credit, they must 
be classed among the most unimproved savages of America. Strangers 
to every species of cultivation or regular industry, without any fixed 
residence, and unacquainted with those sentiments and obligations which 
form the first bonds of social union, they are said to have roamed about 
naked in the forests, with which the country was then covered, more like 
wild beasts than like men. After they had struggled for several ages 
with the hardships and calamities which are inevitable in such a state, and 
when no circumstance seemed to indicate the approach of any uncommon 
effort towards improvement, we are told that there appeared, on the banks 
of the lake Titiaca, a man and woman of majestic form, clothed in decent 
garments. They declared themselves to be children of the Sun, sent by 
their beneficent parent, who beheld with pity the miseries of the human 
race, to instruct and to reclaim them. At their persuasion, enforced by 
reverence for the divinity in whose name they were supposed to speak, 
several of the dispersed savages united together, and, receiving their com- 
mands as heavenly injunctions, followed them to Cuzco, where they settled, 
and began to lay the tbundations of a city. 

Manco Capac and Mama Ocollo, for such were the names of those 
extraordinary personages, having thus collected some wandering tribes, 
formed that social union which, by multiplying the desires and uniting the 
efforts of the human species, excites industry and leads to improvement. 
Manco Capac instructed the men in agriculture, and other useful arts. 
Mama Ocollo taught the women to spin and to weave. By the labour of 
the one sex, subsistence became less precarious ; by that of the other, 
life was rendered more comfortable. After securing the objects of first 
necessity in an infant state, by providing food, raiment, and habitations for 
the rude people of whom he tooK chaise, Manco Capac turned his attention 
towards introducing such laws and policy as might perpetuate their happi- 
ness. By his institutions, which shall be more particularly explained 
hereafter, the various relations in private life were established, and the 
duties resulting from them prescribed with such propriety, as gradually 
formed a barbarous people to decency of manners. In public adminis- 
tration, the functions of persons in authority were so precisely defined, and 
the subordination of those under their jurisdiction maintained with such a 
steady hand, that the society in which he presided soon assumed the aspect 
of a regular and well governed state. 

Thus, according to the Indian tradition, was founded the empire of the 
Incas or Lords of Peru. At first its extent was small. The territory ol 
Manco Capac did not reach above eight leagues from Cuzco. But within 
its narrow precincts he exercised absolute and uncontrolled authority. 
His successors, as their dominions extended, arrc^ated a similar jurisdiclion 



AMERICA. 269 

over the new subjects which they acquired ; the despotism of Asia was 
not more complete. The Incas were not only obeyed as monarchs, but 
revered as divinities. Their blood was held to be sacred, and, by prohi- 
biting: intermarriages with the people, was never contaminated by mixing 
with that of any other race. The family, thus separated from the rest of 
the nation, was distinguished by peculiarities in dress and ornaments, which 
it was unlawful for others to assume. The monarch himself appeared 
with ensigns of royalty reserved for him alone ; and received from his 
subjects marks of obsequious homage and respect which approached almost 
to adoration. 

But, among the Peruvians, this unbounded power of their monarch 
seems to have been uniformly accompanied with attention to the good of 
their subjects. It was not the rage of conquest, if we may believe the 
accounts of their countrymen, that prompted the Incas to extend their 
dominions, but the desire of diffusing the blessings of civilization, and the 
knowledge of the arts which they possessed, among the barbarous people 
whom they reduced. During a succession of twelve monarchs, it is said 
that not one deviated from this beneficent character.* 

When the Spaniards first visited the coast of Peru, in the year one 
thousand five hundred and twenty-six, Huana Capac, the twelfth monarch 
from the founder of the state, was seated on the throne. He is represented 
as a prince distinguished not only for the pacific virtues peculiar to the race, 
but eminent for his martial talents. By his victorious arms the kingdom 
of Qjuito was subjected, a conquest of such extent and importance as almost 
doubled the power of the Peruvian empire. He was fond of residing in 
the capital of that valuable province which he had added to his dominions ; 
and notwithstanding the ancient and fundamental law of the monarchy 
against polluting the royal blood by any foreign alliance, he married the 
daughter of the vanquished monarch of Quito. She bore him a son named 
Atahualpa, whom, on his death at Qjuito, which seems to have happened 
about the year one thousand five hundred and twenty-nine, he appointed 
his successor in that kingdom, leaving the rest of his dominions to Huascar, 
his eldest son by another of the royal race. Greatly as the Peruvians 
revered the memory of a monarch who had reigned with greater reputation 
and splendour than any of his predecessors, the destination of Huana Capac 
concerning the succession appeared so repugnant to a maxim coeval with the 
empire, and founded on authority deemed sacred, that it was no sooner 
known at Cuzco than it excited general disgust. Encouraged by those sen- 
timents of his subjects, Huascar required his brother to renounce the govern- 
ment of Quito, and to acknowledge him as his lawful superior. But it had 
been the first care of Atahualpa to gain a large body of troops which had 
accompanied his father to Quito. These were the flower of the Peruvian 
warriors, to whose valour Huana Capac had been indebted tor all his vic- 
tories. Relying on their support, Atahualpa first eluded his brothers 
demand, and then marched against him in hostile array. 

Thus the ambition of two young men, the title of the one founded on 
ancient usage, and that of the other asserted by the veteran troops, involved 
Peru in a civil war, a calamity to which, under a succession of virtuous 
princes, it had hitherto been a stranger. In such a contest the issue was 
obvious. The force of arms triumphed over the authority of laws. 
Atahualpa remained victorious, and made a cruel use of his victory. Con- 
scious of the defect in his own title to the crown, he attempted to exter- 
minate the royal race, by putting to death all the children of the Sun 
descended from Manco Capac, whom he could seize either by force or 
.stratagem. From a political motive, the life of his unfortunate rival 
Huascar, who had been taken prisoner in a battle which decided the fate 

• Cieca de Leon, Chron, c 44. Henera, dec. 3. lib. x. c. 4. dec. 5, lib, iii. c. 17. 



2T0 U 1 S T O R V O F [Book VI. 

of the empire, was prolonged for some time, that by issuing orders in his 
name, the usurper might more easily establish hfs own authority.* 

When Pizarro landed in the bay of St. Matthew, this civil war raged 
between the two brothers in its greatest fury. Had he made any hostile 
attempt in his former visit to Peru, in the year one thousand five hundred 
and twenty-seven, he must then have encountered the force of a powerful 
state, united under a monarch possessed of capacity as well as courage, 
and unembarrassed with any care that could divert him from opposing his 
progress. But at this time, the two competitors, though they received 
early accounts of the arrival and violent proceedings of the Spaniards, 
were so intent upon the operations of a war which they deemed more 
interesting, that they paid no attention to the motions of an enemy, too 
inconsiderable in number to excite any great alarm, and to whom it would 
be easy, as they imagined, to give a check when more at leisure. 

By this fortunate coincidence of events, whereof Pizarro could have no 
foresight, and of which, from his defective mode of intercourse with the 
people of the country, he remained long ignorant, he was permitted to 
carry on his operations unmolested, and advanced to the centre of a great 
empire before one effort of its power was exerted to stop his career. 
During their progress, the Spaniards had acquired some imperfect know- 
ledge of this struggle between the two contending factions. The first 
complete information with respect to it they received from messengers 
whom Huascar sent to Pizarro, in order to solicit his aid against Atahualpa, 
whom he represented as a rebel and a usurper.f Pizarro perceived at 
once the importance of this intelligence, and foresaw so clearly all the 
advantages which might be derived from this divided state of the Kingdom 
which he had invaded, that without waiting for the reinforcement which 
he expected from Panama, he determined to push forward, while intestine 
discord put it out of the power of the Peruvians to attack him with their 
whole force, and while, by taking part, as circumstances should incline 
him, with one of the competitors, he might be enabled with greater ease 
to crush both. Enterprising as the Spaniards of that age were in all their 
operations against Americans, and distinguished as Pizarro was among his 
countrymen for daring courage, we can hardly suppose that, after having 
proceeded hitherto slowly, and with much caution, he would have changed 
at once his system of operation, and have ventured upon a measure so 
hazardous, without some new motive or prospect to justify it. 

As he was obliged to divide his troops, in order to leave a garrison in 
St. Michael, sufficient to defend a station of equal importance as a place of 
retreat in case of any disaster, and as a port for receiving any supplies 
which should come from Panama, he began his march with a very slender 
and ill-accoutred train of followers. They consisted of sixty-two horse- 
men [l28], and a hundred and two foot soldiers, of whom twenty were 
armed with cross bows, and three with muskets. He directed his course 
towards Caxamalca, a small town at the distance of twelve days' march 
from St. Michael, where Atahualpa was encamped with a considerable 
body of troops. Before he had proceeded far, an officer despatched by 
the Inca met him with a valuable present from that prince, accompanied 
with a proffer of his alliance, and assurances of a friendly reception at 
Caxamalca. Pizarro, according to the usual artifice of his countrymen in 
America, pretended to come as the ambassador of a very powerful monarch, 
and declaring that he was now advancing with an intention to offer 
Atahualpa his aid against those enemies who disputed his title to the 
throne.J 

As the object of the Spaniards in entering their countiy was altc^ether 

* Zarate, lib. i. c. 15. Vesa, 1. lib.ix. c. 12. and 32—40. Flerrcra, dec. 5. HI), i. c. 0. lib. iii. c. IT. 
t 7,irate, lib. ii. c. 3. 1 Herrer.i. dec. 5. Fib. i. c. 3. Xerez, p. li^. 



AMERICA. 211 

incomprehensible to tbe Peruvians, they had formed various conjectures 
concerning it without being able to decide whether they should consider 
their new guests as beings of a superior nature, who had visited them from 
some beneficent motive, or as formidable avengers of their crimes, and 
enemies to their repose and liberty. The continual professions of the 
Spaniards, that they came to enlighten them with the knowledge of truth, 
and lead them in the way of happiness, I'avoured the former opinion ; the 
outrages which they committed, their rapaciousness and cruelty, vyere 
awful confirmations of the latter. While in this state of uncertainty, 
Pizarro's declaration of his pacific intentions so far removed all the Inca's 
fears that he determined to give him a iriendly reception. In consequence 
of this resolution, the Spaniards were allowed to march in tranquillity 
across the sandy desert between St. Michael and Molupe, where the most 
feeble effort of an enemy, added to the unavoidable distresses which they 
suffered in passing through that comfortless region, must have proved fatal 
to them [129]. From Motupe they advanced towards the mountains which 
encompassed the low country of Peru, and passed through a defile so 
narrow and inaccessible, that a few men might have defended it against a 
numerous army. But here likewise, from the same inconsiderate credulity 
of the Inca, the Spaniards met with no opposition, and took quiet possession 
of a fort erected for the security of that important station. As they now 
approached near to Caxamalca, Atahualpa renewed his professions of 
friendship ; and, as an evidence of their sincerity, sent them presents of 
greater value than the former. 

On entering Caxamalca, Pizarro took possession of a large court, on one 
side of which was a house which the Spanish historians call a palace of 
the Inca, and on the other a temple of the Sun, the whole surrounded with 
a strong rampart or wall of earth. When he had posted his troops in this 
advantageous station, he despatched his brother Ferdinand and Hernando 
Soto to the camp of Atahualpa, which was about a league distant from 
the town. He instructed them to confirm the declaration which he had 
formerly made of his pacific disposition, and to desire an interview with 
the Inca, that he might explain more fully the intention of the Spaniards 
in visiting his country. They were treated with all the respectful hospi- 
tality usual among the Peruvians in the reception of their most cordial 
friends, and Atahualpa promised to visit the Spanish commander next day 
in his quarters. The decent deportment of the Peruvian monarch, the 
order of his court, and the reverence with which his subjects approached 
his person and obeyed his commands, astonished those Spaniards who had 
never met in America with any thing more dignified than the petty cazique 
of a barbarous tribe. Put their eyes were still powerfully attracted by 
the vast profusion of wealth which they observed in the Inca's camp. 
The rich ornaments worn by him and his attendants, the vessels of gold 
and silver in which the repast offered to them was served up, the multitude 
of utensils of every kind formed of those precious metals, opened prospects 
far exceeding any idea of opulence that a European of the sixteenth cen- 
tury could tbrm. 

On their return to Caxamalca, while their minds were yet warm with 
admiration and desire of the wealth which they had beheld, they gave 
such a description of it to their countrymen as confirmed Pizarro in a re- 
solution which he had already taken. From his own observation of Ame- 
rican manners during his long service in the New World, as well as from 
the advantages which Cortes had derived from seizing Montezuma, he 
knew of what consequence it was to have the Inca in his power. For 
this purpose, he formed a plan as daring as it was perfidious. Notwith- 
standing the character that he had assumed of an ambassador from a power- 
ful monarch, who courted an alliance with the Inca, and in violation of the 
repeated offers which he had made to him of his own friendship and assist- 



272 HISTORY OF [Book VI. 

ance, he determined to avail himself of the unsuspicious simplicity with 
which Atahualpa relied on his professions, and to seize the person of the 
Inca during the interview to which he had invited him. He prepared for 
the execution of his scheme with the same deliberate arrangement, and 
with as little compunction as if it had reflected no disgrace on himself or 
his country. He divided his cavalry into three small squadrons, under the 
command of his brother Ferdinand, Soto, and Benalcazar ; his infantry 
were formed in one body, except twenty of most tried courage, whom he 
kept near his own person to support him in the dangerous service, which 
he reserved for himself; the artillery, consisting of two fieldpieces,* and 
the cross bowmen, were placed opposite to the avenue by which Atahu- 
alpa was to approach. All were commanded to keep within the square, 
and not to move until the signal for action was given. 

Early in the morning [Nov. 16] the Peruvian camp was all in motion. 
But as Atahualpa was solicitous to appear with the greatest splendour and 
magnificence in his first interview with the strangers, the preparations for 
this were so tedious that the day was far advanced before he began his 
march. Even then, lest the order of the procession should be deranged, 
he moved so slowly, that the Spaniards became impatient, and apprehen- 
sive that some suspicion of their intention might be the cause of this delay. 
In order to remove this, Pizarro despatched one of his officers with tresh 
assurances of^ his friendly disposition. At length the Inca approached. 
First of all appeared four hundred men, in a uniform dress, as harbingers 
to clear the way before him. He himself, sitting on a throne or couch 
adorned with plumes of various colours, and almost covered with plates of 
gold and silver enriched with precious stones, was carried on the shoul- 
ders of his principal attendants. Behind him came some chief officers cf 
his court, carried in the same manner. Several bands of singers and 
dancers accompanied this cavalcade ; and the whole plain was covered 
with troops, amounting to more than thirty thousand men. 

As the Inca drew near the Spanish quarters, Father Vincent Valverde, 
chaplain to the expedition, advanced with a crucifix in one hand, and a 
breviary in the other, and in a long discourse explained to him the doctrine 
of the creation, the fall of Adam, the incarnation, the sufferings and resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ, the appointment of St. Peter as God s vicegerent 
on earth, the transmission of^ his apostolic power by succession to the 
Popes, the donation made to the King of Castile by Pope Alexander of 
all the regions of the New World. In consequence of all this, he required 
Atahualpa to embrace the Christian faith, to acknowledge the supreme ju- 
risdiction of the Pope, and to submit to the King of Castile as his lawful 
sovereign ; promising, if he complied instantly with this requisition, that 
the Castilian monarch would protect his dominions, and permit him to 
continue in the exercise of his royal authority ; but if he should impiously 
refuse to obey this summons, he denounced war against him in his master's 
name, and threatened him with the most dreadful effects of his vengeance. 

This strange harangue, unfolding deep mysteries, and alluding to unknown 
facts, of which no power of eloquence could have conveyed at once a dis- 
tinct idea to an American, was so lamely translated by an unskilful inter- 
preter, little acquainted with the idiom of the Spanish tongue, and incapa- 
ble of expressing himself with propriety in the language of the Inca, that 
its general tenour was altogether incomprehensible to Atahualpa. Soine 
parts in it, of more obvious meaning, filled him with astonishment and in- 
dignation. His reply, however, was temperate. He began with observing, 
that he was lord of the dominions over which he reigned by hereditary 
succession ; and added, that he could not conceive how a foreign priest 
should pretend to dispose of territories which did not belong to him ; that 

* Xercz. p, 104. 



AMERICA. 473 

W such a preposterous ^ant had been made, he, who was the rightful pos- 
sessor, refused to confirm it ; that he had no inclination to renounce the 
religious institutions established by his ancestors ; nor would he forsake 
the service of the Sun, the immortal divinity whom he and his people re- 
vered, in order to worship the God of the Spaniards, who was subject to 
death ; that with respect to other matters contained in his discourse, as he 
had never heard of them before, and did not now understand their mean- 
ing, he desired to know where the priest had learned things so extraordi- 
nary. " In this book," answered Valverde, reaching out to him his bre- 
viary. The Inca opened it eagerly, and, turning over the leaves, lifted it 
to his ear : " This," says he, " is silent ; it tells me nothing;" and threw 
it with disdain to the ground. The enraged monk, running towards his 
countrymen, cried out, " To arms. Christians, to arms ; the word of God 
is insulted ; avenge this profanation on those impious dogs" [130]. 

Pizarro, who, during this long cont'erence, had with difficulty restrained 
his soldiers, eager to seize the rich spoils of which they had now so near 
a view, immediately gave the signal of assault. At once the martial music 
struck up, the cannon and muskets began to fire, the horse sallied out 
fiercely to the charge, the infantry rushed on sword in hand. The Peru- 
vians, astonished at the suddenness of an attack which they did not expect, 
and dismayed with the destructive effect of the firearms, and the irresisti- 
ble impression of the cavalry, fled with universal consternation on every 
side, without attempting either to annoy the enemy, or to defiend them- 
selves. Pizarro, at the head of his chosen band, advanced directly to- 
wards the Inca ; and though his nobles crowded around him with officious 
zeal, and fell in numbers at his feet, while they vied one with another in 
sacrificing their own lives, that they might cover the sacred person of 
their sovereign, the Spaniards soon penetrated to the royal seat ; and Pi- 
zarro, seizing the Inca by the arm, dragged him to the ground, and carried 
him as a prisoner to his quarters. The fate of the monarch increased ihe 
precipitate flight of his followers. The Spaniards pursued them towards 
every quarter, and with deliberate and unrelenting barbarity continued to 
slaughter wretched fugitives, who never once offered to resist. The car- 
nage did not cease until the close of day. Above four thousand Peru- 
vians were killed. Not a single Spaniard fell, nor was one wounded but 
Pizarro himself, whose hand was Slightly hurt by one of his own soldiers, 
while struggling eagerly to lay hold on the Inca [131]. 

The plunder of the field was rich beyond any idea which the Spaniards 
had yet formed concerning the wealth of Peru ; and they were so tran.s- 
ported with the value of the acquisition, as well as the greatness of their 
success, that they passed the night in the extravagant exultation natural to 
indigent adventurers on such an extraordinary change of fortune. 

At first the captive monarch could hardly believe a calamity which he 
so little expected to be real. But he soon felt all the misery of his fate, 
and the dejection into which he sunk was in proportion to the height of 
grandeur from which he had fallen. Pizarro, afraid of losing all the ad- 
vantages which he hoped to derive from the possession of such a prisoner, 
laboured to console him with professions of kindness and respect, that cor- 
responded ill with his actions. By residing among the Spaniards, the Inca 
quickly discovered their ruling passion, which indeed they were nowise 
solicitous to conceal, and, by applying to that, made an attempt to recover 
his liberty. He offered as a ransom what astonished the Spaniards, even 
after all they now knew concerning the opulence of his kingdom. The 
apartment in which he was confined was twenty-two feet in length and 
sixteen in breadth ; he undertook to fill it with vessels of gold as high as 
he could reach. Pizarro closed eagerly with this tempting proposal, and 
a line was drawn upon the walls of the chamber, to mark the stipulated 
height to which the treasure was to rise. 

Vol.. !.— 3:-, 



274 HISTORY OF [Book VI. 

Atahualpa, transported with havinj? obtained some prospect of liberty, 
took measures instantly for fulfilling his part of the agreement, by sending 
messengers to Cuzco, Qiiito, and other places, where gold had been amass- 
ed in largest quantities, either for adorning the temples of the gods, or the 
houses of the Inca, to bring what was necessary for completing his ransom 
directly to Caxamalca. Though Atahualpa was now in the custody of his 
enemies, yet so much were the Peruvians accustomed to respect every 
mandate issued by their sovereign, that his orders were executed with the 
greatest alacrity. Soothed with hopes of recovering his liberty by this 
means, the subjects of the Inca were afraid of endangering his life by 
forming any other scheme for his relief; and though the force of the em- 
pire was still entire, no preparations were made, and no army assembled 
to avenge their own wrongs or those of their monarch.* The Spaniards 
remained in Caxamalca tranquil and unmolested. Small detachments of 
their number marched into remote provinces of the empire, and, instead of 
meeting with any opposition, were every where received with marks of 
the most submissive respect [132]. 

Inconsiderable as those parties were, and desirous as Pizarro might be 
to obtain some knowledge of the interior state of the country, he could 
not have ventured upon any diminution of his main body, if he had not 
about this time [December], received an account of Almagro's having 
landed at St. Michael with such a reinforcement as would almost double the 
number of his followers.! The arrival of this long expected succour was 
not more agreeable to the Spaniards than alarming to the Inca. He saw 
the power of his enemies increase ; and as he knew neither the source 
whence they derived their supplies, nor the means by which they were 
conveyed to Peru, he could not foresee ^o what a height the inundation that 
poured in upon his dominions might rise [1533]. While disquieted with 
such apprehensions, he learned that some Spaniards, in their way to Cuzco, 
had visited his brother Huascar in the place where he kept him confined, 
and that the captive prince had represented to them the justice of his own 
cause, and, as an inducement to espouse it, had promised them a quantity 
of treasure greatly beyond that which Atahualpa had engaged to pay for his 
ransom. If the Spaniards should listen to this proposal, Atahualpa per- 
ceived his own destruction to be inevitable; and suspecting that their 
insatiable thirst for gold would tempt ihem to lend a favourable ear to it, 
he determined to sacrifice his brother's life that he might save his own ; 
and his orders for this purpose were executed, like all his other commands, 
with scrupulous punctuality.j 

Meanwhile, Indians daily arrived at Caxamalca from different parts of 
the kingdom, loaded with treasure. A great part of the stipulated quantity 
was now amassed, and Atahualpa assured the Spaniards that the only thing 
which prevented the whole from being brought in, was the remoteness of 
the provinces where it was deposited. But such vast piles of gold 
presented continually to the view of needy soldiers, had so inflamed tlieir 
avarice, that it was impossible any longer to restrain their impatience to 
obtain possession of this rich booty. Orders were given for melting down 
the whole, except some pieces of curious fabric reserved as a present for 
the emperor. After setting apart the fifth due to the crown, and a hundred 
thousand pesos as a donative to the soldiers which arrived with Almagro, 
there remained one million five hundred and twenty-eight thousand five 
hundred pesos to Pizarro and his followers. The festival of St. Jaraes 
[.July 25], the patron saint of Spain, was the day chosen for the partition 
of this enormous sum, and the manner of conducting it strongly marks the 
strange alliance of fanaticism with avarice, which I have more than once 

* Xerez, 205. t Thid. 204. Hcrrera, dec. 5. lib. iii. c. i, 2. J Zarate, lib. il. c. Cx 

Romara, Hist. c. 115. H«rr.nn, dec. .5. lib. iii. c. 9. 



AMERICA. 27S 

had occasion to point out as a striking feature in the characlerof tlie con- 
querors of the !Vew World. Though assembled to divide the spoils of an 
innocent people, procured by deceit, extortion, and cruelty, ihe transaction 
began with a solemn invocation of the name of God,* as if they could have ex- 
pected theguidanceof heaven in distributing those wagesof iniquity. In this 
division above eight thousand pesos, at that time not inferior in effective 
value to as many pounds sterling in the present centurj, fell to the share 
of each horseman, and half that sum to each foot soldier. PizaiTO himself, 
and his officers, received dividends in proportion to the dignity of their rank. 

There is no example in history of such a sudden acquisition of wealth 
by military service, nor was ever a sum so great divided among so small 
a number of soldiers. Many of them having received a recompense for 
their services far beyond their most sanguine hopes, were so impatient to 
retire from fatigue and danger, in order to spend the remainder of their 
dajrs in their native country in ease and opulence, that they demanded 
their discharge with clamo70us importunity. Pizarro, sensible that from 
such men he could expect neither enterprise in action nor fortitude ixi 
suffering, and persuaded that wherever they went the display of their 
riches would allure adventurers, less opulent but more hardy, to his 
standard, granted their suit without reluctance, and permitted above sixty 
of them to accompany his brother Ferdinand, whom he sent to Spain witli 
an account of his success, and the present destined for the emperor.f 

The Spaniards having divided among them the treasure amassed for the 
Inca's ransom, he insisted with them to fulfil their promise of setting him 
at liberty. But nothing was further trorn Pizarro's thoughts. During his 
long ser\-ice in the New World, he had imbibed those ideas and maxims 
of his fellow-soldiers, which led them to consider its inhabitants as an 
inferior race, neither worthy of the name, nor entitled to the rights of 
men. In his compact with Atahualpa, he had no other object than to 
amuse his captive with such a prospect of recovering his liberty, as might 
induce him to lend all the aid of his authority towards collecting the wealth 
of his kingdom. Having now accomplished this, he no longer regarded 
his plighted faith ; and at the very time when the credulous prince hoped 
to be replaced on his throne, he had secretly resolved to bereave him of 
life. Many circumstances seem to have concurred in prompting him to 
this action, the most criminal and atrocious that stains the Spanish name, 
amidst all the deeds of violence committed in carrying on the conquests 
of the New World. 

Though Pizarro had seized the Inca in imitation of Cortes's conduct 
towards the Mexican monarch, he did not possess talents for carrying on 
fhe same artful plan of policy. Destitute of the temper and address 
requisite for gaining the confidence of his prisoner, he never reaped all 
;he advantages which might have been derived from being master of his 
person and authority. Atahualpa was, indeed, a prince of greater abilities 
and discernment than Montezuma, and seems to have penetrated more 
thoroughly into the character and intentions of the Spaniards. Mutual 
suspicion and distrust accordingly took place between them. The strict 
attention with which it was necessary to guard a captive of such import- 
ance, greatly increased the fatigue ot military duty. The utility of keep- 
ing him appeared inconsiderable ; and Pizarro felt him as an encumbrance, 
from which he wished to be delivered.! 

Almagro and his followers had made a demand of an equal share in 
the Inca's ransom ; and though Pizarro had bestowed upon the private 
men the large gratuity which I have mentioned, and endeavoured to soothe 
their leader by presents of great value, they still continued dissatisfied. 
They were apprehensive, that as long as Atahualpa remained a prisoner, 

* Herrera, dec. 5. lib. iii. c. 3. ♦ Iljid. dec. 5. lib. iii. c. i. Vega, p. 2. lib, i c 36 

t Herre:a, dec. 5. iib. iii. c. 4 



276 HISTORY OF [Book VI. 

Pizarro's soldiers would apply whatever treasure should be acquired, to 
make up what was wanting of the quantity stipulated for his ransom, and 
under that pretext exclude them from any part oi it. They insisted eagerly 
on putting the Inca to death, that all the adventurers in Peru might there- 
after be on an equal tooting.* 

Pizarro himself began to be alarmed with accounts of forces assembling 
in the remote provinces of the empire, and suspected Atahualpa of haying 
issued orders tor that purpose. These tears and suspicions were artfully 
increased by Phiiippillo, one of the Indians, whoni rizarro had carried 
oflffrom Tumbez in the year one thousand rive hundred and twenty -seven, 
and whom he employed as an interpreter. 1 he function which he 
performed admitting this man to familiar intercourse with the captive 
monarch, he presumed, notwithstanding the meanness of his birth, to raise 
his affections to a Coya, or descendant of the Sun, one of Atahualpa's 
wives ; and seeing no prospect of gratifying that passion during the life 
of the monarch, he endeavoured to fill the ears of the Spaniards with such 
accounts of the Inca's secret designs and preparations, as might awaken 
their jealousy, and excite them to cut him off. 

While Almagro and his followers openly demanded the life of the Inca, 
and Phiiippillo laboured to ruin him by private machinations, that unhappy 
prince inadvertently contributed to hasten his own fate. During his con- 
hnement he had attached himself with peculiar affection to h erdinand 
Pizarro and Hernando Soto ; who, as they were persons ol birth and 
education superior to the rough adventurers with whom they served, were 
accustomed to behave with more decency and attention to the captive 
monarch. Soolhed with this respect from persons of such high rank, he 
delighted in their society. But in the presence of the governor he was 
always uneasy and overawed. This dread soon came to be mingled with 
contempt. Among all the European arts, what he admired most was that 
of reading and writing ; and he long deliberated with himself, whether he 
should regard it as a natural or acquired talent. In order to determine this, 
he desired one of the soldiers, who guarded him, to write the name of 
God on the nail of his thumb. This he showed successively to several 
Spaniards, asking its meaning ; and to his amazement, they all, without 
hesitation, returned the same answer. At length Pizarro entered ; and, 
on presenting it to him, he blushed, and with some confusion was obliged 
to acknowledge his ignorance. From that moment Atahualpa considered 
him as a mean person less instructed than his own soldiers ; and he had 
not address enough to conceal the sentiments with which this discovery 
inspired him. To be the object of a barbarian's scorn, not only mortified the 
pride of Pizarro, but excited such resentment in his breast, as added force 
to all the other considerations which prompted him to put the Inca to 
death.t 

But in order to give some colour of justice to this violent action, and 
that he himself might be exempted from standing singly responsible for 
the commission of it, Pizarro resolved to try the Inca with all the formalities 
observed in the criminal courts of Spain. Pizarro himself, and Almagro, 
with two assistants, were appointed judges, with full power to acquit or to 
condemn ; an attorney-general was named to carry on the prosecution in 
the king's name ; counsellors were chosen to assist the prisoner in his 
defence ; and clerks were ordained to record the proceedings of court. 
Before this strange tribunal, a charge was exhibited still more amazing. 
It consisted of various articles ; that Atahualpa, though a bastard, had dis- 
possessed the rightful owner of the throne, and usurped the regal power ; 
that he had put his brother and lawful sovereign to death ; that he was an 
idolater, antl had not only permitted but commanded the offering of human 

* Zarate, lib. ii. c. 7. Vega, p. 2. lib. i. c. 7. Ilprrri.T. dec. 'i. lib. iii. c. 4. t Herrcra, rice. 

5, lib. iii. c. 4. Vcsa, p. 11. lib. i. c. H?. 



A r,i E R 1 C A. 277 

sacrifices ; that he had a great number of concubines; that since his im- 
prisonment he had wasted and embezzled the royal treasures, which now 
belonged of right to the conquerors ; that he had incited his subjects to 
take arms against the Spaniards. On these heads of accusation, some of 
which are so ludicrous, others so absurd, that the effrontery of Pizarro, in 
making them tlie foundation of a serious procedure, is not less surprising 
than his injustice, did this strange court go on to try the sovereign of a 
great empire, over whom it had no jurisdiction. With resp.^ct to each of 
the articles, witnesses were examined ; but as they delivered their evidence 
in their native tongue, Philippillo had it in his power to give their words 
whatever turn best suited his malevolent intentions. To judges pre-de- 
termined in their opinion, this evidence appeared sufficient. They pro- 
nounced Atahualpa guilty, and condemned him to be burnt alive. Friar 
Valverde prostituted the authority of his sacred function to confirm this 
sentence, and by his signature warranted it to be just. Astonished at his 
fate, Atahualpa erideavoured to avert it by tears, by promises, and by en- 
treaties that he might be sent to Spain, where a monarch would be the 
arbiter of his lot. But pity never touched the unfeeling heart of Pizarro. 
He ordered him to be led instantly to execution ; and what added to the 
bitterness of his last moments, the same monk who had just ratified his 
doom, offered to console and attempted to convert him. The most 
powerful argument Valverde employed to prevail with him to embrace 
the Christian faith, was a promise of mitigation in his punishment. The 
dread of a cruel death extorted from the trembling victim a desire of 
receiving baptism. The ceremony was performed ; and Atahualpa, instead 
of being burnt, was strangled at the stake.* 

Happily for the credit of the Spanish nation, even among the profligate 
adventurers which it sent forth to conquer and desolate the New World, 
there were persons who retained some tincture of the Castilian generosity 
and honour. Though, before the trial of Atahualpa, Ferdinand Pizarro 
had set out for Spain, and Soto was sent on a separate command at a dis- 
tance from Caxamaica, this odious transaction was not carried on without 
censure and opposition. Several officers, and among those some of the 
greatest reputation and most respectable families in the service, not only 
remonstrated but protested against this measure of their general, as dis- 
graceful to their country, as repugnant to every maxim of equity, as a 
violation of public faith, and a usurpation of jurisdiction over an inde- 
pendent monarch, to which they had no title. But their laudable endeavours 
were vain. Numbers, and the opinion of such as held every thing to be 
lawful which they deemed advantageous, prevailed. History, however, 
records even the unsuccessful exertions of virtue with applause ; and the 
Spanish writers, in relating events where the valour of their nation is more 
conspicuous than its humanity, have not failed to preserve the names of 
those who made this laudable effort to save their country from the infamy 
of having perpetrated such a crime. t 

On the death of Atahualpa, Pizarro invested one of his sons with the 
ensigns of royalty, hoping that a joung man without experience might 
prove a more passive instrument in his hands than an ambitious monarch, 
who had been accustomed to independent command. The people of 
Cuzco, and the adjacent country, acknowledged Manco Capac, a brother 
of Huascar, as Inca.J But neither possessed the authority which belonged 
to a sovereign of Peru. The violent convulsions into which the empire 
had been thrown, first by the civil war between the two brothers, and then 
by the invasion of the Spaniards, had not only deranged the order of the 
Peruvian government, but almost dissolved its frame. When they beheld 

♦ Zarate, lib. ii. c. 7, Xerez, p. 233. Vega, p. 11. lib. i. c. 36, 37. Gotnara Hist. c. 117. Herrera, 
dec. 3. lib. iii. r. 4. f Vega, p. Jl. lib. i. c. 37. Xcrez, i. 235. Hcrrcra.doc.S. lib. ill. c. 5. 

: Vega. p. II. lib. ii. c 7. 



278 HISTORY OF [BookVL 

their monarch a captive in the power of strangers, and at last suffering an 
ignominious death, the people in several provinces, as if they had been set 
I'ree from eveiy restraint of law and decency, broke out into the most 
licentious excesses.* So many descendants of the Sun, after being treated 
with the utmost indignity, had been cut off by Atahualpa, that not only 
their influence in the state diminished with their number, but the accus- 
tomed reverence for that sacred race sensibly decreased. In consequence 
of this state of things, ambitious men in different parts of the empire 
aspired to independent authority, and usurped jurisdiction to which they 
had no title. The general who commanded for Atahualpa in Quito, seized 
the brother and children of his master, put them to a cruel death, and, dis- 
claiming any connection with either Inca, endeavoured to establish a 
separate kingdom for himself.! 

The Spaniards with pleasure beheld the spirit of discord diffusing itself, 
and the vigour of government relaxing among the Peruvians. They con- 
sidered those disorders as symptoms of a state hastening towards its dis- 
solution. Pizarro no longer hesitated to advance towards Cuzco, and he 
had received such considerable reinforcements, that he could venture, with 
little danger, to penetrate so far into the interior part of the countr>-. The 
account of the wealth acquired at Caxamaica operated as he had foreseen. 
No sooner did his brother Ferdinand, with the otficers and soldiers to whom 
he had given their discharge after the partition of the Inca's ransom, arrive 
at Panama, and display their riches in the view of their astonished coun- 
tiymen, than fame spread the account with such exaggeration through all 
the Spanish settlements on the South Sea, that the governors of Guatimala, 
Panama, and Nicaragua, could hardly restrain the people under their juris- 
diction, from abandoning their possessions, and crowding to that inexhaustible 
source of wealth which seemed to be opened in Peru. J In spite of every 
check and regulation, such numbers resorted thither, that Pizarro began 
his march at the head of five hundred men, after leaving a considerable 
garrison in St. Michael, under the command of Benalcazar. The Peruvians 
had assembled some large bodies of troops to oppose his progress. Several 
fierce encounters happened. But they terminated like all the actions in 
America ; a few Spaniards were killed or wounded ; the natives were put 
to flight with incredible slaughter. At length Pizarro forced his way to 
Cuzco, and took quiet possession of that capital. The riches found there, 
even after all that the natives had carried off and concealed, either from a 
superstitious veneration for the ornaments of their temples, or out of hatred 
to their rapacious conquerors, exceed in value what had been received as 
Atahualpa's ransom. But as the Spaniards were now accustomed to the 
wealth of the country, and it came to be parcelled out among a great 
number of adventurers, this dividend did not excite the same surprise, 
either from novelty, or the largeness of the sum that fell to the share of 
each individual [133]. 

During the march to Cuzco, that son of Atahualpa whom Pizarro treated 
as Inca, died ; and as the Spaniards substituted no person in his place, the 
title of Manco Capac seems to have been universally recognised.§ 

While his fellow-soldiers were thus employed, Benalcazar, governor of 
St. Michael, an able and enterprising ofiicer, was ashamed ot remaining 
inactive, and impatient to have his name distinguished among the dis- 
coverers and conquerors of the New World. The seasonable arrival of a 
fresh body of recruits from Panama and Nicaragua put it in his power to 
gratify this passion. Leaving a sufficient force to protect the infant settle- 
ment intrusted to his care, he placed himself at the head of the lest, and 
set out to attempt the reduction of Quito, where, according to the report of 

* Herrera, dec. 5. lib. ii. c. 12. Itb. hi. c. 5. t Zarate, lib. ii. c. 8. Vega, p. 11. lib. ii. c. 3, 4 , 

$ fiouiara Hi.st. r. 135. Vfga, p. 11. lib. ji, c. 1. Herrera, dec, 5. lib, iii. c. 5. ^ Herrer?, 

4ec. 5. lib. V. r. '>. 



AMERICA. 279 

the natives, Atahualpa had left the greatest part of his treasure. Notwith- 
standing tlie distance of that city trom St. Michael, the difficuUy of 
marching through a mountainous country covered with woods, and the 
■frequent and tierce attacks of the best troops in Peru commanded by a 
skihul leader, the valour, good conduct, and perseverance of Benalcazar 
surmounted every obstacle, and he entered Quito with his victorious troops. 
But they met with a cruel mortification there. The natives now acquainted 
to their sorrow with the predominant passion of their invaders, and knowing 
how to disappoint it, had carried off all those treasures, the prospect of 
which had prompted them to undertake this arduous expedition, and had 
supported them under all the dangers and hardships wherewith they had 
to struggle in cariying it on.* • 

Benalcazar was not the only Spanish leader who attacked the kingdom 
of QjLiito. The fame of its riches attracted a more powerful enemy. 
Pedro de Alvarado, who had distinguished himself so eminently in the 
conquest of Mexico, having obtained the government of Guatimala as a 
recompense for his valour, soon became disgusted with a life of uniform 
tranquillity, and longed to be again engaged in the bustle of military 
service. The glory and wealth acquired by the conquerors of Peru 
heightened this passion, and gave it a determined direction. Believing, or 
pretending to believe, that the kingdom of Quito did not lie within the 
limits of the province allotted to Pizarro, he resolved to invade it. The 
high reputation of the commander allured volunteers from every quarter. 
He embarked with five hundred men, of whom above two hundred were 
of such distinction as to serve on horseback. He landed at Puerto Viejo, 
and without sufficient knowledge of the country, or proper guides to con- 
duct him, attempted to march directly to Quito, by following the course 
of the river Guayoquil, and crossing the ridge of the Andes towards its 
head. But in this route, one of the most impracticable in all America, his 
troops endured such fatigue in forcing their way through forests and 
marshes on the low grounds, and suffered so much from excessive cold 
when they began to ascend the mountains, that before they reached the 
plain of Q,i''to> a fifth part of the men and half their horses died, and the 
rest were so much dispirited and worn out, as to be almost unfit for ser- 
vice [1-34]. There they met with a body, not of Indians, but of Spaniards, 
drawn in hostile array against them. Pizarro having received an account 
of Alvarado's armament, had detached Almagro with some troops to oppose 
this formidable invader of his jurisdiction ; and these were joined by Be- 
nalcazar and his victorious party. Alvarado, though surprised at the sight 
of enemies whom he did not expect, advanced boldly to the charge. But, 
by the interposition of some moderate men in each party, an amicable 
accommodation took place ; and the fatal period when Spaniards sus- 
pended their conquests to imbrue their hands in the blooil of their coun- 
trymen, was postponed a few years. Alvarado engaged to return to his 
goverment, upon Almagro's paying him a hundred thousand pesos to defray 
the expense of his armament. Most of his followers remained in the 
country ; and an expedition, which threatened Pizarro and his colony with 
ruin, contributed to augment its strength t 

1534.] By this timeTerdinand Pizarro had landed in Spain. The im- 
mense quantities of gold and silver which he imported [135] filled the king- 
dom with no less astonishment than they had excited in Panama and the 
adjacent provinces. Pizarro was received by the emperor with the atten- 
tion due to the bearer of a present so rich as to exceea any idea which the 
Spaniards had formed concerning the value of their acquisitions in America, 

• Zarate, lib. ii. e. 9. Vega, p. 11. lib. ii. c. 9. Hcrrera, dec. 5. lib. iv. e. 11, 12. lib. v. c. 2, 3. 
lib. vi. c. 3. 1 Zarate, lib. ii. c. 10— 13. Vega, p. 11. lib. ii. c. 1, 2. 9, &e. Gomara Hist. c. 

1-^6. &r. Rrmesal Hist. Guatimal. Mb. iil. c. 6. Herrera, dec 3. lib. vi. c, 1, 2. 7, 9. 



289 HISTORY OF [Book VI. 

even after they had been ten years masters of Mexico. In recompense of 
his brother's services, his authority was continned with new powers and 
privileges, and the addition of seventy leagues, extending along the coast, 
to the southward of the territory granted in his former patent. Almagro 
received the honours which he had so long desired. The title of Adelan- 
tado, or governor, was conferred upon him, with jurisdiction over two hun- 
dred leagues of country, stretching beyond the southern iimils of the province 
allotted to Pizarro. Ferdinand himself did not go unrewarded. He was 
admitted into the military order ol St. Jago, a distinction always accepta- 
ble to a Spanish gentleman, and soon set out on bis leturn to Peru, accom- 
panied by many persons ot higher rank than had yet served in that 
country.* 

Some account of his negotiations reached Peru before he arrived there 
himself. Almagro no sooner learned that he had obtained the royal grant 
of an independent government, than pretending that Cuzco, the imperial 
residence of the Incas, lay within its boundaries, he attempted to render 
himself master of that irnportant station. Juan and Gonzalez Pizarro pre- 
pared to oppose him. Each of the contending parties was supported by 
powerful adherents, and the dispute was on the point of being terminated 
by the sword, when Francis Pizarro arrived in the capital. The recon- 
ciliation between him and Almagro had never been cordial. The treachery 
ot Pizarro in engrossing to himself all the honours and emoluments, which 
ought to have been divided with his associate, was always present in both 
their thoughts. The former, conscious of his own perfidy, did not expect 
forgiveness ; the latter feeling, that he had been deceived, was impatient 
to be avenged ; and though avarice and ambition had induced them not 
only to dissemble their sentiments, but even to act in concert while in pur- 
suit of wealth and power, no sooner did they obtain possession of these, 
than the same passions which had formed this temporary union, gave rise 
to jealousy and discord. To each of them was attached a small band of 
interested dependants, who, with the malicious art peculiar to such men, 
heightened their suspicions, and magnified every appearance of ofience. 
But with all those seeds of enmity in their minds, and thus assiduously 
cherished, each was so thoroughly acquainted with the abilities and 
courage of his rival, that they equally dreaded the consequences of an open 
rupture. The fortunate arrival of Pizarro at Cuzco, and the address min- 
gled with firmness which he manifested in his expostulations with Almagro 
and his partisans, averted that evil tor the present. A new reconciliation 
took place ; the chief article of which was, that Almagro should attempt 
the conquest of Chili ; and if he did not fin(i in that province an establish- 
nient adequate to his merit and expectations, Pizarro, by way of indemni- 
fication, should yield up to him a part of Peru. This new agreement, 
though confirmed [June 12] with the same sacred solemnities as their first 
contract, was observed with as little fidelity.! 

Soon after he concluded this important transaction, Pizarro marched 
back to the countries on the seacoast ; and as he now enjoyed an interval 
of tranquillity undisturbed by any enemy, either Spaniaid or Indian, he 
applied himself with that persevering ardour, which distinguishes his cha- 
racter, to introduce a form of regular government into the extensive pro- 
vinces subject to his authority. Though ill qualified by his education 
to enter into any disquisition concerning the principles of civil policy, and 
little accustomed by his former habits of life to attend to its arrangements, 
his natural sagacity supplied the want both of science and experience. He 
distributed the countiy into various districts ; he appointed proper magis- 
trates to preside in each ; and established regulations concerning the ad- 

• Zarate, lih. Hi. c. 3. Vega, p. 11. lib. ii. c. 19, Herrera, dec. 5. lib. vi. c. 13. t Za- 

rate, lib. ii, r. 13. Vega, p. 11, lih. ii. c. 19. Benzo, lih. iii, r. 6. Herrerii. dec. 5. lib. vii. c. P. 



AMERICA. 281 

miiiistration ol justice, the collection of the royal revenue, the working of 
the mines, and the treatment of the Indians, extremely simple, but well 
calculated to promote the public prosperity. But though, for the present, 
he adapted his plan to the infant state of his colony, his aspiring mind 
looked forward to its future grandeur. He considered himself as laying 
the foundation of a great empire, and deliberated long, and with much soli- 
citude, in what place he should fix the seat of government. Cuzco, the 
imperial city of the Incas, was situated in a corner of the empire, above 
four hundred miles from the sea, and much further from Quito, a province 
of whose value he had formed a high idea. No other settlement of the 
Peruvians was so considerable as to merit the name of a town, or to allure 
the Spaniards to fix their residence in it. But in marching through the 
country, Pizano had been struck with the beauty and fertility of the val- 
ley of Rirnac, one of the most extensive and best cultivated in Peru. 
There, on the banks of a small river of the same name with the vale which 
it waters and enriches, at the distance of six miles from Callao, the most 
commodious harbour in the Pacific Ocean, he founded a city which he 
destined to be the capital of his government [Jan. 18, 15:55]. He gave it 
the name of Ciudad de los l^eyes, eithei from the circumstance of having 
laid the first stone at that season when the church celebrates the festival of 
the Three Kings, or, as is more probable, in honour of Juana and Charles, 
the joint sovereigns of Castile. This name it still retains among the 
Spaniards, in all legal and formal deeds ; but it is better known to 
foreigners by that oi Lima, a corruption of the ancient appellation of the 
valley in which it is situated. Under his inspection, the buildings advanced 
with such rapidity, that it soon assumed the form of a city, which, by a mag- 
nificent palace that he erected lor himself, and by the stately houses built 
by several of his officers, gave, even in its infancy, some indication of its 
subsequent grandeur.* 

In consequence of what had been agreed with Pizarro, Almagro began 
his march towards Chili ; and as he possessed in an eminent degree the 
virtues most admired by soldiers, boundless liberality and fearless courage, 
his standard was followed by five hundred and seventy men, the greatest 
body of Europeans that had hitherto been assembled in Peru. From im- 
patience to finish the expedition, or from that contempt of hardship and 
dani;er acquired by all the Spaniards who had served long in America^ 
Almagro, instead of advancing along the level country on the coast, chose 
to march across the mountains by a route that was shorter indeed, but 
almost impracticable. In this attempt his troops were exposed to every 
calamity which men can suffer, from fatigue, from famine, and from the 
rigour of the climate in those elevated regions of the torrid zone, where the 
degree of cold is hardly inferior to what is felt within the polar circle. 
Many of them perished; and the survivors, when they descended into the 
lertile plains of Chili, had new difficulties to encounter. They found there 
a race of men very different from the people of Pefu» intrepid, hardy, in- 
dependent, and in their bodily constitution, as well as vigour of sjpirit, 
nearly resembling the warlike tribes in North America. Though filled 
with wonder at the first appearance of the Spaniards, and still more 
astonished at the operations of their cavalry and the effects of their fire- 
arms, the Chilese soon recovered so far from their surprise, as not only to 
defend themselves with obstinacy, but to attack their new enemies with 
more determined fierceness than any American nation had hitherto dis- 
covered. The Spaniards, however, continued to penetrate into the coun- 
try, and collected some considerable quantities of gold ; but were so far 
from thinking of making any settlement amidst such formidable neighbours, 
that, in spite of all the experience and valour of their leader, the final issue 

• Herrera, dec. 5. lib. vi. c. 12. lib. vii. c. 13. Calanrho, Coronica, lib. i. c. 37. Bameiivo, Lima 
fundala, ii. 3!)4. 
Vol.. [.— ?.6 



282 HISTORY OF [Book VI. 

of the expedition still remained extremely dubious, when they were recalled 
from it by an unexpected revolution at Peru.* The causes of this impor- 
tant event I shall endeavour to trace to their source. 

So many adventurers had flocked to Peru trom every Spanish colony irj 
America, and all with such high expectations of accumulatmg independent 
fortunes at once, that, to men possessed with notions so extravagant, any 
mention of acquiring wealth gradually, and by schemes of patient industry, 
would have been not only a disappointment, but an insult. In order to find 
occupation tor men who could not with safety be allowed to remain in- 
active, Pizarro encouraged some of the most distinguished officers who had 
lately joined him, to invade different provinces of the empire, which the 
Spaniards had not hitherto visited. Several large bodies were formed for 
this purpose ; and about the time that Almagro set out for Chili, they 
marched into remote districts of the country. No sooner did Manco Capac, 
the Inca, observe the inconsiderate security of the Spaniards in thus dis- 
persing their troops, and that only a handful of soldiers remained in Cuzco, 
under Juan and Gonzalez Pizarro, than he thought that the happy period 
was at length come for vindicating his own rights, for avenging the wrongs 
of his country, and extirpating its oppressors. Though strictly watched 
by the Spaniards who allowed him to reside in the palace of his ancestors 
at Cuzco, he found means of communicating his scheme to the persons 
who were to be intrusted with the execution of it- Among people accus- 
tomed to revere their sovereign as a divinity, every hint of his wjll carries 
the authority of a command ; and they themselves were now convinced, 
by the daily increase in the number of their invaders, that the fond hopes 
which they had long entertained of their voluntary departure were alto- 
gether vain. All perceived that a vigorous effort of the whole nation was 
requisite to expel them, and the preparations for it were carried on with 
the secrecy and silence peculiar to Americans. 

After some unsuccessful attempts of the Inca to make his escape, Ferdi- 
nand Pizarro happening to arrive at that time in Cuzco [l53fi], he obtained 
permission from him to attend a great festival which was to be celebrated a 
iew leagues from the capital. Under pretext of that solemnity, the great 
men of the empire were assembled. As soon as the Inca joined them, the 
standard of war was erected ; and in a short time all the lighting men, 
from the confines of Q,uito to the frontier of Chili, were in arms. Many- 
Spaniards, living securely on the settlements allotted them, were massacred. 
Several detachments, as they marched carelessly through a country which 
seemed to be tamely submissive to their dominion, were cut off to a man. 
An army amounting (if we may believe the Spanish writers) to two hun- 
dred thousand men, attacked Cuzco, which the three brothers endeavoured 
to defend with only one hundred and seventy Spaniards. Another formi- 
dable body invested Lima, and kept the governor closely shut up. There 
was no longer any communication between the two cities ; the numerous 
forces of the Peruvians spreading over the country, intercepted every 
messenger ; and as the parties in Cuzco and Lima were equally unacquaint- 
ed with the fate of their countrymen, each boded the worst concerning 
the other, and imagined that they themselves were the only persons who 
had survived the general extinction of the Spanish name in Peru.t 

It was at Cuzco, where the Inca commanded in person, that the Peru- 
vians made their chiei^ efforts. During nine months they carried on the 
siege with incessant ardour, and in various forms ; and though they dis- 
played not the same undaunted ferocity as the Mexican wamors, they con- 
ducted some of their operations in a manner which discovered greater 
sagacity, and a genius more susceptible of improvement in the military 

* Zarate, lib. iii. c. 1 . Gomara Hiat. c. 131. Vega, p. 2. lib. ii. c, 20. Ovale Hist, de Cliile, lib, 
iv. c. 15, &c. Herrera, dec. 5. lib. vi. c. 9. lib. x. c. 1, Ac. t Vega, p. 11, lib. ii. t 28. Ziratr, 
lib iii. r. 3 Cieca de Leon, c. 82. Gomara Hist. c. 135. Herrera, dec. 5. lib. vin. r. 5. 



AMERICA. 283 

art. They not only observed the advantages which the Spaniards derived 
from their discipline and their weapons, but they endeavoured to imitate 
the former, and turned the latter against them. They armed a considera- 
ble body of their bravest warriors with the swords, the spears, and buck- 
lers, which they had taken from the Spanish soldiers whom they had cut 
off in different parts of the country. These they endeavoured to marshal 
in that regular compact order, to which experience had taught them that 
the Spaniards were indebted for their irresistible force in action. Some 
appeared in the field with Spanish muskets, and had acquired skill and 
resolution enough to use them. A few of the boldest, among whom was 
the Inca himself, were mounted on the horses which they had taken, and 
advanced briskly to the charge like Spanish cavaliers, with their lances in 
the rest. It was more by their numbers, however, than by those imper- 
fect essays to imitate European arts and to employ European arms, that 
the Peruvians annoyed the Spaniards [136], In spite of the valour, 
heightened by despair, with which the three brothers defended Cuzco, 
Maiico Capac recovered possession of one-half of his capital ; and in their 
various efforts to drive him out of it, the Spaniards lost Juan Pizarro, the 
best beloved of all the brothers, together with some other persons of note. 
Worn out with the fatigue of incessant duty, distressed with want of pro- 
visions, and despairing of being able any longer to resist an enemy whose 
numbers daily increased, the soldiers became impatient to abandon Cuzco, 
in hopes either of joining their countrymen, if any of them yet survived, 
or of forcing their way to the sea, and finding some means of escaping 
from a country which had been so fatal to the Spanish name.* While they 
were brooding over those desponding thoughts, which their officers labour- 
ed in vain to dispel, Almagro appeared suddenly in the neighbourhood of 
Cuzco. 

The accounts transmitted to Almagro concerning the general insurrection 
of the Peruvians, were such as would have induced him, without hesitation, 
to relinquish the conquest of Chili, and hasten to the aid of his country- 
men. But in this resolution he was confirmed by a motive less generous, 
but more interesting. By the same messenger who brought him intelli- 
gence of the Inca's revolt, he received the royal patent creating him go- 
vernor of Chili, and defining the limits of his jurisdiction. Upon consi- 
dering the tenor of it, he deemed it manifest beyond contradiction, that 
Cuzco lay within the boundaries of his government, and he was equally 
solicitous to prevent the Peruvians from recovering possession of their 
capital, and to wrest it out of the hands of the Pizarros. From impatience 
to accomplish both, he ventured to return by a new route ; and in march- 
ing through the sandy plains on the coast, he suffered from heat and drought, 
calamities of a new species hardly inferior to those in which he had been 
involved by cold and famine on the summits of the Andes. 

1537.] His arrival at Cuzco was in a critical moment. The Spaniards 
and Peruvians fixed their eyes upon him with equal solicitude. The 
former, as he did not study to conceal his pretensions, were at a loss whe- 
ther to welcome him as a deliverer, or to take precautions against him as 
an enemy. The latter, knowing the points in contest between him and 
his countiymen, flattered themselves that they had more to hope than to 
dread from his operations. Almagro himself, unacquainted with the detail 
of the events which had happened in his absence, and solicitous to learn 
the precise posture of affairs, advanced towards the capital slowly, and 
with great circumspection. Various negotiations with both parties were 
set on foot. The Inca conducted them on his part with much address. 
At first he endeavoured to gain the friendship of Almagro ; and after many 
fruitless overtures, despairing of any cordial union with a Spaniard, lie 

♦ Herrera, dec. 5. lib. viii c. 4. 



284 HISTORY OF [Book VI. 

attacked him by surprise with a numerous body of chosen troops. But the 
Spanish discipline and valour maintained their wonted superiority. The 
Peruvians were repulsed with such slaughter that a great part of their 
army diispersed, and Almagro proceeded to the gates of Cuzco without 
interruption. 

The Pizarros, as they had no longer to make head against the Peru- 
vians, directed all their attention towards their new enemy, and took mea- 
sures to obstruct his entry into the capital. Prudence, however, restrained 
both parties for some time from turning their arms against one another, 
while surrounded by common enemies, who would rejoice in the mutual 
slaughter. Different schemes of accommodation were proposed. Each 
endeavoured to deceive the other, or to corrupt his followers. The gene- 
rous, open, aifable temper of Almagro gained many adherents ol the 
Pizarros, who were disgusted with their harsh, domineering manners. 
Encouraged by this defection, he advanced towards the city by night, sur- 
prised he sentinels, or was admitted by them, and, investing the house 
where the two brothers resided, compelled them, after an obstinate defence, 
to surrender at discretion. Almagro's claim of jurisdiction over Cuzco 
was universally acknowledged, and a form of administration established in 
his name.* 

Two or three persons only were killed in this first act of civil hostility ; 
but it was soon followed by scenes more bloody. Francisco Pizarro 
having dispersed the Peruvians who had invested Lima, and received 
some considerable reinforcements from fiispaniola and Nicaragua, ordered 
five hundred men, under the command of Alonzo de Alvarado, to march 
to Cuzco, in hopes of relieving his brothers, if they and their garrison 
were not already cut off by the Peruvians. This body, which ai that 
period of the Spanish power in America must be deemed a considerable 
force, advanced near to the capital before they knew that they had any 
enemy more formidable than Indians to encounter. It was with astonish- 
ment that they beheld their countrymen posted on the banks of the rivei 
Abanca}' to oppose their progress. Almagro, however, wished rather to 
gain than to conquer them, and by bribes and promises, endeavoured to 
seduce their leader. The fidelity of Alvarado remained unshaken ; but 
his talents for war were not equal to his virtue. Almagro amused him 
with various movements, of which he did not com]irehend the meaning, 
while a large detachment of chosen soldiers passed the river by night 
[July 12], fell upon his camp by surprise, broke his troops before they had 
time to form, and took him prisoner, together with his principal officers.! 

By the sudden rout of this body, the contest between the two rivals 
must have been decided, if Almagro had known as well how to improve 
as how to gain a victory. Rodrigo Orgognez, an officer of great abilities, 
who having served under the Constable Bourbon, when he led the imperial 
army to Rome, had been accustomed to bold and rlecisive measures, ad- 
vised him instantly to issue orders for putting to death Ferdinand and Gon- 
zalo Pizarros, Alvarado, and a few other persons whom he could not hope 
to gain, and to march directly with his victorious troops to Lima, before 
the governor had time to prepare for his defence. But Almagro, though 
he discerned at once the utility of the counsel, and though he had courage 
to have carried it into execution, suffered himself to be influenced by sen- 
timents unlike those of a soldier of fortune grown old in service, and by 
scruples which suited not the chief of a party who had drawn his sword 
in civil war. Feelings of humanity restrained him from shedding the blood 
of his opponents ; and the dread of being deemed a rebel deterred him 
from entering a province which the King had allotted to another. Though 

♦ Zarate, lib. iii. c. 4. Vega, p. 11. lib. ii. c. 2'J. :<1. Gomara Hist. c. )34. Herrera, dec. 6. lib. 
ii. c. 1— 5. t Zarate, Ub. iu. c. 6. Goni. Hist. c. 138. Vega, p. 1 J. lib. ii. c 32. 34. Ilrrrera, 
dec 6. lib. ii. r.9. 



AMERICA. 28ii 

he knew that arms must terminate the dispute between him and Pizarro, 
and resolved not to shun that mode of decision ; yet, with a timid delicacy, 
preposterous at such a juncture, he was so solicitous that his rival should 
be considered as the aggressor, that he marched quietly back to Cuzco, to 
wait his approach.* 

Pizarro was still unacquainted with all the interesting events which had 
happened near Cuzco. Accounts of Aliiiagro's return, of the loss of the 
capital, of the death of one brother, of the impiisonment of the other two, 
and of the defeat of Alvarado, were brought to him at once. Such a tide 
of misfortunes almost overwhelmed a spirit which had continued firm and 
erect under the rudest shocks of adversity. But the necessity of attending 
to his own safety, as well as the desire of revenge, preserved him Irom 
sinking under it. He took measures for both with his wonted sagacity. 
As he had the command of the seacoast, and expected considerable sup- 
j)lies both of men and military stores, it was no less his interest to gain 
time, and to avoid action, than it was that of Almagro to precipitate ope- 
rations, and bring the contest to a speedy issue. He had recourse to arts 
which he had formerly practised with success ; and Almagro was again 
weak enough to suffer himself to be amused with a prospect of terminating 
their differences by some amicable accommodation. By varying his over- 
tures, and shifting his ground as often as it suited his purpose, sometimes 
seeming to yield to every thing which his rival could desire, and then 
retrscting ail that he had granted, Pizarro dexterously protracted the ne- 
gotiation to such a length, that, though every day was precious to Almagro, 
several months elapsed without coming to any final agreement. While 
the attention of Almagro, and of the officers with whom he consulted, was 
occupied in detecting and eluding the fraudulent intentions of the governor, 
Gonzalo Pizarro and Alvarado found means to corrupt the soldiers to whose 
custody they were committed, and not only made their escape themselves, 
but persuaded sixty of the men who formerly guarded them to accompany 
their flight.f Fortune having thus delivered one of his brothers, the 
governor scrupled not at one act of perfidy more to procure the release of 
the other. He proposed that every point in controversy between Almagro 
and himself should be submitted to the derision of their sovereign ; that 
until his award was known, each should retain undisturbed possession of 
whatever part of the country he now occupied ; that Ferdinand Pizarro 
shodd be set at liberty, and return instantly to Spain, together with the 
officers whom Almagro purposed to send thither to represent the justice of 
his claims. Obvious as the design of Pizarro was in those propositions, 
and familiar as his artifices might now have been to his opponent, Almagro, 
with a credulity approaching to infatuation, relied on his sincerity, and 
concluded an agreement on these terms. J 

The moment that Ferdinand Pizarro recovered his liberty, the governor, 
no longer fettered in his operations by anxiety about his brother's life, 
threw off every disguise which his concern for it had obliged him to assume. 
The treaty was forgotten ; pacific and conciliating measures were no more 
mentionea; it was in the field he openly declared, and not in the cabinet, 
— by arms and not by negotiation, — that it must now be determined who 
should be master of Peni. The rapidity of his preparations suited such a 
decisive resolution. Seven hundred men were soon ready to march towards 
Cuzco. The command of these was given to his two brothers, in whom 
he could perfectly confide for the execution of his most violent schemes, 
as they were urged on, not only by the enmity flowing from the rivalship 
between their family and Almagro, but animated with the desire of ven- 
geance, excited by recollection of their own recent di^race and sufferings. 

• Herrera, dec. 6. lib. ii. c. 10, 11. t Zarate, lib. iii. c. 8. netrera, dec. C. lib. ij. c. 14. 

i Herrora, dec. 6. lib. iii. c. 9. Zarate, lib. ill, c. 9. Gomara Hist. c. 140. Vega, p. 11. lib. ii. c,;i5. 



286 HISTORY OF [Book VI. 

After an unsuccessful attempt to cross the mountains in the direct road be- 
tween Lima and Cuzco, they marched towards the south along the coast 
as far as Nasca, and then turning to the left, penetrated through the defiles 
in that branch of the Andes which lay between them and the capital, 
Almagro, instead of hearkening to some of his officers, who advised him 
to attempt the defence of those difficult passes, waited the approach of 
the enemy i"n the plain of Cuzco. Two reasons seem to have induced 
him to take this resolution. His followers amounted hardly to five hundred, 
and he was afraid of weakening such a feeble body by sending any de- 
tachment towards the mountains. His cavalry far exceeded that of the 
adverse party, both in number and discipline, and it was only in an open 
country that he could avail himself of that advantage. 

The Pizarros advanced without any obstruction, but what arose from 
the nature of the desert and horrid regions through which they marched. 
As soon as they reached the plain, both factions were equally impatient to 
bring this long protracted contest to an issue. Though countrymen and 
friends, the subjects of the same sovereign, and each with the royal 
standard displayed ; and though they beheld the mountains that surrounded 
the plain in which they were drawn up, covered with a vast multitude of 
Indians assembled to enjoy the spectacle of their mutual carnage, and 
prepared to attack whatever party remained master of the field ; so fell 
and implacable was the rancour which had taken possession of every 
breast, that not one pacific counsel, not a single overture towards accom- 
modation proceeded from either side. Unfortunately for Almagro, he was 
so worn out with the fatigues of service, to which his advanced age was 
unequal, that, at this crisis of his fate, he could not exert his wonted activity , 
and he was obliged to commit the leading his troops to Orgognez, who, 
though an officer of great merit, did not possess the same ascendant either 
over the spirit or affections of the soldiers, as the chief whom they had 
long been accustomed to follow and revere. 

The conflict was fierce, and maintained by each party with equal 
courage [April 26]. On the side of Almagro were more veteran soldiers, 
and a larger proportion of cavalry ; but these were counterbalanced by 
Pizarro's superiority in numbers, and by two companies of well disciplined 
musketeers, which, on receiving an account of the insurrection of the 
Indians, the emperor had sent from Spain.* As the use of fire-arms was 
not frequent among the adventurers in America,! hastily equipped for ser- 
vice, at their own expense, this small band of soldiers regularly trained 
and armed, was a novelty in Peru, and decided the fate of the day. 
Wherever it advanced, the weight of a heavy and well sustained fire 
bore down horse and foot before it ; and Orgognez, while he endeavoured 
to rally and animate his troops, having received a dangerous wound, the 
route became general.-. The barbarity of the conquerors stained the glory 
which they acquired by this complete victory. The violence of civil rage 
hurried on some to slaughter their countrymen with indiscriminate cruelty; 
the meanness of private revenge instigated others to single out individuals 
as the objects of their vengeance. Orgognez and several officers of dis- 
tinction were massacred in cold blood ; above a hundred and forty soldiers 
fell in the field ; a large proportion, where the number of combatants was 
few, and the heat of the contest soon over. Almagro, though so feeble 
that be could not bear the motion of a horse, had insisted on being carried 
in a litter to an eminence which overlooked the field of battle. From 
thence, in the utmost agitation of mind, he viewed the various movements 
of both parties, and at fast beheld the total defeat of bis own troops, with 
all the passionate indignation of a veteran leader long accustomed to 

■^ Hcrrera. dec. fi. Uh. iii, c. K ' f Zarate. lib. iii. c. 8: 



AMERICA. 287 

victory. He endeavoured to save himself by flight, but was taken prisoner, 
and guarded with the strictest vigilance.* 

The Indians, instead of executing the resolution which they had formed, 
retired quietly after the battle was over ; and in the history of the New 
World, there is not a more striking instance of the wonderful ascendant 
which the Spaniards had acquired over its inhabitants, than that, after 
seeing one of the contending parties ruined and dispersed, and the other 
weakened and fatigued, they had not courage to fall upon their enemies, 
when fortune presented an opportunity of attacking them with such ad- 
vantage. t 

Cuzco was pillaged by the victorious troops, who found there a con- 
siderable booty, consisting partly of the gleanings of the Indian treasures, 
and partly of the wealth amassed by their antagonists from the spoils of 
Peru and Chili. But so far did this, and whatever the bounty of their 
leader could add to it, fall below the high ideas of the recompense which 
they conceived to be due to their merit, that Ferdinand Pizarro, unable to 
gratify such extravagant expectations, had recouse to the same expedient 
which his brother had employed on a similar occasion, and endeavoured 
to find occupation for this turbulent assuming spirit, in order to prevent it 
from breaking out into open mutiny. With this view, he encouraged his 
most active officers to attempt the discovery and reduction of various pro- 
vinces which had not hitherto submitted to the Spaniards. To every 
standard erected by the leaders wlio undertook any of those new expe- 
ditions, volunteers resorted with the ardour and hope peculiar to the age. 
Several of Almagro's soldiers joined them, and thus Pizarro had the satis- 
faction of being delivered both from the importunity of his discontented 
friends, and the dread of his ancient enemies.^ 

Almagro himself remained for several months in custody, under all the 
anguish of suspense. For although his doom was determined by the 
Pizarros from the moment that he fell into their hands, prudence con- 
strained them to deter gratifying their vengeance, until the soldiers who 
had served under him, as well as several of their own Ibllovvers in whom 
they could not perfectly confide, had left Cuzco. As soon as they set out 
upon their different expeditions, Almagro was impeached of treason, 
formally tried, and condemned to die. The sentence astonished him ; and 
though he had often braved death with undaunted spirit in the field, its 
approach under this ignominious form appalled him so much, that he had 
recourse to abject supplications unworthy of his former fame. He be- 
sought the Pizarros to remember the ancient friendship between their bro- 
ther and him, and how much he had contributed to the prosperity oi' their 
family; he reminded them of the humanity with which, in opposition to 
the repeated remonstrances of his own most attached friends, he had 
spared their lives when he had them in his power ; he conjured them to 
pity his age and infirmities, and to suffer him to pass the wretched re- 
mainder of his days in bewailing his crimes, and in making his peace with 
Heaven. The entreaties, says a Spanish historian, of a man so much be- 
loved touched many an unfeeling heart, and drew tears from many a stern 
eye. But the brothers remained inflexible. As soon as Almagro knew 
his fate to be inevitable, he met it with the dignity and fortitude of a 
veteran. He was strangled in prison, and afterwards publicly beheaded. 
He suffered in the seventy-fifth year of his age, and left one son by an 
Indian woman of Panama, whom, though at that time a prisoner in Lima, 
he' named as successor to his government, pursuant to a power which the 
emperor had granted him.§ 

* Zarate, lib. iii. c. 11, 12. Vnga, p. 11. lib. ii. c. 36—38. Herrftia, doc. 6. lib. iii. c. 10—13. lib. iv. 
c. 1—6. t Zarate, lib. iii. c. II. Vfga, p. 11. lib. ii. c. 38. t Zaralc, lib. iii. r. 12. 

Comara Mist. c. 141. Herrera, dec. 6. lib. iv. c. 7. ^ Zarate, lib. iii. c. Vi. Guinara Hisi. r. 

141. Vega, p. 11. lib. ii. c. 39. Herrera, dec. 6. lib. iv. c. 9. lib, v. f. 1. 



288 H I y T O R Y O F [Book VI. 

1539.] As, during the civil dissensions in Peru, all intercourse with Spain 
was suspended, the detail of the extraordinary transactions there did not 
soon reach the court. Unfortunately for the victorious faction, the first 
intelligence was brought thither by some of Ahiiagro's officers, who left the 
country upon the ruin of their cause ; ami they related what had happened, 
with every circumstance, unfavourable lo Pizarro and his brothers. Their 
ambition, their breach of the most solenm engagements, their violence and 
cruelty, were painted with all the malignity and exaggeration of party 
hatred. Ferdinand Pizarro, who arrived soon after, and appeared in court 
with extraordinary splendour, endeavoured to efface the impression which 
their accusations had made, and to justify his brother and himselt by repre- 
senting Almagro as the aggressor. The emperor and his mmisters, though 
they could not pronounce which of the contending factions was most 
criminal, clearly discerned the fatal tendency of their dissensions. It was 
obvious, that while the leaders, intrusted with the conduct of two infant 
colonies, employed the arms which should have been turned against the 
common enemy, in destroying one another, all attention to the puolic good 
must cease, and there was reason to dread that the Indians might improve 
the advantage which the disunion of the Spaniards presented to them, 
and extirpate both the victors and vanquished. But the evil was more 
apparent than the remedy. Where the intbrmation which had been 
received was so defective and suspicious, and the scene of action so remote, 
it was almost impossible to chalk out the line of conduct that ought to be 
followed ; and before any plan that should be approved of in Spain could 
be carried into execution, the situation of the parties, and the circumstances 
of affairs, might alter so entirely as to render its effects extremely 
pernicious. 

Nothing therefore remained, but to send a person to Peru, vested with 
extensive and discretionary power, who, after viewing deliberately the pos- 
ture of affairs with his own eyes, and inquiring upon the spot into the con- 
duct of the different leaders, should be authorized to establish the govern- 
ment in that form which he deemed most conducive to the interest of the 
parent state, and the welfare of the colony. The man selected for this 
important charge was Christoval Vaca de Castro, a judge in the court of 
royal audience at Valladolid ; and his abilities, integrity, and firmness justi- 
fied the choice. His instructions, though aniple, were not such as to fetter 
him in his operations. According to the dillerent aspect of affairs, he had 
power to take upon him different characters. If he found the governor 
still alive, he was to assume only the title of judge, to maintain the appear- 
ance of acting in concert with him, and to guard against giving any just 
cause of offence to a man who had merited so highly of his country. But if 
Pizarro were dead, he was intrusted with a commission that he might then 

Produce, by which he was appointed his successor in the government of 
eru. This attention to Pizarro, however, seems to have flowed rather 
from dread of his power than from any approbation of his measures ; for, at 
the very time that the court seemed so solicitous not to irritate him, his 
brother Ferdinand was arrested at Madrid, and confined to a prison, where 
he remained above twenty years.* 

1540.] While Vaca de Castro was preparing for his voyage, events of 
great moment happened in Peru. The governor, considering himself, upon 
the death of Almagro, as the unrivalled possessor of that vast empire, pro- 
ceeded to parcel out its territories among the conquerors ; and had this 
division been made with any degree of impartiality, the extent of countiy 
which he had to bestow was sutficient to have gratified his friends, and to 
have gained his enemies. But Pizarro conducted this transaction, not with 
the equity and candour of a judge attentive to discover and to reward 

* nomara Hist. c. 14i Vcgn. p. II. lib. ii. c. 40. Ileirera. dec. 6. lih. viii. <•. 10. 11. lib. x. r I. 



AMERICA. 2v,9 

luent, but wilh the illiberal spirit of a party leader. Large districts, in 
parts of the countiy most cultivated and populous, were set apart as his own 
property, or granted to his brothers, his adherents, and favourites. To 
others, lots less valuable and inviting were assigned. The followers of 
Ahnagro, amongst whom were many of the original adventurers to whose 
valour and perseverance Pizarro was indebted lor his success, were totally 
excluded from any portion in those lands, towards the acquisition of which 
they had contributed so largely. As the vanity of every individual set 
an immoderate value upon his own services, and the idea of each concern- 
ing the recompense due to them rose gradually to a more exorbitant height 
in proportion as Uieir conquests extended, all who were disappointed in 
their expectations exclaimed loudly against the rapaciousness and partiality 
of the governor. The partisans ot Almagro murmured in secret, and medi- 
tated revenge.* 

Rapid as the progress of the Spaniards in South America had been since 
Pizarro landed in Peru, their avidity of dominion was not yet satisfied. 
The officers to whom Ferdinand Pizarro gave the command of different 
detachments, penetrated into several new provinces ; and though some of 
them were exposed to great hardships in the cold and barren regions of the 
Andes, and others suffered distress not inferior amidst the wi ods and marshes 
of the plains, they made discoveries and conquests ^vhich not only extended 
their knowledge of the country, but added considerably to the territories 
of Spain and the Ne\v World. Pedro de Valdivia reassunied Almagro's 
scheme of invading Chili, and notwithstanding the fortitude of the natives 
in defending their possessions, made such progress in the conquest of the 
countiy, that he founded the city of St. Jago, and gave a be":inning to the 
establishment of the Spanish dominion in that province.! But of all the 
enterprises undertaken about this period, that of Gonzalo Pizarro was the 
most remarkable. The governor, who seems to have resolved that no 
person in Peru should possess any station of distinguished eminence or au- 
thority but those of his own family, had deprived Benalcazar, the conqueror 
of Quito, of his command in that kingdom, and appointed his brother Gon- 
zalo to take the government of it. He instructed him to attempt the 
discovery and conquest of the country to the east of the Andes, which, 
according to the information of the Indians, abounded with cinnamon and 
other valuable spices. Gonzalo, not inferior to any of his brothers in 
courage, and no less ambitious of acquiring distinction, eagerly engaged in 
this difficult service. He set out from Quito at the head of three hundred 
and forty soldiers, near one half of whom were horsemen ; with four thou- 
sand Indians to carry their provisions. In forcing their way through the 
defiles, or over the ridges of the Andes, excess of cold and fatigue, to 
neither of which they were accustomed, proved fatal to the greater part of 
their wretched attendants. The Spaniards, though more robust, and inured 
to a variety of climates, suffered considerably, and lost some men : but 
■when they descended into the low country, their distress increased. During 
two months it rained incessantly, without any interval of fair weather long 
enough to dry their clothes. | The immense plains upon which they were 
now entering, either altogether without inhabitants, or occupied by the 
rudest and least industrious tribes in the New World, yielded little subsist- 
ence. They could not advance a step but as they cut a road through woods, 
or made it through marshes. Such incessant toil, and continual scarcity of 
food, seem more than sufficient to have exhausted and dispirited any troops. 
But the fortitude and pei-severance of the Spaniards in the sixteenth ceti- 
tuiy were insuperable. Allured by frequent but false accounts of rich 
countries before them, they persisted in struggling on, until they reached 

• Vega, p. 11. lib.iii. c. 2. Herrera, dw. C. lib. viii. c. 5. i T^arate, lib. iii. c. 13. OvaJle. 

lib. ii. c. 1, &c. i Zaralft, lib. iv, c. 2. 



2y0 il ISTOKV OF (.IJookVI. 

the banks of tlie Coca or Napo, one of the large rivers whose waterspout 
into the JMaragnon, and contribute to its grandeur. There, with inhnile 
labour, they built a bark, which they expected would prove of great utility 
in conveying them over rivers, in procuring provisions, and in exploring the 
country. This was manned with fifty soldiers, under the command of 
Francis Orellana, the officer next in rank to Pizarro. The stream carried 
them down with such rapidity, that they were soon far ahead of their 
countiymen, who followed sloAvly and with difficulty by land. 

At this distance from his commander, Orellana, a young man of an aspi- 
ring mind, began to fancy himself independent ; and transported with the 
predominant passion of the age, he formed the scheme of distinguishing 
himself as a discoverer, by following the course of the Maragncn until it 
joined the ocean, and by surveying the vast regions through which it flows. 
This scheme of Orellana's was as bold as it was treacherous. For, if he be 
chargeable with the guilt of having violated his duty to his commander, and 
with having abandoned his fellow soldiers in a pathless desert, where they 
had hardly any hopes of success, or even of safety, but what were lounded 
on the service which they expected from the bark ; his crime is in some 
measure balanced by the glory of having ventured upon a navigation of 
near two thousand leagues, tnrough unknown nations, in a vessel hastily con- 
structed, with green timber, and by very unskilful hands, without pro- 
visions, without a compass, or a pilot. But his courage and alacrity supplied 
every delect. Committing himself fearlessly to the guidance of the stream, 
the Napo bore liim along to the south, until he reached the great channel of 
the Maragnon. Turning with it towards the coast, he held on his course 
in that direction. He made frequent descents on both sides of the river, 
sometimes seizing by force of arms the provisions of the fierce savages 
seated on its banks ; and sometimes procuring a supply of food by a friendly 
intercourse with more gentle tribes. After a long series ot dangers, whicu 
he encountered with amazing fortitude, and of distresses which he sup- 
ported with no less magnanimity, he reached the ocean [137], where new 
perils awaited him. ihese he likewise surmounted, and got safely to the- 
Spanish settlement in the island of Cubagua ; from thence he sailed to 
Spain. The vanity natural to travellei-s who visit regions unknown to the 
rest of mankind, and the art of an adventurer solicitous to magnify his own 
merit, concurred in prompting him to mingle an extraordinary proportion 
of the marvellous in the narrative of his voyage. He pretended to have dis- 
covered nations so rich that the roofs of their temples were covered with 
plates of gold ; and described a republic of wonien so warlike and power- 
ful, as to have extended their dominion over a considerable tract ot the fertile 
plains which he had visited. Extravagant as those tales were, they gave rise 
to an opinion, that a region abounding with gold, distinguished by the name 
of El Dorado, and a community of Amazons, were to be found in this part 
of the world ; and such is the propensity of mankind to believe what is 
wonderful, that it has been slowly and with difficult)' that reason and ob- 
servation have exploded those fables. The voyage, however, even when 
stripped of every romantic embellishment, deser\es to be recorded not 
only as one of the most memorable occurrences in that adventurous age, 
but as the first event which led to any certain knowledge of the extensive 
countries that stretch eastward from the Andes to the ocean.* 

No words can describe the consternation of Pizarro, when he did not 
find the bark at the corifluence of the Napo and Maragnon, where he had 
ordered Orellana to wait for him. He would not allow himself to suspect 
that a man, whom he had intrusted with sucli an important command, 
could be so base and so unfeeling as to desert him at such a juncture. 
But imputing his absence from the place of rendezvous to some unknown 

* Zaratp, lib. iv. c. 4, Gomara Ilist. c. 86. Vega, p. H. lib. iii. c. 4. Herrera, dec. 6. lib. xi. c, 
3 — 5. Rodriguez el Maragnon y Amazoiias, lib. i. c. 3. 



AMERICA. 291 

feccident, he advanced above fifty leagues along the banks ol the Maragnon, 
expecting eveiy moment to see the bark appear with a supply of provi- 
sions [l54l]. At length he came up with an officer whom Orellana had 
left to perish in the desert, because he had the courage to remonstrate 
against his perfidy. From him he learned the extent of Orellana's crime* 
and his followers perceived at once their own desperate situation, when 
deprived of their only resource. The spirit of the stoutest hearted vete- 
ran sunk w ithin him, and all demanded to be led back instantly. Pizarro> 
though he assumed an appearance of tranquillity, did not oppose their in- 
clination. But he was now twelve hundred miles irom Quito ; and in that 
long march the Spaniards encountered hardships greater than those which 
they had endured in their progress outward, without the alluring hopes 
"vvhich then soothed and animated them under their sufferings. Hunger 
compelled them to feed on roots and berries, to eat all their dc^s and 
horses, to devour the most loathsome reptiles, and even to gnaw the leather 
of their saddles and swordbelts. Four thousand Indians, and two hundred 
and ten Spaniards, perished in this wild disastrous expedition, which con- 
tinued near two years ; and as fifty men were aboard the bark with Orel- 
lana, only fourscore got back to l^uito. These were naked like savages» 
and so emaciated with famine, or worn out with fatigue, that they had more 
the appearance of spectres than of men.* 

But, instead of returning to enjoy the repose which his condition re* 
quired, Pizarro, on entering Quito, received accounts of a fatal event that 
threatened calamities more dreadful to him than those through which he 
had passed. From the time that his brother made that partial division of 
his conquests which has been mentioned, the adherents of Almagro, con* 
sidering themselves as proscribed by the party in power, no longer enter- 
tained any hope of bettering their condition. Great numbers in despair 
resorted to Lima, where the house of young Almagro was always open to 
them, and the slender portion of his father's fortune, which the governor 
alloAved him to enjoy, was spent in afibrding them subsistence. The warm 
attachment with which every person who had ser^•ed under the elder Al- 
magro devoted himself to his interests, was quickly transt'erred to his son, 
Avho Was now grown up to the age of manhood, and possessed all the 
qualities which captivate the affections of soldiers. Of a graceful appear- 
ance, dexterous at all martial exercises, bold, open, generous, he seemed to 
1)6 formed for command : and as his father, conscious of his own inl'eriority 
from the total want of education, had been extremely attentive to have 
him instructed in every science becoming a gentleman ; the accomplisli- 
ments which he had acquired heightened the respect of his followers, as 
they gave him distinction and eminence among illiterate adventurers. In 
this young man the Almagrians ibund a point oT union w hich they wanted, 
and, looking up to him as their head, were ready to undertake any thing 
for his advancement. Nor was affection for Almagro their only incite- 
ment ; they were urged on by their own distresses. Many of them, des- 
titute oi common necessaries [l38], and weary of loitering away life, a 
burden to their chief, or to such of their associates as had saved some 
remnant of their fortune from pillage and confiscation, longed impatiently 
for an occasion to exert their activity and courage, and began to deliberate 
bow they might be avenged on the author of all their miseiy. Their fre- 
quent cabals did not pass unobserved ; and the governor was warned to 
be on his guard against men who meditated some desperate deed, and bad 
resolution to execute it. But either from the native intrepidit}- of bis 
mind, or from contempt of persons whose povertj' seemed to render their 
machinations of little consequence, he disregarded the admonitions of his 
friends. " Be in no pain," said be carelessly, " about my life ; it is per- 

* Zarate, lib. iv. c. 2 — 5. Ve«a, p. 11. lib. iii. r. 3. 4, 5. 14. Herrera. det. 6. Uh. vfti, c. 7, f\ 
lib. ix, c. J— 5. dec. 7. lib. iii. c. 14 Tirnr, Varon<-s lllu(=t 349, &r. 



292 H 1 S T O K Y O F [Book VI. 

fectly safe, as long as every man in Peru knows that 1 can in a moment 
cut off" any head which dares to harbour a thought against it." This secu- 
rity gave the Almagrians full leisure to digest and ripen every part of 
their scheme ; and Juan de Herrada, an officer of great abilities, who had 
the charge of Almagro's education, took the direction of their consulta- 
tions with all the zeal which this connection inspired, and with all the au- 
thority which the ascendant that he was known to have over the mind of 
his pupil gave him. 

On Sunday the twenty-sixth of June, at mid-day, the season of tran- 
quillity and repose in all sultry climates, Herrada, at the head of eighteen 
of the most determined conspirators, sallied out of Almagro's house, in 
complete armour ; and, drawing their swords, as they advanced hastily 
towards the governor's palace, cried out, " Long live the King, hut let the 
tyrant die !" Their associates, warned of their motions by a signal, were 
in arms at different stations ready to support them. Though Pizarro was 
usually surrounded by such a numerous train of attendants as suited the 
magnificence of the most opulent subject of the age in which he lived ; 
yet as he was just risen from table, and most of his domestics had retired 
to their own apartments, the conspirators passed through the two outer 
courts of the palace unobserved. They were at the bottom of the stair- 
case before a page in waiting could give the alarm to his master, who was 
conversing with a few friends in a lai^e hall. The governor, whose steady 
mind no form of danger could appal, starting up, called for arms, and 
commanded Francisco de Chaves to make fast the door. But that officer, 
who did not retain so much presence of mind as to obey this prudent 
order, running to the top of the staircase, wildly asked the conspirators 
what they meant, and whither they were going ? Instead of answering, 
they stabbed him to the heart, and burst into the hall. Some of the per- 
sons who were there threw themselves from the windows ; others attempt- 
ed to fly ; and a few drawing their swords followed their leader into an 
inner apartment. The conspirators, animated with having the object of 
their vengeance now in view, rushed forward after them. Pizarro, with 
no other arms than his sword and buckler, defended the entry ; and, sup- 
ported by his half brother Alcantara, and his little knot of friends, he 
maintained the unequal contest with intrepidity worthy of his past exploits, 
and with the vigour of a youthful combatant. " Courage," cried he, 
" companions ! we are yet enow to make those traitors repent of their au- 
dacity." But the armour of the conspirators protected them, while every 
thrust they made took effect. Alcantara fell dead at his brother's feet ; 
his other defenders were mortally wounded. The governor, so weary 
that he could hardly wield his sword, and no longer able to parry the many 
weapons furiously aimed at him, received a deadly thrust full in his throat, 
sunk to the ground, and expired. 

As soon as be was slain, the assassins ran out into the streets, and, waving 
their bloody swords, proclaimed the death of the tyrant. Above two 
hundred of their associates having joined them, they conducted young Al- 
magro in solemn procession through the city, and, assembling the magis- 
trates and principal citizens, compelled them to acknowledge him as lawful 
successor to his father in his government. The palace of Pizarro, together 
with the houses of several of his adherents, was pillaged by the soldiers, 
who had the satisfaction at once of being avenged on their enemies, and 
of enriching themselves by the spoils of those through whose hands all the 
wealth of Peru had passed.* 

The boldness and success of the conspiracy, as well as the name and 
popular qualities of Almagro, drew many soldiers to his standard. Every 
adventurer of desperate fortune, all who were dissatisfied with Pizarro 

* Zarate, lib. iv. c. 6— s'. Gomara Hist. c. 144. 145. Vegs, p. 11. Hb. iii. r, 5— 7. Herrera, dec. 
6. lib. X. c. 4—7. PizRrru Viir. Illust, ji. l«3. 



A Al E R I C A. 293 

(and tVom the rapaciousness of his government in the latter years of his 
life the number of malecontents was considerable), declared without hesi- 
tation in favour of Almagro, and he was soon at the head of eight hundred 
of the most gallant veterans in Peru. As his youth and inexperience dis- 
qualified him from taking the command 6f them himself, he appointed 
Herrada to act as general. But though Almagro speedily collected such 
a respectable force, the acquiescence in his government was far from being 
general. Pizarro had left many friends to whom his memory was dear ; 
the barbarous assassination of a man to whom his country was so highly 
indebted, filled every impartial person with horror. 'I he ignominious 
birth of Almagro, as well as the doubtful title on which he founded his 
pretensions, led others to consider him as a usurper. The officers who 
commanded in some provinces refused to recognise his authority until it 
%vas confirmed by the emperor. In others, particularly at Cuzco, the royal 
standard was erected, and preparations were begun in order to revenge 
the murder of their ancient leader. 

Those seeds of discord, which could not have lain long dormant, acquired 
great vigour and activity when the arrival of Vaca de Castro was known. 
After a long and disastrous voyage, he was driven by stress of weather 
into a small harbour in the province of Popayan ; and proceeding from 
thence by land, after a journey no less tedious than difficult, he reached 
Quito. In his way he received accounts of Pizarro's death, and of the 
events which followed upon it. He immediately produced the royal 
commission appointing him governor of Peru, with the same privileges and 
authority ; and his jurisdiction was acknowledged without hesitation by 
Benalcazar, adelantado or lieutenant-general for the emperor in Popayan, 
and by Pedro de Puelles, who, in the absence of Gonzalo Pizarro, had 
the command of the troops left in Quito. Vaca de Castro not only assumed 
the supreme authority, but showed that he possessed the talents which the 
exercise of it at that juncture required. By his influence and address he 
soon assembled such a body of troops, as not only to set him above all 
fear of being exposed to any insult from the adverse party, but enabled 
him to advance Irom Quito with the dignity which became his character. 
By despatching persons of confidence to the different settlements in Peru 
with a formal notification of his arrival and of his commission, he commu- 
nicated to his countrymen the royal pleasure with respect to the govern- 
ment of the country. By private emissaries, he excited such officers as 
had discovered their disapprobation of Almagro's proceedings, to manifest 
their duty to their sovereign by supporting the person honoured with his 
commission. Those measures were productive of great effects. En- 
couraged by the approach of the new governor, or prepared by his 
machinations, the loyal were confirmed in their principles, and avowed 
them with greater boldness ; the timid ventured to declare their sentiments; 
the neutral and wavering, finding it necessary to choose a side, began 
to lean to that which now appeared to be the safest as well as the most 
just.* 

Almagro observed the rapid progress of this spirit of disaflection to his 
cause ; and in order to give an effectual check to it before the arrival of 
Vaca de Castro, he set out at the head of his troops for Cuzco [1542], 
where the most considerable body of opponents had erected the royal 
standard, under the command of Pedro Alvarez Holguin. During his 
march thither, Herrada, the skilful guide of his youth and of his counsels, 
died ; and from that time his measures were conspicuous for their violence, 
but concerted with little sagacity, rmd executed with no address. Holguin, 
who, with forces far interior to those of the opposite party, was descend- 

♦ Benzon, lib. iii. c 9. Zaratc. lib. iv. c. 11. Gomar.i, c. HG, 147. Herrcra, dec. 6. lib. x. c. I, 
2, 3. 7, &.C. 



29-i HISTORY OF [BookVI. 

Jng towards flic coast at the veiy time that Almagro was on his way to 
Cuzco, deceived his inexperienced adversary by a very simple stratagem, 
avoided an engagement, and effected a junction with Alvarado, an officer 
of note, who had been the first to declare against Alniagro as a usurper. 

Soon after, Vaca de Castro entered their camp with the troops vs hich 
he brought from Quito ; and erecting the royal standard before his own 
tent, he declared that, as governor, he would discharge in person all 
the functions of general of their combined forces. Though termed by 
the tenor of his past life to the habits of a sedentary and pacitic profession, 
he at once assumed the activity and discovered the decision of an officer 
long accustomed to command. Knowing his strength to be now far supe- 
rior to that of the enemy, he was impatient to terminate the contest by a 
battle. Nor did the followers of Almagro, who had no hopes of obtaining 
a pardon for a crime so atrocious as the murder of the governor, decline 
that mode of decision. They met at Chupaz [Sept. 16], about two hun- 
dred miles from Cuzco, and fought with all the fierce animosity inspired 
by the violence of civil rage, the rancour of private enmity, the eagerness 
of revenge, and the last eflbrts of despair. Victory, after remaining long 
doubtful, declared at last for Vaco de Castro. The superior number of 
his troops, his own intrepidity, and the martial talents of Francisco de 
Carvajal, a veteran officer formed under the great captain in the wars of 
Italy, and who on that day laid the foundation of his future fame in Peru, 
triumphed over the braveiy of his opponents, though led on by young 
Almagro with a gallant spirit worthy of a better cause, and deserving 
another fate. The carnage was great in proportion to the number of the 
combatants. Many of the vanquished, especially such as were conscious 
that they might be charged with being accessary to the assassination of 
Pizarro, rushing on the swords of the enemy, chose to fall like soldiers 
rather than wait an ignominious doom. Ot fourteen hundred men, the 
total amount of combatants on both sides, five hundred lay dead on the 
field, and the number of the wounded was still greater.* 

If the military talents displayed by Vaca de Castro, both in the council 
and in the field, surprised the adventurers in Peru, they were still more 
astonished at his conduct after the victory. As he was by nature a rigid 
dispenser of justice, and persuaded that it required examples of extraor- 
dinary severity to restrain the licentious spirit of soldiers so far removed 
from the seat of government, he proceeded directly to try his prisoners as 
rebels. Forty were condemned to suffer the death of traitors, others were 
banished from Peru. Their leader, who made his escape from the battle, 
being betrayed by some of his officers, was publicly beheaded in Cuzco ; 
3nd in him the name of Almagro, and the spirit of the party, was extinct.f 

During those violent convulsions in Peru, the emperor and his ministers 
were intently employed in preparing regulations, by which they hoped not 
only to re-establish tranquillity there, but to introduce a more perfect system 
of internal policy into all their settlements in the New World. It is 
manifest from all the events recorded in the history of America, that, 
rapid and extensive as the Spanish conquests there had been, they were 
not carried on by any regular exertion of the national force, but by the 
occasional efforts of private adventurers. After fitting out a few of tlie 
first armaments for discovering new regions, the court of Spain, during the 
busy reigns of Ferdinand and Charles V., the former the most intriguing 
prince ot the age, and the latter the most ambitious, was encumbered with 
such a multiplicity of schemes, and involved in war with so many nations 
of Europe, that he had not leisure to attend to distant and Jess interesting 

* V.arate, lib. iv. c. 12—10. Gomarn, r. 148. Vcsa, p. 11. lib. iii. c. U— 18. Herrera, dec. 7, 
;ib. i. <•. 1, 2, ;i, lib. iii. c. 1—11. { ZarHU;, lib. iv. c, h. Gumarn, ( . l.W. Herrera, (1<t. 7. lib. iii 
f. I'i. lib. vi. <■. 1. 



AMERICA. 296 

objects. The care of prosecuting discoveiy, or of attempting conquest, 
was abandoned to individuals ; and with such ardour did men push forward in 
this new career, on which noveUy, the spirit of adventure, avarice, ambition, 
and the hope of meriting heaven, prompted them with combined influence 
to enter, that in less than half a century almost the whole of that extensive 
empire which Spain now possesses in the New World, was subjected to 
its dominion. As the Spanisli court contributed nothing towards the various 
expeditions undertaken in America, it was not entitled lo claim much from 
their success. The sovereignty of the conquered provinces, with the fifth 
of the gold and silver, was reserved for the crown ; every thing else was 
seized by the associates in each expedition as their own right. The 
plunder of the countries which they invaded served to indemnify them for 
what they had expended in equipping themselves for the service, and the 
conquered territory was divided among them, according to rules which 
custom had introduced, as permanent establishments which their successful 
\alour merited. In the infancy of those settlements, when their extent as 
^vell as tlieir value was unknown, many irregularities escaped observation, 
and it was found necessary to connive at many excesses. The conquered 
people were frequently pillaged with destructive rapacity, and their country 
parcelled out among its new masters in exorbitant shares, far exceeding 
the highest recompense due to their services. The rude conquerors of 
America, incapable of forming their establishments upon any general or 
extensive plan of policy, attentive only to private interest, unwilling to 
forego present gain from the prospect of remote or public benefit, seem to 
have had no object but to amass sudden wealth, without regarding what 
might be the consequences of the means by which they acquired it. But 
when time at length discovered to the Spanish court the importance of its 
American possessions, the necessity of new-modelling their whole frame 
became obvious, and in place of the maxims and practices prevalent 
among military adventurers, it was found requisite to substitute the insti- 
tutions of regular government. 

One evil in particular called for an immediate remedy. The conquerors 
of Mexico and Peru imitated the fatal example of their countiTmen settled 
in the islands, and employed themselves in searching for gold and silver 
with the same inconsiderate eagerness. Similar effects followed. The 
natives employed in this labour by masters, who in imposing tasks had no 
regard either to what they felt or to what they were able to perform, pined 
away and perished so fast, that there was reason to apprehend that Spain, 
instead of possessing countries peopled to such a degree as to be suscep- 
tible of progressive improvement, would soon remain proprietor only of a 
vast uninhabited desert. 

The emperor and his ministers were so sensible of this, and so solicitous 
to prevent the extinction of the Indian race, which threatened to render 
their acquisitions of no value, that from time to time various laws, which 
I have mentioned, had been made for securing to that unhappy people 
more gentle and equitable treatment. But the distance of America from 
the seat of empire, the feebleness of government in the new colonies, the 
avarice and audacity of soldiers unaccustomed to restraint, prevented these 
salutary regulations from operating with any considerable influence. The 
evil continued to grow, and at this time the emperor found an interval of 
leisure from the affairs of Europe to take it into attentive consideration. 
He consulted not only vvith his ministers and the members of the council 
of the Indies, but called upon several persons who had resided long in the 
New World to aid them with the result of their experience and observa- 
tion. Fortunately for the people of America, among these was Bartholo- 
mew de las Casas, who happened to be then at Madrid on a mission from 
a Chapter of his order at Chiapa.* Though since the miscarriage of his 

' Remofal Ifi?t, de rhiapa. p. UO. 



29S HISTORY OF [Book VI. 

former schemes for the relief of the Indians, he had continued shut up iu 
his cloister, or occupied in religious functions, his zeal in behalf of the 
fonner objects of his pity was so far from abating, that, from an increased 
knowledge of their sufferings, its ardour had augmented. He seized 
eagerly this opportunity of reviving his favourite maxims concerning the 
treatment of the Indians. With the moving eloquence natural to a man 
on whose mind the scenes which he had beheld had made a deep impres- 
sion, he described the irreparable waste of the human species in the New 
World, the Indian race almost totally swept away in the islands in less 
than fifty years, and hastening to extinction on the continent with the same 
rapid decay. With the decisive tone of one strongly prepossessed with 
the truth of his own system, he imputed all this to a single cause, to the 
exactions and cruelty of his countiymen, and contended that nothing could 
prevent the depopulation of America, but the declaring of its natives to be 
freemen, and treating them as subjects, not as slaves. Nor did he confide 
for the success of this proposal in the powers of his oratory alone. In 
order to enforce them, he composed his famous treatise concerning the 
destruction of America,* in which he relates, with many horrid circum- 
stances, but with apparent marks of exaggerated description, the devasta- 
tion of every province which had been visited by the Spaniards. 

The emperor was deeply afflicted with the recital ot so many actions 
shocking to humanity. But as his views extended far beyond those of Las 
Casas, he perceived that relieving the Indians from oppression was but one 
step towards rendering his possessions in the New World a valuable acqui- 
sition, and would be of little avail, unless he could circumscribe the power 
and usurpations of his own subjects there. The conquerors of America, 
however great their merit had been towards their country, were mostly 
persons of such mean birth, and of such an abject rank in society, as gave no 
distinction in the eye of a monarch. The exorbitant wealth with which 
some of them returned, gave umbrage to an age not accustomed to see men 
in inferior condition elevated above their level, and rising to emulate or to 
surpass the ancient nobility in splendour. The territories which their 
leaders had appropriated to themselves were of such enormous extent [139], 
that, if the country should ever be improved in proportion to the fertility 
of the soil, they must 2,row too wealthy and too powerful for subjects. It 
appeared to Charles tnat this abuse required a remedy no less than the 
ether, and that the regulations concerning both must be enforced by a mode 
of government more vigorous than had yet been introduced into America. 

With this view he framed a body of laws, containing many salutary 
appointments with respect to the constitution and powers of the supreme 
council of the Indies ; concerning the station and jurisdiction of the royal 
audiences in different parts of America; the administration of justice ; the 
order of government, both ecclesiastical and civil. These were approved 
of by all ranks of men. But together with them were issued the following 
regulations, which excited universal alarm, and occasioned the most violent 
convulsions : " That as the repartimientns or shares of land seized by several 
persons appeared to be excessive, the royal audiences are empowered to 
reduce them to a moderate extent : That upon the death of any conqueror 
or planter, the lands and Indians granted to him shall not descend to his 
widow or children, but return to the crown : That the Indians shall hence- 
forth be exempt from personal service, and shall not be compelled to carry 
the baggage of travellers, to labour in the mines, or to dive in the pearl 
fisheries : That the stated tribute due by them to their superior shall be 
ascertained, and they shall be paid as servants for any work they voluntarily 
perform : That all persons who aie or have been in public offices, all 
^ecclesiastics of every denomination, all hospitals and monasteries, shall be 
deprived of the lands and Indians allotted to them, and t)iese bo annexed 

* Rpinpsa!. v. IB?. IPO. 



AMERICA. 297 

io tlje crown : That every person in Peru, who had any criminal concern 
in the contest between Pizarro and Almagro should forfeit his lands and 
Indians."* 

All the Spanish ministers who had hitherto been intrusted with the 
direction of American affairs, and who were best acquainted with the state 
of the countiy, remonstrated against those regulations as ruinous to their 
infant colonies. They represented, that the number of Spaniards who 
had hitherto emigrated to the New World was so extremely small, that 
nothing could be expected from any effort of theirs towards improving the 
vast regions over which they were scattered ; that the success of every 
scheme for this purpose must depend upon the ministry and service of the 
Indians, whose native indolence and aversion to labour, no prospect of 
benefit or promise of reward could surmount ; that the moment the right of 
imposing a task, and exacting the performance of it, was taken from their 
masters, every work of industry must cease, and all the sources from which 
wealth began to pour in upon Spain must be stopped for ever. But Charles, 
tenacious at all times of his own opinions, and so much impressed at present 
with the view of the disorders which reigned in America, that he was 
willing to hazard the application even of a dangerous remedy, persisted in 
his resolution of publishing the laws. That they might be carried into 
execution with greater vigour and authority, he authorized Francisco Tello 
de Sandoval to repair to Mexico as Visitador, or superintendent of that 
country, and to co-operate with Antonio de Mendoza, the viceroy, in en- 
forcing them. He appointed Blasco Nugnez Vela to be governor of 
Peru, with the title of viceroy ; and in order to strengthen his adminis- 
tration, he established a court of royal audience in Lima [1543], in which 
four lawyers of eminence were to preside as judges.! 

The viceroy and superintendent sailed at the same time ; and an account 
of the laws which they were to enforce reached America before them. 
The entry of Sandoval into Mexico was viewed as the prelude of general 
ruin. The unlimited grant of liberty to the Indians affected eveiy Spaniard 
in America without distinction, and there was hardly one who might not on 
some pretext be included under the other regulations, and suffer by them. 
But the colony in New Spain had now been so long accustomed to the 
restraints of law and authority under the steady and prudent administration 
of Mendoza, that, how much soever the spirit of the new statutes was de- 
tested and dreaded, no attempt was made to obstruct the publication of 
them by any act of violence unbecoming subjects. The magistrates and 
principal inhabitants, however, presented dutiful addresses to the viceroy 
and superintendent, representing (he fatal consequences of enforcing them. 
Happily for them Mendoza, by long residence in the country, was so tho- 
roughly acquainted with its state, that he knew what was for its interest as 
well as what it could bear ; and Sandoval, though new in office, displayed 
a degree of moderation seldom possessed by persons just entering upon the 
exercise of power. They engaged to suspend, for some time, the execution 
of what was offensive in the new laws, and not only consented that a depu- 
tation of citizens should be sent to Europe to lay before the emperor the 
apprehensions of his subjects in New Spain with respect to their tendency 
and effects, but they concurred with them in supporting their sentiments. 
Charles, moved by the opinion of men whose abilities and integrity entitled 
them to decide concerning what fell inmiediately under their own view, 
granted such a relaxation of the rigour of the laws as re-established the 
colony in its former tranquillity. t 

In Peru the storm gathered with an aspect still more fierce and threaten- 

• Hcrrem, dec. 7. lib. vi. c. 4. Fernandez Hist. lib. i. c. 1, 2. t Zaratc, lib. iii. c. 34. Go- 

mara. c. 151. Vuga, p. 3. lib. iil. c. 30. ^ Fernandez. Hint. lib. i. c. .'), 4, . 5. Vega, p. 11. lib. iii. 

c. 21, 22. Herrera, dec, 7. lib. v. r. 7. lib. vii. c. 14, l.";. Torquem. Mond. Ind. lib. v. c. n 
Vol. ].—?.?, 



S98 HISTORY OF fBooKVI. 

ing, and was not so soon dispelled. The conquerors of Peru, of a rank 
much inferior to those who had subjected Mexico to the Spanish crown, 
further removed from the inspection of the parent state, and intoxicated 
Avitb the sudden acquisition of wealth, carried on all their operations with 
greater license and irregularity than any body of adventurers in the New 
World. Amidst the general subversion of law and order, occasioned by 
two successive civil wars, when each individual was at liberty to decide 
for himself, without any guide but his own interest or passions, this turbulent 
spirit rose above all sense of subordination. To men thus corrupted by 
anarchy, the introduction of regular government, the power of a viceroy, 
and the authority of a respectable court of judicature, would of themselves 
have appeared formidable restraints, to which they would have submitted 
with reluctance But they revolted with indignation against the idea of 
complying with laws, by which they were to be stripped at once of all 
they had earned so hardly during many j^ears of service and suffering. As 
the account of the new laws spread successively through the different settle- 
ments, the inhabitants ran together, the women in tears, and the men 
exclaiming against the injustice and ingratitude of their sovereign in de- 
priving them, unheard and unconvicted, of their possessions. " Is this," 
cried they, "the recompense due to persons, who, without public aid, at 
their OAvn expense, and by their own valour, have subjected lo the crown of 
Castile territories of such immense extent and opulence ? Are these the 
rewards bestowed for having endured unparalleled distress, for having 
encountered every species of danger in the service of their country ? V\ hose 
merit is so great, whose conduct has been so irreproachable, that he may 
not be condemned by some penal clause in regulations, conceived in terms 
as loose and comprehensive, as if it had been intended that all should be 
entangled in their snare ? Every Spaniard of note in Peru has held some 
public office, and all, without distinction, have been constrained to take an 
active part in the contest between the two rival chiefs. Were the former 
to be robbed of their property because they had done their duty ? Were the 
latter to be punished on account of what they could not avoid ? Shall the 
conquerors of this great empire, instead of receiving marks of distinction, 
be deprived of the natural consolation of providing for their widows and 
children, and leave them to depend for subsistence on the scanty supply 
they can extort from unfeeling courtiers ?* We are not able now," continued 
they, " to explore unknown regions in quest of more secure settlements ; 
our constitutions debilitated with age, and our bodies covered with wounds, 
are no longer tit for active service ; but still we possess vigour sufficient to 
assert our just rights, and we will not tamely suffer them to be wrested 
from us."t 

By discourses of this sort, uttered with vehemence, and listened to with 
universal approbation, their passions were inflamed to such a pitch that 
they were prepared for the most violent measures ; and began to hold con- 
sultations in different places, how they might oppose the entrance of the 
viceroy and judges, and prevent not only the execution but the promulga- 
tion of the new laws. From this, however, they were diverted by the 
address of Vaca de Castro, who flattered them with hopes, that, as soon as 
the viceroy and judges should arrive, and had leisure to examine their pe- 
titions and remonstrances, they would concur with them in endeavouring 
to procure some mitigation in the rigour of laws which had been framed 
without due attention either to the state of the country, or to the senti- 
ments of the people. A greater degree of accommodation to these, and 
even some concessions on the part of government, were now become requi- 
site to compose the present ferment, and to soothe the colonists into sub- 

* Hfirrera, dec. 7. lib. vii. c. 14, 15. f Goniara, c. l.W. JlPrrcra. dec. 7, lib. vi. c. 10, U. 

\r^n. p. 11. lib. iii. c. 20. 22. lib. Iv. r. 3, 4. 



AMERICA. 299 

mission, by inspiring tiiem with confidence in their superiors. But without 
profound discernment, conciliating manners, and flexibility of temper, such 
a plan could not be carried on. The viceroy possessed none of these. 
Of all the qualities that fit men for high command, he was endowed only 
with integrity and courage ; the former harsh and uncomplying, the latter 
bordering so frequently on rashness or obstinacy, that, in his situation, they 
ivere defects rather than virtues. From the moment thnt he landed at 
Tumbez [March 4], Nugnez Vela seems to have considered himself 
merely as an executive officer, without any discretionary power ; and, re- 
gardless of whatever he observed or heard concerning the state ot the 
country, he adliered to the letter of the regulations with unrelenting rigour. 
In all the towns through which he passed, the natives were declared to 
be free, every person in public office was deprived of his lands and ser- 
vants ; and as an example of obedience to others, he would not suffer a 
single Indian to be employed in carrying his own baggage in his march to- 
wards Lima. Amazement and consternation went betore him as he ap- 
proached.; and so little solicitous was he to prevent these from augmenting, 
that, on entering the capital, he openly avowed that he came to obey the 
orders of his sovereign, not to dispense with his laws. This harsh decla- 
ration was accompanied with what rendered it still more intolerable, 
haughtiness in deportment, a tone of arrogance and decision in discourse, 
and an insolence of office grievous to men little accustomed to hold civil 
authority in high respect. Every attempt to procure a suspension or miti- 
gation of the new laws, the viceroy considered as flowing from a spirit of 
disaffection that tended to rebellion. Several pei-sons of rank were con- 
fined, and some put to death, without any form of trial. Vaca de Castro 
was arrested ; and notwithstanding the dignity of his former rank, and his 
merit, in having prevented a general insurrection in the colony, he was 
loaded with chains, and shut up in the common jail.* 

But however general the indignation was against such proceedings, it is 
probable the hand of authority would have been strong enough to suppress 
it, or to prevent it bursting out with open violence, if the malecontents had 
not been provided with a leader of credit and eminence to unite and to 
direct their efforts. From the time that the purport of the new regulations 
was known in Peru, every Spaniard there turned his eyes towards Gon- 
zalo Pizarro, as the only person able to avert the ruin with which they 
threatened the colony. From all quarters, letters and addresses were sent 
to hini, conjuring him to stand forth as their common protector, and offer- 
ing to support him in the attempt with their lives and fortunes. Gonzalo, 
though inferior in talents to his other brothers, was equally ambitious, and 
of courage no less daring. The behaviour of an ungrateful court towards 
his brothers and himself dwelt continually on his mind. Ferdinand a state 
prisoner in Europe, the children of the a:overnor in custody of the viceroy, 
and sent aboard his fleet, himself reduced to the condition of a private 
citizen in a country for the discovery and conquest of which Spain was in- 
debted to his family — these thoughts prompted him to seek for vengeance, 
and to assert the rights of his family, of which he now considered himself 
as the guardian ana the heir. But as no Spaniard can easily surmount that 
veneration for his sovereign which seems to be interwoven in his frame, 
the idea of marching in arms against the royal standard filled him with 
horror. He hesitated long, and was still unresolved, when the violence of 
the viceroy, the universal call of his countrymen, and the certainty of be- 
coming soon a victim himself to the severity of the new laws, moved him 
to quit his residence at Chuquisaca de la Plata, and repair to Cuzco. All 
the inhabitants went out to meet him, and received him with transports of 

• Zarnte, lib. iv. c. 23, 2-1, 25. Gomara, c. l.'JS — LW. Vega, p. H. lib. i v. c. 4, .S. ffrnvniez, 
lib. i.e. 6— 10 



300 H I S T O R Y O F [Book VI. 

joy as the deliverer of the colony. In the fervour of their zeal, they elect- 
ed him procurator-general of the Spanish nation in Peru, to solicit the re- 
peal of the late regulations. They empowered him to lay their remon- 
strances before the royal audience in Lima, and, upon pretext of danger 
from the Indians, authorized him to march thither in arms [1544]. Under 
sanction of this nomination Pizarro took possession of the royal treasure, 
appointed officers, levied soldiers, seized a large train of artillery vs^hich 
Vaca (ie Castro had deposited in Gumanga, and set out for Lima as if he 
had been advancing against a public enemy. Disaffection having now as- 
sumed a regular form, and being united under a chief of such distinguish- 
ed name, many persons of note resorted to his standard ; and a considerable 
part of the troops, raised by the viceroy to oppose his progress, deserted 
to him in a body.* 

Before Pizarro reached Lima, a revolution had happened there, which 
encouraged him to proceed with almost certainty of success. The violence 
of the viceroy's administration was not more formidable to the Spaniards 
of Peru than his overbearing haughtiness was odious to his associates, the 
judges of the royal audience. During their voyage from Spain, some symp- 
toms of coldness between the viceroy and them began to appear. f But 
as soon as they entered upon the exercise of their respective offices, both 
parties were so much exasperated by frequent contests, arising from inter- 
ference of jurisdiction and contrariety of opinion, that their mutual disgust 
soon grew into open enmity. The judges thwarted the viceroy in every 
measure, set at liberty prisoners whom he had confined, justified the male- 
contents, and applauded their remonstrances. At a time when both de- 
partments of government should have united against the approaching 
enemy, they were contending with each other for superiority. The 
judges at length prevailed. The viceroy, universally odious, and abandon- 
ed even by his own guards, was seized in his palace [Sept. 18], and carried 
to a desert island on the coast, to be kept there until he could be sent home 
to Spain. 

The judges, in consequence of this, having assumed the supreme direc- 
tion of affairs into their own hands, issued a proclamation suspending the 
execution of the obnoxious laws, and sent a message to Pizarro, requiring 
him, as they had already granted whatever he could request, to dismiss 
his troops, and to repair to Lima with fifteen or twenty attendants. They 
could hardly expect that a man so daring and ambitious would tamely 
comply with this requisition. It was made, probably, with no such inten- 
tion, but only to throw a decent veil over their own conduct ; for Cepeda, 
the president of the court of audience, a pragmatical and aspiring lawyer, 
seems to have held a secret correspondence with Pizarro, and had already 
formed the plan, which he afterwards executed, of devoting himself to 
his service. The imprisonment of the viceroy, the usurpation of the 
judges, together with the universal confusion and anarchy consequent upon 
events so singular and unexpected, opened new and vast prospects to Pi- 
zarro. He now beheld the supreme power within his reach. Nor did he 
want courage to push on towards the object which fortune presented to 
Lis view. Carvajal, the prompter of his resolutions, and guide of all his 
actions, had long fixed his eye upon it as the only end at which Pizarro 
ought to aim. Instead of the inferior function of procurator for the Span- 
ish settlements in Peru, he openly demanded to be governor and captain- 
general of the w^hole province, and required the court of audience to grant 
him a commission to that effect. At the head of twelve hundred men, 
within a mile of Lima, where there was neither leader nor army to oppose 
him, such a request carried with it the authority of a command. But the 

• Zarate, lib. v. c. 1. Gomara, c. 156, 157. Vega, p. 11. lib. iv. c. 4—12. Fernandez, lib. i. c 
12—17. Jkrrera. dpr. 7. lib. vli. c. 18, &.e. lih. viii. c. 1—5. t Gnmara, c. 171. 



AMERICA. 301 

judges, either from unwillingness to relinquish power, or t'rom a desire of 
preserving some attention to appearances, hesitated, or seemed to hesitate, 
about complying with what he demanded. Carvajai, impatient of delay, 
and impetuous in all his operations, marched into the city by night, seized 
several officers of distinction obnoxious to Pizarro, and hanged them with- 
out the formality of a trial. Next morning the court of audience issued 
a commission in the emperor's name, appointing Pizarro governor of Peru, 
with full powers, civil as well as military, and he entered the town that 
day with extraordinary pomp, to take possession of his new dignity.* 

Oct. 28.] But amidst the disorder and turbulence which accompanied 
this total dissolution of the frame of government, the minds of men, set 
loose from the ordinary restraints of law and authority, acted with such 
capricious irregularity, that events no less extraordinary than unexpected 
followed in a rapid succession. Pizarro had scarcely hegun to exercise 
the new powers with which he was invested, when he beheld formidable 
enemies rise up to oppose him. The viceroy having been put on board a 
vessel by the judges of the audience, in order that he might be carried to 
Spain under custody of Juan Alvarez one of their own number; as soon 
as they were out at sea, Alvarez, either touched with remorse, or moved 
by fear, kneeled down to his prisoner, declared him from that moment to 
be free, and that he himself, and every person in the ship, would obey him 
as the legal representative of their sovereign. Nugnez Vela ordered the 

Kilot of the vessel to shape his course towards Tuniliez, and as soon as he 
mded there, erected the royal standard, and resumed his functions of 
viceroy. Several persons of note, to whom the contagion of the seditious 
spirit which reigned at Cuzco and Lima had not reached, instantly avowed 
tneir resolution to support his authority.! The violence of Pizarro's go- 
vernment, who observed every individual with the jealousy natural to 
usurpers, and who punished every appearance of disaffection with unfor- 
giving severity, soon augmented the number of the viceroy's adherents, as 
it forced some leading men in the colony to fly to him for refuge. While 
he was gathering such strength at Tumhez, that his forces began to assume 
the appearance of what was considered as an army in America, Diego 
Centeno, a bold and active officer, exasperated by the cruelty and oppres- 
sion of Pizarro's lieutenant-governor in the province of Charcas, formed a 
conspiracy against his life, cut him off, and declared for the viceroy .J 

1545.] Pizarro, though alarmed with those appearances of hostility in 
the opposite extremes of the empire, was not disconcerted. He prepared 
to assert the authority, to which ne had attained, with the spirit and con- 
duct of an officer accustomed to command, and marched directly against 
the viceroy as the enemy who was nearest as well as most Ibrmidable. 
As he was master of the public revenues in Peru, and most of the military 
men were attached to his family, his troops were so numerous, that the 
viceroy, unable to face them, retreated towards Quito. Pizarro followed 
him ; and in that long march, through a wild, mountainous country, suffered 
hardships, and encountered difficulties, which no troops but those accus- 
tomed to serve in America could have endured or surmounted [140]. The 
viceroy had scarcely reached Quito, when the vanguard of Pizarro's 
forces appeared, led by Carvajai, who, though near fourscore, was as 
hardy and active as any young soldier under his command. Nugnez Vela 
instantly abandoned a town incapable of defence, and, with a rapidity 
more resembling a flight than a retreat, marched into the province of Po- 

Eayan. Pizarro continued to pursue ; but, finding it impossible to overtake 
im, returned to Quito. From thence he despatched Carvajai to oppose 

* Zarate, lib. V. c. 8— 10. Vp«a, p. 11. lib. iv. c. 13— 19. Gomara, c. 150— 16S. Fernandez, lib. 

J. c. 18—25. Herrera, dec. 7. lib. viii. c. 10—20. t Zarato, lib v. c. 9. Gomara, c. Kij. 

Fernandez, lib. i. c. 23. Herrera, dec. 7. lib. viii. c. 15. * Zarale, lib. v. r, I&. Gomara. r. 
J69. Herrera, Aer. 7. lib. ix. r. ?7. 



302 HISTORY OF [BooKVi. 

Centeno, who was growing formidable in the southern provinces of the 
einpire, and he himself remained there to make head against the viceroy.* 

By his own activity, and the assistance of Benalcazar, Nugnez Vela 
soon assembled four hundred men in Popayan. As he retained, amidst all 
his disasters, the same elevation of mind, and the same high sense of his 
own dignity, he rejected with disdain the advice of some of his followers 
Avho urged him to make overtures of accommodation to Pizarro, declaring 
that it was only by the sword that a contest with rebels could be decided. 
AVith this intention he marched back to Quito [1546]. Pizarro, relying on 
the superior number, and still more on the discipline and valour of his 
troops, advanced resolutely to meet him [Jan. 181. The battle was fierce 
and bloody, both parties fighting like men who knew that the possession 
of a great empire, the fate of their leaders, and their own future fortune, 
depended upon the issue of that day. But Pizarro's veterans pushed for- 
ward with such regular and well directed force, that they soon began to 
niake impression on their enemies. The viceroy, by extraordinary exer- 
tions, in which the abilities of a commander and the courage of a soldier 
were equally displayed, held victory for some time in suspense. At length 
he fell, pierced with many wounds ; and the route of his followers becam.e 
general. They were hotly pursued. His head was cut off, and placed 
on the public gibbet in Quito, which Pizarro entered in triumph. The 
troops assembled by Centeno were dispersed soon after by Carvajal, and 
he himself compelled to fly to the mountains, where he remained for 
several months concealed in a cave. Eveiy person in Peru, from the 
frontiers of Popayan to those of Chili, submitted to Pizarro ; and by his 
fleet, under Pedro de Hinojosa, he had not only the unrivalled command 
ol the South Sea, but had taken possession of Panama, and placed a gar- 
rison in Nombre de Dios, on the opposite side of the isthmus, which rendered 
him master of the only avenue oi communication between Spain and Peru, 
that was used at that period.j 

After this decisive victory, Pizarro and his followers remained for some 
time at Quito ; and during the first transports of their exultation, they ran 
into every excess of licentious indulgence, with the riotous spirit usual 
among low adventurers upon extraordinaiy success. But amidst this dis- 
sipation, their chief and his confidants were obliged to turn their thoughts 
sometimes to what was serious, and deliberated with much solicitude con- 
cerning the part that he ought now to take. Carvajal, no less bold and 
decisive in council than in the field, had from the beginning warned Pizarro, 
that in the career on which he was entering, it was vain to think of holding 
a middle course ; that he must either boldly aim at all, or attempt nothing. 
From the time that Pizarro obtained possession of the government of 
Peru, he inculcated the same maxim with greater earnestness. Upon re- 
ceiving an account of the victory at Quito, he remonstrated with him in a 
tone still more peremptory. " You have usurped," said he, in a letter 
written to Pizarro on that occasion, " the supreme power in this countrj', 
in contempt of the emperor's commission to the viceroy. You have 
marched in hostile array against the royal standard ; you have attacked 
the representative of your sovereign in the field, have defeated him, and 
cut off his head. Think not that ever a monarch will forgive such insults 
on his dignity, or that any reconciliation with him can be cordial or sincere. 
Depend no longer on the precarious favour of another. Assume yourself 
the sovereignty over a country to the dominion of which your family has 
a title founded on the rights both of discovei-y and conquest. It is in your 
power to attach eveiy Spaniard in Peru of any consequence inviolably to 

* Zaratc, lib. v. c. 15, 16—24. Goinara, c. 167. Vega, p. 11. lib. iv. c. 25—28. Fernandez, lib. 
i. c. 34. 40. Herrera, dec. 7. lib. viii. c. 16. 20—27. t Zarate, lib. v. c. 31, 32. Gonmra, r. 

170. Vega, p. 11. lib. iv. c. 33, 34. Fernandez, lib. i. c. 51—54. Herrera. dec. t. lib. x. c, 12, ]"J— 
52. dec. 8. lib. i. c. 1—3. Benzo, lib. iii. c. 12. 



AMERICA. 3U3 

your interest, by liberal grants of lands and of Indians, or by instituting 
ranks of nobility, and creating titles of honour similar to those which are^ 
courted with so much eagerness in Europe. By establishing orders of 
knighthood, with privileges and distinctions resembling those in Spain, you 
may bestow a gratification upon the officers in your service, suited to the 
ideas of military men. Nor is it to your countrymen only that you ought 
to attend ; endeavour to gain the natives. By marrying the Coya or 
daughter of the Sun next in succession to the crown, you will induce the 
Indians, out of veneration for the blood of their ancient princes, to unite 
with the Spaniards in support of your authority. — Thus, at the head of the 
ancient inhabitants of Peru, as well as of the new settlers there, vou may 
set at defiance the power of Spain, and repel with ease any feeble force 
which it can send at such a distance." Cepeda, the lawyer, who was 
now Pizarro's confidential counsellor, warmly seconded Carvajal's ex- 
hortations, and employed whatever learning he possessed in demonstrating, 
that all the founders of great monarchies had been raised to pre-eminence, 
not by the antiquity of their lineage, or the validity of their rights, but by 
their own aspiring valour and personal merit.* 

Pizarro listened attentively to both, and could not conceal the satisfaction 
with which he contemplated the object that they presented to his view. 
But, happily for the tranquillity of the world, i^w men possess that 
superior strength of mind, and extent of abilities, which are capable of 
forming and executing such daring schemes, as cannot be accomplished 
Avithout overturning the established order of society, and violating those 
maxims of duty which men are accustomed to hold sacred. The medio- 
crity of Pizarro's talents circumscribed his ambition within more narrow 
limits. Instead of aspiring at independent power, he confined his views 
to the obtaining from the court of Spain a confirmation of the authority 
which he now possessed ; and for that purpose he sent an officer of dis- 
tinction thither, to give such a representation of his conduct, and of the 
state of the country, as might induce the emperor and his ministers, either 
from inclination or from necessity, to continue him in his present station. 

While Pizarro was deliberating with respect to the part which he should 
take, consultations were held in Spain, with no less solicitude, concerning 
the measures which ought to be pursued in order to re-establish the em- 
peror's authority in Peru. Though unacquainted with the last excesses of 
outrage to which the malecontents had proceeded in that country, the 
court had received an account of the insurrection against the viceroy, ot 
his imprisonment, and the usurpation of the government by Pizarro. A 
revolution so alarming called for an immediate interposition of the em- 
peror's abilities and authority. But as he was fully occupied at that time 
in Germany, in conducting the war against the famous league of Smalkalde, 
one of the most interesting and arduous enterprises in his reign, the care 
of providing a remedy for the disorders in Peru devolved upon his son 
Philip, and the counsellors whom Charles had appointed to assist him in 
the government of Spain during his absence. At first view, the actions of 
Pizarro and his adherents appeared so repugnant to the duty of subjects 
towards their sovereign, that the greater part of the ministers insisted on 
declaring them instantly to be guilty of rebellion, and on proceeding to 
punish them with exemplary rigour. But when the fervour of their zeal 
and indignation began to abate, innumerable obstacles to the execution of 
this measure presented themselves. The veteran bands of infantiy, the 
strength and glory of the Spanish armies, were then employed in Ger- 
many. Spain, exhausted of men and money by a long series of wars, in 
which she had been involved by the restless ambition of two successive 
monaurchs, could not easily equip an armament ol suflicient force to reduce 

* Vega, p, 11. lil». iv. c, 40. Fernandez, lib. i, c. 34 lib, ii. c. 1, 4?, Hcrrcra, der.P. lib. ii. r. in. 



304 HISTORY OF [Book VI. 

Pizarro. To transport any respectable body of troops to a country so 
remote as Peru, appeared almost impossible. Wliile Pizarro continued 
master of the South Sea, the direct route by Nombre de Dios and Panama 
was impracticable. An attempt to march to Quito by land through the 
new kingdom of Granada, and the province of Popayan, across regions of 
prodigious extent, desolate, unhealthy, or inhabited by fierce and hostile 
tribes, would be attended with insurmountable danger and hardships. The 
passage to the South Sea by the Straits of Magellan was so tedious, so un- 
certain, and so little known in that age, that no confidence could be placed 
in any effort carried on in a course oJ navigation so remote and precarious. 
Nothing then remained but to relinquish the system which the ardour of 
their loyalty had first suggested, and to attempt by lenient measures what 
could not be effected by torce. It was manifest from Pizarro's solicitude 
to represent his conduct in a favourable light to the emperor, that notwith- 
standing the excesses of which he had been guilty, he still retained senti- 
ments of veneration for his sovereign. By a proper application to these, 
together with some such concessions as should discover a spirit ol mode- 
ration and forbearance in government, there was still room to hope that he 
might be yet reclaimed, or the ideas of loyalty natural to Spaniards might 
so far revive among his followers, that they would no longer lend their aid 
to uphold his usurped authoiity. 

The success, however, of this negotiation, no less delicate than it was 
important, depended entirely on the abilities and address of the person to 
whom it should be committed. After Aveighing with much attention the 
cojnparative merit of various persons, the Spanish ministers fixed with 
unanimity of choice upon Pedro de la Gasca, a priest in no higher station 
than that of counsellor to the Inquisition. Though in no public office, he 
had been occasionally employed by government in affiiirs of trust and con- 
sequence, and had conducted them with no less skill than success ; dis- 
l^laying a gentle and insinuating temper, accompanied with much firmness ; 
probity, superior to any feeling of private interest ; and a cautious cir- 
cumspection in concerting measures, followed by such vigour in executing 
them as is rarely found in alliance with the other. These qualities marked 
him out for the function to which he was destined. The emperor, to 
whom Gasca was not unknown, warmly approved of the choice, and 
communicated it to him in a letter containing expressions of good will and 
confidence, no less honourable to the prince who wrote, than to the subject 
who received it. Gasca, notwithstanding his advanced age and feeble 
constitution, and though, from the apprehensions natural to a man, who, 
during the course of his life, had never been out of his own countiy, be 
dreaded the effects of a long voyage, and of an unhealthy climate,* did 
not hesitate a moment about complying with the will ot his sovereign. 
But as a proof that it was from this principle alone he acted, he refused a 
bishopric which was offered to him in order that he might appear in Peru 
with a more dignified character ; he would accept of no higher title than 
that of President of the Court of Audience in Lima ; and declared that he 
would receive no salaiy on account of his discharging the duties of that 
office. All he required was, that the expense of supporting his family^ 
should be defrayed by the public ; and as he was to go like a minister ol 
peace with his gown and breviarj', and without any retinue but a few 
domestics, this would not load the revenue with any enormous burden.t 

But while he discovered such disinterested moderation with respect to 
whatever related personally to himself, he demanded his official powers in 
a very different tone. He insisted, as he was to be employed in a countiy 
so remote from the seat of government, where he could not have recourse 
to his sovereign for new instructions on every emergence ; and as the whole 

*Femandfiz,Ub. ii. c. 17. t Zarate, lib. vi. c. 6. Gnraara, c. 1T4. Ferr.anilcz, lib. ii.t, 

14—16. Vcja.p. II. lib. V. c. 1. Hcrrera. dec.8. lib. i. c. 4, &<•. 



AMERICA. 3US 

success of" his negotiations must depend upon the contidence which the 
people with whom he had to treat could place in the extent of his powers, 
that he ought to be invested with unlimited authority ; that his jurisdiction 
must reach to all persons and to all causes ; that he must be empowered 
to pardon, to punish, or to reward, as circumstances and the behaviour of 
diilerent men might require ; that in case of resistance from the malecon- 
tents, he might be authorized to reduce them to obedience by force of 
arms, to levy troops for that purpose, and to call for assistance from the 
governors of all the Spanish settlements in America. These powers, 
though manifestly conducive to the great objects of his mission, appeared 
to the Spanish ministers to be inalienable prerogatives of royalty, which 
ought not to be delegated to a subject, and they refused to grant them. 
But the emperor's views were more enlarged. As, from the nature of his 
employment, Gasca must be intrusted with discretionary power in several 
points, and all his efforts might prove ineffectual if he was circumscribed 
m any one particular, Charles scrupled not to invest him with authority to 
the full extent that he demanded. Highly satisfied with this fresh proof of 
his master's confidence, Gasca hastened his departure, and, without either 
money or troops, set out to quell a formidable rebellion.* 

On his arrival at Nombre de Dios [July 27], he found Herman Mexia, 
an officer of note posted there, by order of Pizarro, with a considerable 
body of men, to oppose the landing of any hostile forces. But Gasca ap- 
peared in such pacific guise, with a train so little formidable, and with a 
title of no such dignity as to excite terror, that he was received with much 
respect. From Nombre de Dios he advanced to Panama, and met with a 
similar reception from Hinojosa, whom Pizarro had intrusted with the 

fovernment of that town, and the command of his fleet stationed there, 
n both places he held the same language, declaring that he was sent by 
their sovereign as a messenger of peace, not as a minister of vengeance ; 
that he came to redress all their grievances, to revoke the laws which had 
excited alarm, to pardon past offences, and to re-establish order and justice 
in the government of Peru. His mild deportment, the simplicity of his 
manners, the sanctity of his profession, and a winning appearance of can- 
dour, gained credit to his declarations. The veneration due to a person 
clothed with legal authority, and acting in virtue of a royal commission, 
began to revive among men accustomed for some time to nothing more 
respectable than a usurped jurisdiction. Hinojosa, Mexia, and several other 
officers of distinction, to each of whom Gasca applied separately, were 
gained over to his interest, and waited only for some decent occasion of 
declaring openly in his favour.f 

This the violence of Pizarro soon afforded them. As soon as he heard 
of Gasca's arrival at Panama, though he received, at the same time, an 
account of the nature of his commission, and was informed of his offers not 
only to render every Spaniard in Peru easy concerning what was past, by 
an act of general oblivion, but secure with respect to the future, by re- 
pealing the ol)noxious laws ; instead of accepting with gratitude his sove- 
reign's gracious concessions, he was so much exasperated on finding that 
he was not to be continued in his station as governor of the country, that 
he instantly resolved to oppose the president's entry into F^eru, and to pre- 
vent his exercising any jurisdiction there. To this desperate resolution he 
added another highly preposterous. He sent a new deputation to Spain 
to justify this conduct, ana to insist, in name of all the communities in 
Peru, for a confirmation of the government to himself during life, as the 
only meaui, of preserving tranquillity there. The persons intrusl(;d with 
this strange commission, intimated the intention of Pizarro to the president, 
and required him, in his name, to depart from Panama and return to Spain. 

* Fernand'-z, lil>. ii. r. 10—18. * Ibid. lib. li. r. "JJ, &c. Zatate. lib. vj. n. P 7. Gomara, 

c. 175. Ws.i, p. 11. li;'. V. r. :< 
Vof,. J.— 3^ 



3U6 HIS T O R Y OF [Book VI. 

They carried likewise secret instructions to Hinojosa, directing him to offer 
Gasca a present of fifty thousand pesos, if he would comply voluntarily 
with what was demanded of him ; and if he should continue obstinate, to 
cut him off, either by assassination or poison.* 

Many circumstances concurred in pushing on Pizarro to those wild mea- 
sures. Having been once accustomed to supreme command, he could not 
bear the thoughts of descending to a private station. Conscious of his 
own demerit, he suspected that the emperor studied only to deceive him, 
and would never pardon the outrages which he had committed. His chief 
confidants, no less guilty, entertained the same apprehensions. The ap- 
proach of Gasca without any military force excited no terror. There 
were now above six thousand Spaniards settled in Peru ;t and at the head 
of these he doubted not to maintain his own independence, if the court of 
Spain should refuse to grant what he required. But he knew not that a 
spirit of defection had already begun to spread among those whom he 
trusted most. Hinojosa, amazed at Pizarro's precipitate resolution of setting 
himself in opposition to the emperor's commission, and disdaining to be 
his instrument in perpetrating the odious crimes pointed out in his secret 
instructions, publicly recognised the title of the president to the supreme 
authority in Peru. The officers under his command did the same. Such 
was the contagious mfluence of the example, that it reached even the de- 
puties who had been sent from Peru ; and at the time when Pizarro ex- 
pected to hear either of Gasca's return to Spain, or of his death, he 
received an account of his being master of the tleet, of Panama, and of 
the troops stationed there. 

1547.] Irritated almost to madness by events so unexpected, he openly 
prepared for war ; and in order to give some colour of justice to his arms, 
he appointed the court of audience in Lima to proceed to the trial of 
Gasca, for the crimes of having seized his ships, seduced his officers, and 
prevented his deputies from proceeding in their voyage to Spain. Cepeda, 
though acting as a judge in virtue of the royal commission, did not scruple 
to prostitute the dignity of his function by finding Gasca guilty of treason, 
and condemning him to death on that account.]; Wild and even ridiculous 
as this proceeding was, it imposed on the low illiterate adventurers, with 
whom Peru was filled, by the semblance of a legal sanction warranting 
Pizarro to carry on hostilities against a convicted traitor. Soldiers accoro- 
ingly resorted from every quarter to his standard, and he was soon at the 
head of a thousand men, the best equipped that had ever taken tlie field 
in Peru. 

Gasca, on his part, perceiving that force must be employed in order to 
accomplish the purpose of his mission, was no less assiduous in collecting 
troops from Nicaragua, Carthagena, and other settlements on the conti- 
nent ; and with such success, that he was soon in a condition to detach a 
squadron of his fleet, with a considerable body of soldiers, to the coast of 
Peru [April] Their appearance excited a dreadful alarm : and though 
they aid not attempt for some thne to make any descent, they did more 
effectual service by setting ashore in different places persons who dispersed 
copies of the act of general indemnity, and the revocation of the late 
edicts ; and who made known every where the pacific intentions, as well 
as mild temper, of the president. The effect of spreading this informa- 
tion was wonderful. All who were dissatisfied with Pizarro's violent 
administration, all who retained any sentiments of fidelity to their sovereign, 
began to meditate revolt. Some openly deserted a cause which they now 
deemed to be unjust. Centeno, leaving the cave in which lie lay concealed, 

» Zaratp, lib. vi. C.8. Fomandcz, lib. ii. c. 33. 34. Herrera, dec. 8. lib, il. c. 9, 1^. t Herrera, 
dec. 3. lib. iii. c. 1. * Fcrnaiidu/., lib. ii. c. J5. Vega, p. IJ. lib. v. c. 7. Herrera, doc. 3. lib. 

iii. r. 6. 



\ 



AMERICA. 307 



ssembled about fifty of his former adhereDts, and with this feeble half-armed 
band advanced boldly to Cuzco. By a sudden attack in the night-time, 
in which he displayed no less military skill than valour, he rendered him- 
self master of that capital, though delended l)y a garrison ot five hundred 
men. Most of these having ranged themselves under bis banners, he had 
soon the command of a respectable body of troops.* 

Pizarro, though astonished at beholding one enemy approaching by sea, 
and another by land, at a time when he trusted to the union of all Peru 
in his tavour, was of a spirit more undaunted, and more accustomed to the 
vicissitudes of fortune, than to be disconcerted or appalled. As the danger 
from C'enteno's operations was the most urgent, he instantly set out to 
oppose him. Having provided horses for all his soldiers, he marched 
with amazing rapidity. But every morning he found his force diminished, 
by numbers who had left him during the night ; and though he became 
suspicious to excess, and punished without mercy all whom he suspected, 
the rage of desertion was too violent to be checked. Before he got 
within sight of the enemy at Huarina, near the lake of Titiaca, he could 
not muster more than four hundred soldiers. But these he justly con- 
sidered as men of tried attachment, on whom he might depend. They 
were indeed the boldest and most desperate of his followers, conscious, 
like himself, of crimes for which they could hardly expect forgiveness, 
and without any hope but in the success of their arms. With these he 
did not hesitate to attack Centeno's troops [Oct. 20], though double to 
his own in number. The royalists did not decline the comi»at. It was 
the most obstinate and bloody that had hitherto been fought in Peru. At 
length the intrepid valour of Pizarro, and the superiority of Carvajal's 
militaiy talents, triumphed over numbers, and obtained a complete victory. 
The booty was immense [141], and the treatment of the vanquished cruel. 
By this signal success the reputation of Pizarro was re-established ; and 
being now deemed invincible in the field, his army increased daily in 
number.! 

But events happened in other parts of Peru, which more than counter- 
balanced the splendid victory at Huarina. Pizarro had scarcely left Lima, 
when the citizens, weary of his oppressive dominion, erected the royal 
standard, and Aldana, with a detachment of soldiers from the fleet, took 
possession of the town. About the same time,J asca landed at Tunbez 
with five hundred men. Encouraged by his presence, every settlement in 
the low country declared for the King. The situation of the two parties 
was now perfectly reversed ; Cuzco and the adjacent provinces were 
possessed by Pizarro ; all the rest of the empire, from Quito south- 
ward, acknowledged the jurisdiction of the president. As his numbers 
augmented fast, Gasca advanced into the interior part of the countnr'. 
Jlis behaviour still continued to be gentle and unassuming ; he expressed, 
oil eveiy occasion, his ardent wish of terminating the contest without 
bloodshed. More solicitous to reclaim than to punish, he upbraided no 
man for past offences, but received them as a father receives penitent 
children returning to a sense of their duty. Though desirous of peace, 
he did .lot slacken his preparations for war. He appointed the general 
rendezvous of his troops in the fertile valley of Xauxa, on the road to 
Cuzco.§ There he remained for some months, not only that he might 
have ti ne to make another attempt towards an accommodation with 
Pizan'o. but that he might train his new soldiers to the use of arms, and 
accustom them to the aiscipline of a camp, before he led them against a 
body of victorious veterans. Pizarro, intoxicated with the success which 

* Zarate. ib. vi. c. 13— IC. Oomara, c. 180, 181. Femaudoz, lib. ii. c. 28. 64, *c. 1 TIarste, 
lib. vii. c. 2, ;f. (iomara, c. 181. Voga, p. II. lib. v. c. 18, &c. Fernandez, lib. Ii. c. 79. Hem'ta, 
dec. 8. lib^iv. c. 1, '^. J Zarate, lib. vi. r. 17. ^ Ibid. lib. vii. c. ft. Fornati^lcr, liD ii. c. T7..-2. 



3oa HISTORY OF [Book VI. 

had hitherto accoinpanied his amis, and elated with having again near a 
thousand men under his command, refused to hsten to any terms, although 
Cepeda, tojj^ether with several of his officers, and even Carvajal him- 
self [l42j, gave it as their advice, to close with the president's offer of a 
general indemnity, and the revocation of the ohnoxious laws.* Gasca, 
having tried in vain every expedient to avoid imbruing his hands in the 
blood of his countrymen, began to move towards Cuzco [Dec. 29] at the 
head of sixteen hundred men. 

Pizarro, confident of victory, suffered the royalists to pass all the rivers 
which lie between Guamanga and Cuzco without opposition [1548], and 
to advance within four leagues of that capital, flattering himself tnat a 
defeat in such a situation as rendered escape impracticable would at once 
terminate the war. He then marched out to meet the enemy, and Carva- 
jal chose his ground, and made the disposition of the troops with the 
discerning eye and profound knowledge in the art of war conspicuous in 
all his operations. As the two armies moved forward slowly to the charge 
[April 9], the appearance of each was singular. In that of Pizarro, 
composed of men enriched with the spoils of the most opulent country in 
America, every officer, and almost all the private men, were clothed in 
stuffs of silk, or brocade, embroidered with gold and silver ; and their 
horses, their arms, their standards, were adorned with all the pride of 
military pomp.j That of Gasca, though not so splendid, exhibited what 
was no less striking. He himself, accompanied by the archbishop of Lima, 
the bishops of Quito and Cuzco, and a great number of ecclesiastics, 
marching along the lines, blessing the men, and encouraging them to a 
resolute discharge of their duty. 

When both armies were just ready to engage, Cepeda set spurs to his 
horse, galloped off, and surrendered himself to the president. Garcilasso de 
la Vega, and other officers of note, followed his example. The revolt of 
persons in such high rank struck all with amazement. The mutual con- 
fidence on which the union and strength of armies depend, ceased at once. 
Distrust and consternation spread from rank to rank. Some silently slipped 
away, others threw down their arms, the greatest number went over to 
the royalists. Pizarro, Carvajal, and some leaders, employed authority, 
threats, and entreaties, to stop them, but in vain. In less than half an 
hour, a body of men, which might have decided the fate of the Peruvian 
empire, was totally dispersed. Pizarro, seeing all irretrievably lost, cried 
out in amazement to a few officers who still faithfully adhered to him, 
" What remains for us to do ?" — " Let us rush," replied one of them, 
" upon the enemy's firmest battalion, and die like Romans." Dejected 
with such a reverse of fortune, he had not spirit to follow this soldierly 
counsel, and with a tameness disgraceful to his former fame he surrendered 
to one of Gasca's officers. Carvajal, endeavouring to escape, was over- 
taken and seized. 

Gasca, happy in this bloodless victory, did not stain it with cruelty. 
Pizarro, Carvajal, and a small number of the most distinguished or noto- 
rious offenders, were punished capitally. Pizarro was beheaded the day 
after he surrendered. He submitted to his fate with a composed dignity, 
and seemed desirous to atone by repentance for the crimes which he had 
committed. The end of Carvajal was suitable to his life. On his trial 
he offered no defence. When the sentence adjudging him to be hanged 
was pronounced, he carelessly replied, "One can die but once." During 
the interval between the sentence and execution, he discovered no sign 
either of remorse for the past, or of solicitude about the future ; scoffing 
at ail who visited him, in his usual sarcastic vein of mirth, with the same 
quickness of repartee and gross pleasantly as at any other period of his 

* '/aratc, lib. vil. c. fi. Vega, p. 11. lib. v c. 2" t Zarate, lib. vi. c. II. 



AMERICA. 309 

life. Cepeda, more criminal than either, ou^ht to have shared the same fate ; 
but the merit of having deserted his associates at such a critical moment, 
and with such decisive effect, saved him from immediate punishment. 
He was sent, however, as a prisoner to Spain, and died in confinement.* 

In the minute details which the contemporary historians have given of 
the civil dissensions that raged in Peru, with little interruption, during ten 
years, many circumstances occur so striking, and which indicate such an 
uncommon state of manners as to merit particular attention. 

Though the Spaniards who first invaded Peru were of the lowest order 
in society, and the greater part of those who afterwards joined them were 
persons of desperate fortune, yet in all the bodies of troops brought into 
the field by the different leaders who contended for superiority, not one 
man acted as a hired soldier, that follows his standard for pay. Eveiy 
adventurer in Peru considered himself as a conqueror, entitled by his ser- 
vices, to an establishment in that country which had been acquired by his 
valour. In the contests between the rival chiefs, each chose his side as 
he was directed by his own judgment or affections. He joined his com- 
mander as a companion of his fortunes, and disdained to degrade himself 
by receiving the wages of a mercenary. It was to their sword, not to 
pre-eminence in office, or nobility of birth, that most of the leaders whom 
they followed were indebted for their elevation ; and each of their ad- 
herents hoped, by the same means, to open a way for himself to the pos 
session of power and wealth.! 

But though the troops in Peru served without any regular pay, they 
were raised at immense expense. Among men accustomed to divide the 
spoils of an opulent countiy, the desire of obtaining wealth acquired in- 
credible force. The ardour of pursuit augmented in proportion to the 
hope of success. Where all. were intent on the same object, and under 
the dominion of the same passion, there was but one mode of gaining men, 
or of securing their attachment. Officers of name and influence, besides 
the promise of future establishments, received in hand large gratuities from 
the chief with whom they engaged. Gonzalo Pizarro, in order to raise a 
thousand men, advanced five hundred thousand pesos. J Gasca expended 
in levyingthe troops which he led against Pizarro nine hundred thousand 
pesos. § The distribution of property, bestowed as the reward of services, 
was still more exorbitant. Cepeda, as the recompense of his perfidy and 
address, in persuading the court of royal audience to give the sanction of 
its authority to the usurped jurisdiction of Pizarro, received a grant of 
lands which yielded an annual income of a hundred and fifty thousand 
pesos.'l Hinojosa, who by his early defection from Pizarro, and surrender 
of the fleet to Gasca, decided the fate of Peru, obtained a district of coun- 
try affording two hundred thousand pesos of yearly value. H While such 
rewards were dealt out to the principal officers, with more than royal mu- 
nificence, proportional shares were conferred upon those of inferior rank. 

Such a rapid change of fortune produced its natural effects. It gave 
birth to new wants and new desires. Veterans, long accustomed to hard- 
ship and toil, acquired of a sudden a taste for profuse and inconsiderate 
dissipation, and indulged in all the excesses of military licentiousness. 
The riot of low debauchejr occupied some ; a relish for expensive luxuries 
spread among others.** The meanest soldier in Peru would have thought 
himself degraded by marching on foot ; and at a time when the prices of 
horses in that country were exorbitant, each insisted on being furnished 
with one before he would take the field. But though less patient under 
the fatigue and hardships of service, they were ready to face danger and 

♦ Zarate, lib. vii. c. 6, 7, 8. Gomara, c. 185, 1F6. Vega, p. 11. lib. v. c. 30, &c. Fernandez, 
lib. ii. c. H6, &c. Herrera, dec. 8. lib. iv, c. 14, &c. t Veca, p. 11. lib. iv. c. .18. 41. J Fpr- 
nandez, lib. ii. c. 54 6 Zarate, lib. vii. c. 10. Herrera, dec. 8. lib. v. c. 7. || Gomara, c. 164. 
T Vega, p. 11. lib. vi. c. 3. ♦• Herrera. dec. 5. lib. ii. c. 3. dec. 8 lib. viii. c. 10, 



310 HISTORY OF [Book VI. 

death with as much intrepidity as ever ; and animated by the hope of 
new rewards, they never failed, on the day of battle, to display ail their 
ancient valour. 

Together with their courage, they retained all the ferocity by which 
they were originally distinguished. Civil discord never raged with a more 
fell spirit than among the Spaniards in Peru. To all the passions which 
usually envenom contests airiong counhymen, avarice was added, and ren- 
dered their enmity more rancorous. Eagerness to seize the valuable for- 
feitures, expected upon the death of every opponent, shut the door against 
mercy. To be wealthy was of itself sufficient to expose a man to accu- 
sation, or to subject him to punishment. On the slightest suspicions, Pi- 
zarro condemned many of the most opulent inhabitants in Peru to death. 
Carvajal, without searching for any pretext to justify his cruelty, cut off 
many more. The number of those who suffered by the hands of the exe- 
cutioner was not much inferior to what fell in the field [l 43]; and the 
greater part was condemned without the formality of any legal trial. 

The violence with which the contending parties treated their opponents 
was not acaimpanied with its usual attendants, attachment and fidelity to 
those with whom they acted. The ties of honour, which ought to be 
held sacred among soldiers, and the principle of integrity, interwoven as 
thoroughly in the Spanish character as in that of any nation, seem to have 
lieen equally fbro;otten. Even regard for decency, and the sense of 
shame, were totally lost. During their dissensions, there was hardly a 
Spaniard in Peru who did not abandon the party which he had originally 
espoused, betray the associates with whom he had united, and violate the 
engagements under which he had come. The viceroy Nugnez Vela was 
mined by the treacheiy of Cepeda and the other judges of the royal au- 
dience, who were bound by the duties of their function to have supported 
his authority. The chief advisers and companions of Gonzalo Pizarro's 
revolt were the first to forsake him, and submit to his enemies. His fleet 
was given up to Gasca by the man whom he had singled out among his 
nificers to intrust with that important command. On the day that was to 
decide his fate, an army of veterans, in sight of the enemy, threw down 
their arms without striking a blow, and deserted a leader who had often 
conducted them to victory. Instances of such general and avowed con- 
tempt of the principles and obligations which attach man to man, and bind 
them together in social union, rarely occur in history. It is only where 
men are far removed from the seat of government, where the restraints of 
law and order are little felt, where the prospect of gain is unbounded, and 
where immense wealth may cover the crimes by which it is acquired, 
that we can find any parallel to the levity, the rapaciousness, the perfidy, 
and corruption prevalent among the Spaniards in Peru. 

On the death of Pizarro, the malecontents in every comer of Peru laid 
down their arms, and tranquillity seemed to be perfectly re-established. 
But two very interesting objects still remained to occupy the president's 
;;ttention. The one was to find immediately such employment for a mul- 
titude of turbulent and daring adventurers with which the country was 
filled, as might prevent them from exciting new commotions. The other, 
to bestow proper gratifications upon those to whose loyalty and valour he 
had been indebted for his success. The former of these was in some 
measure accomplished, by appointing Pedro de Valdivia to prosecute the 
conquest of Chili ; and by empowering Diego Centeno to undertake the 
discovery of the vast regions bordering on the river De la Plata. The re- 
putation of those leaders, together with the hopes of acquiring wealth, and 
of rising to consequence in some unexplored countr}', alluring many of the 
most indigent and des])erate soldiers to follow their standards, drained ofF 
r)0 inconsiderable portion of that mutinous spirit which Gasca dreaded. 

The !:itter was rm affair of greater diflic-.ilty, and to be adjusted wjth a 



AMERICA. Ml 

more attentive and delicate hand. The repnrtimientos, or allotments of 
lands and Indians which fell to be distributed, in consequence of the death 
or forfeiture of the former possessors, exceeded two millions of pesos of 
yearly rent.* Gasca, when now absolute master of this immense property, 
retained the same disinterested sentiments which he had originally pro- 
fessed, and refused to reserve the smallest portion of it for himself. But 
the number of claimants was great ; and whilst the vanity or avarice of 
every individual tixed the value of his own services, and estimated the 
recompense which he thought due to him, the pretensions of each were so 
extravagant that it was impossible to satisfy all. Gasca listened to them 
one by one, with the most patient attention ; and that he mi^ht have 
leisure to weigh the comparative merit of their several claims with accu- 
racy, he retired, with the archbishop of Lima and a single secretary, to a 
village twelve leagues from Cuzco. There he spent several days in allot- 
ting to each a district of lands and number of Indians, in proportion to his 
idea of their past services and future importance. But that he might get 
beyond the reach of the fierce storm of clamour and rage, which he fore- 
paw would burst out on the publication of his decree, notwithstanding the 
impartial equity with which he had framed it, he set out for Lima, leaving 
the instrument of partition sealed up, with orders not to open it for some 
days after his departure. 

The indignation excited by publishing the decree of partition [Aug. 24] 
was not less than Gasca had expected. Vanity, avarice, emulation, envy, 
shame, rage, and all the other passions which most vehemently agitate the 
minds of men when both their honour and their interest are deeply aflfect- 
ed, conspired in adding to its violence. It broke out with all the fury of 
military insolence. Calumny, threats, and curses, were poured out openly 
upon the president. He was accused of ingratituae, of partiality, and of 
injustice. Among soldiers prompt to action, such seditious discourse would 
have been soon followed by deeds no less violent, and they already began 
to turn their eyes towards some discontented leaders, expecting them to^ 
stand forth in redress of their wrongs. By some vigorous interpositions oi 
government, a timely check was given to this mutinous spirit, and the dan- 
ger of another civil war was averted tor the present.! 

1549.1 Gasca, however, perceiving that the tlame was suppressed, 
rather than extinguished, laboured with the utmost assiduity to soothe the 
maleconlents, by bestowing large gratuities on some, by promising repar- 
iimientos, when they fell vacant, to others, and by caressing and nattering 
all. But that the public security might rest on a foundation more stable 
than their good affection, he endeavoured to strengthen the hands of his 
successors in office, by re-establishing the regular administration of justice 
in every part of the empire. He introduced order and simplicity into the 
mode of collecting the royal revenue. He issued regulations concerning 
the treatment of the Indians, well calculated to protect them from oppres- 
sion, and to provide for their instruction in the principles of religion, with- 
out depriving the Spaniards of the benefit accruing from their labour. 
Having now accomplished every object of his mission, Gasca, longing to 
return again to a private station, committed the government of Peru to 
the court of audience, and set out for Spain [Feb. 1, 1550]. As, during 
the anarchy and turbulence of the four last years, there had been no remit- 
tance made of the royal revenue, he carried with him thirteen hundred 
thousand pesos of public money, which the economy and order of his ad- 
ministration enabled him to save, after paying all the expenses of the 
war. 

He was received in his native country with universal admiration of Iiis 

• Vega, p. U. lib. vi. c. 4. t Zarate, lib. vii. c. 9. Gumara, c. ]87. Vega, p. 11. lib. vit. e. 

V &r. Fernandez, p. 11. lib. i. r 1, &r. Herrera, dec. P. lib. iv. ( . 17, &e. 



31^2 HISTORY OF [BookVI. 

abilities and of his virtue. Both were, indeed, highly conspicuous. With- 
out army, or fleet, or public funds ; with a train so simple, that only three 
thousand ducats were expended in equipping him,* he set out to oppose a 
formidable rebellion. By his address and talents he supplied all those 
defects, and seemed to create instruments for executing his designs. He 
acquired such a naval force as gave him the command of the sea. He 
raised a body of men able to cope with the veteran bands which gave law 
to Peru. He vanquished their leader, on whose ;irms victory had hitherto 
attended, and in place of anarchy and usurpation, he established the 
government of laws, and the authority of the righttul sovereign. But the 
praise bestowed on his abilities was exceeded by that which his virtue 
merited. After residing in a country where wealth presented allurements 
Avhich had seduced every person who had hitherto possessed power there, 
he returned from that trying station with integrity not only untainted but 
unsuspected. After distributing among his countrymen possessions of 
greater extent and value than had ever been in the disposal of a subject in 
any age or nation, he himself remained in his original state of poverty ; and 
at the very time when he brought such a large recruit to the royal treasury, 
he was obliged to apply by petition for a small sum to discharge some 
petty debts which he had contracted during the course of his service.! 
Charles was not insensible to such disinterested merit. Gasca was re- 
ceived by him with the most distinguishing marks of esteem ; and being 
promoted to the bishopric of Palencia, he passed the remainder of his days 
in the tranquillity of retirement, respected by his country, honoured by his 
sovereign, and beloved by all. 

Notwithstanding all Gasca's wise regulations, the tranquillity of Peru 
was not of long continuance. In a country where the authority of 
government had been almost forgotten during the long prevalence of 
anarchy and misrule, where there were disappointed leaders ripe for re- 
volt, and seditious soldiers ready to follow them, it was not difficult to 
raise combustion. Several successive insurrections desolated the country 
for some years. But as those, though tierce, were only transient storms, 
excited rather by the ambition and turbulence of particular men, than by 
general or public motives, the detail of them is not the object of this his- 
tory. These commotions in Peru, like every thing of extreme violence 
either in the natural or political body, were not of long duration ; and by 
carrying otF the corrupted humours which had given rise to the disorders, 
they contributed in the end to strengthen the society which at first they 
threatened to destroy. During their fierce contests, several of the first 
invaders of Peru, and many of those licentious adventurers whom the fame 
of their success had allured thither, fell by each other's hands. Each of 
the parties, as they alternately prevailed in the struggle, gradually cleared 
the country of a number of turbulent spirits, by executing, proscribing, or 
banishing their opponents. Men less enterprising, less desperate, and 
more accustomed to move in the path of sober and peaceable industry, 
settled in Peru ; and the royal authority was gradually established as 
firmly there as in other Spanish colonies. 

* Ffrnande/., lib. ii. c. 18. f MS. penes ipp. 



AMERICA. 313 



BOOK VII. 

As the conquest of the two great empires of Mexico and Peru forms the 
most splendid and interesting period in the history of America, a view ot 
their political institutions, and a description of their national manners, will 
exhibit the human species to the contemplation of intelligent observers in 
a very singular stage of its progress. [144] 

When compared with other parts of the New World, Mexico and Peru 
may be considered as polished states. Instead of small, independent, hos- 
tile tribes, struggling for sul)8istence amidst woods and marshes, strangers 
to industry and arts, unacquainted with subordination, and almost without 
the appearance of regular government, we find countries of great extent 
subjected to the dominion of one sovereign, the inhabitants collected together 
in cities, the wisdom and foresight of rulers employed in providing for the 
maintenance and security of the people, the empire of laws in some 
measure established, the authority of religion recognised, many of the arts 
essential to life brought to some degree of maturity, and the dawn of such 
as are ornamental beginning to appear. 

But if the comparison be made with the people of the ancient continent, 
the inferiority of America in improvement will be conspicuous, and neither 
the Mexicans nor Peruvians will be entitled to rank with those nations 
which merit the name of civilized. The people of both the great empires 
in America, like the rude tribes around them, were totally unacquainted 
with the useful metals, and the progress which they had made in extend- 
ing their dominion over the animal creation was inconsiderable. The 
]\!lexicans had gone no further than to tame and rear turkeys, ducks, a 
species of small dogs, and rabbits.* By this feeble essay of ingenuity, the 
means of subsistence were rendered somewhat more plentiful and secure 
than when men depend solely on hunting ; but they had no idea of at- 
tempting to subdue the more robust animals, or of deriving any aid from 
their ministry in carrying on works of labour. The Peruvians seem to 
have neglected the inferior animals, and had not rendered any of them 
domestic except the duck ; but they were more fortunate in faming the 
Llama, an animal peculiar to their country, of a form which f)ears some 
resemblance to a deer, and some to a camel, and is of a size somewhat 
larger than a sheep. TJnder the protection of man, this species multiplied 
greatly. Its wool furnished the Peruvians with clothing, its flesh with 
food. It was even employed as a beast of burden, and carried a moderate 
load with much patience and docility.! It was never used for draught ; 
and the breed being confined to the mountainous country, its service, ii we 
may judge by incidents which occur in the early Spanish writers, was not 
very extensive among the Peruvians in their original state. 

In tracing the line by which nations proceed towards civilization, the 
discovery of the useful metals, and the acquisition of dominion oyer the 
animal creation, have been marked as steps of capital importance in their 
progress. In our continent, long after men had attained both, society con- 
tinued in that state which is denominated barbarous. Even with all that 
command over nature which these confer, many ages elapse before indus- 
try becomes so regular as to render subsistence secure, before the arts 
which supply the wants and furnish the accommodations of life are brought 
to any considerable degree of perfection, and before any idea is conceived 
of various institutions requisite in a well ordered society. The Mexicans 

* Ilcrrnra, dec. 11. lib. vii. c 12. t Vesja. p. I. lib. viii. c. 16. Zarato. lib. 1. c. 14. 

Vol. I.— 40 



.il4 HISTORY OF [BookVU. 

and Peruvians, without knowledge of the useful metals, or the aid of domestic 
animals, laboured under disadvantages which must have greatly retarded 
their progress, and in their highest state of improvement their power was 
so limited, and their operations so feeble, that they can hardly be con- 
sidered as having advanced beyond the infancy of civil life. 

After this general observation concerning the most singular and distin- 
guishing circumstance in the state of both tne great empires in America, I 
shall endeavour to give such a view of the constitution of the interior 
police of each as may enable us to ascertain their place in the political 
scale, to allot them their proper station between the rude tribes in the 
New World, and the polished states of the ancient, and to determine how 
far they had risen above the former, as well as how much they fell below 
the latter. 

Mexico was first subjected to the Spanish crown. But our acquaintance 
with its laws and manners is not, from that circumstance, more complete. 
What I have remarked concerning the defective and inaccurate informa- 
tion on which we must rely with respect to the condition and customs of 
the savage tribes in America, may be applied likewise to our knowledge 
of the Mexican empire. Cortes, and the rapacious adventurers who ac- 
companied him, had not leisure or capacity to enrich either civil or natu- 
ral histoiy with new observations. They undertook their expedition in 
quest of one object, and seemed hardly to have turned their eyes towards 
any other. Or, if during some short interval of tranquillity, when the oc- 
cupations of war ceased, and the ardour of plunder was suspended, the 
institutions and manners of the people whom they invaded, drew their 
attention, the inquiries of illiterate soldiers were conducted with so little 
sagacity and precision, that the accounts given by them of the policy and 
order esta!)lished in the Mexican monarchy are superficial, confusea, and 
inexplicable. It is rather from incidents which they relate occasionally, 
than from their own deductions and remarks, that we are enabled to form 
some idea of the genius and manners of that people. The obscurity in 
which the ignorance of its conquerors involved the annals of Mexico, was 
augmented by the superstition of those who succeeded them. As the 
memory of past events was preserved among the Mexicans by figures 
painted, on skins, on cotton cloth, on a kind of pasteboard, or on the bark 
of trees, the early missionaries, unable to comprehend their meaning, and 
struck with their uncouth Ibrms, conceived them to be monuments of 
idolatry, which ought to be destroyed in order to facilitate the conversion 
of the Indians. In obedience to an edict issued by Juan de Zummaraga, a 
Franciscan monk, the first bishop of Mexico, as many records of the ancient 
Mexican story as could be collected were committed to the flames. In 
consequence of this fanatical zeal of the monks who first visited New 
Spain (which their successors soon began to lament), whatever knowledge 
ot remote events such rude monuments contained was almost entirely lost, 
and no information remained concerning the ancient revolutions and policy 
of the empire, but what was derived from tradition, or from some fragments 
of their historical paintings that escaped the barbarous researches of Zum- 
maraga.* From the experience of all nations it is manifest, that the 
memory of past transactions can neither be long preserved, nor be trans- 
mitted with any fidelity, by tradition. The Mexican paintings which are 
supposed to have served as annals of their empire, are few in number, and 
of ambiguous meaning. Thus, amidst the uncertainty of the former, and 
the obscurity of the latter, we must glean what intelligence can be col- 
lected from the scanty materials scattered in the Spanish writers-t 

* Acosia, lib. vi. c. 7. Torquem. Proem, lib ii. lib. iii. c. C. lib. xiv. c 6. 

t In the firnt edition, I obsieived that in consequence of the dootruction of the antient Mexican 
piuiitinjis, occasioned hy the wal of '/nnnnaraga, whatever knowledge Ihey mifiht have conveyed 
was entirely lost. Every candid reader must have pfrceivcd tliat the expression was inaccurate ; 



I 



AMERICA. 315 

According- to the account of the Mexicans themselves, their empire was 
not of long duration. Their country, as they relate, was originally pos- 
sessed, rather than peopled, by small independent tribes, whose mode of 
life and manners resembled those of the rudest savages which we have 
described. But about a period corresponding to the beginning of the 
tenth century in the Christian era, several tribes moved in successive mi- 
grations from unknown regions towards the north and north-west, and set- 
Ued in different provinces of Anahuac, the ancient name of New Spain. 
These, more civilized than the original inhabitants, began to form them to 
the arts of social life. At length, towards the commencement of the thir- 
teenth century, the Mexicans, a people more polished than any of the 
former, advanced from the border of the Californian gulf, and took pos- 
session of the plains adjacent to the great lake near the centre of the coun- 
try. After residing there about fitty years, they founded a town, since 
distinguished by the name of Mexico, which, from humble beginnings, 
soon grew to be the most considerable city in the New World. Tne 
Mexicans, long after they were established in their new possessions, con- 
tinued, like other martial tribes in America, unacquainted with regal 
dominion, and \vere governed in peace, and conducted in war, by such as 
Avere entitled to pre-eminence by their wisdom or their valour. But among 
them, as in other states whose power and territories become extensive, the 
supreme authority centred at last in a single person ; and when the Span- 
iards under Cortes invaded the countiy, Aiontezuma was the ninth monarch 
in order who had swayed the Mexican sceptre, not by hereditary right, 
but by election. 

Such is the traditional tale of the Mexicans concerning the progress of 
their own empire. According to this, its duration was very short. From 
the first migration of their parent tribe, they can reckon little more than 
three hundred years. From the establishment of monarchical government, 
not above a hundred and thirty years according to one account,* or a hun- 
dred and ninety-seven according to another computation,! had elapsed. 
If, on one hand, we suppose the Mexican state to have been of higher 
antiquity, and to have subsisted during such a length of time as the Span- 
ish accounts of its civilization would naturally lead us to conclude, it is 
difficult to conceive how, among a people who possessed the art of record- 
as in a few lines afterwards I mention some ancient paintings to be still extant. M. Clavigero, not 
salinfipd with layini; hold of this inaccuiacj-, which I corrected in the subwquent editions, labours 
to render it more glaring by the maimer in wliirh he quotes the remaining part of the sentence. He 
reprehends with great asperity the account which 1 gave of the scanty materials for writing tlie 
ancient history of Mexico. Vol. I. Account of Writers, p. xxvi. Vol. II. 380. My words, however, 
are almost the same with those of Torqucmada, who seems to have been better acquainted with the 
ancient monuments of the Mexicans than any Spanish aiiihor whose works I have seen. Lib. xiv. 
c. G. M. Clavigero himself jiives a description of the destnic'ioii of ancient paintings in almost the 
same terms I have used : and mentions as an additional reason of there being so small a number of 
ancient paintings known to the Spaniards, thai the natives have become so solicitous to preserve 
and conceal them, that it is " difficult, if not impossible, to make them part with one of them." Vol. 
1. 407. II. 194. No point can be more aecortained than that few of the Mexican historical paintings 
have been preserved. Though several Spaniards have carried on inquiries into the antiquities of 
the Mexican empire, no engravings from Mexican paintings have been communicated to the public, 
except those by Purchas, Gemelli Carreri, and Lorenzana. It aflords me some satisfaction, that in 
the course of my researches I have discovered two collections of Mexican paintings which were 
unknown to former inquirers. The cut which I published is an exact copy of the original, and pves 
no high idea of the progress which the Mexicans had madi^ in the art of painting. I cannot conjec- 
ture what could induce M. Clavigero to express some dissatisfaction with me for having puhlished 
it without the same colours it has in the original painting, p. xxix. He might have recollected, that 
neither Purchas, nor Gemelli Carreri, nor Lorenzana, thought it necessary to colour the prints which 
they have published, and they have never been censured on that account. He may rcKt assured, 
that though the colours in the paintings in the Imperial Library are remarkably bright, they are laid 
on without art, and without "any of that regard to light and shade, or the rules of perspective," 
which M. Clavijjero reipiires. Vol. H. 378. If the public express any desire to have the seven 
paintings still in my possession engraved, I am ready to communicate them. The print published 
by Gemelli Carreri, of the rcte of the ancient Mexicans when they travelled towards the lake on 
which they built the capital of their empire, (Churchill, Vol. IV. p. 481.) is tlie most finished monu- 
ment of art brought from the New World, and yet a very slight inspection of it will satisfy every 
one, that the annals of a nation conveyed in this manner must be very meagre and imperfect. 

• Aeosf. Hist. lib. vii r. f. 4r. * rurchasPllgr, iii. p. 1068, fcc. 



316 HISTORY OF [BookVII. 

ing events by pictures, and who considered it as an essential part of their 
national education, to teach their children to repeat the historical songs 
which celebrated the exploits of their ancestors,* the knowledge of past 
transactions should be so slender and limited. If, on the other hand, we 
adopt their own system with respect to the antiquities of their nation, it is 
no less difficult to account either for that improved state of society, or for 
the extensive dominion to which their empire had attained when hrst visit- 
ed by the Spaniards. The infancy of nations is so long, and, even when 
every circumstance is favourable to their progress, they advance so slowly 
towards any maturity of strength or policy, that the recent origin of the 
Mexicans seems to be a strong presumption of some exaggeration in the 
splendid descriptions which have been given of their government and 
manners. 

But it is not by theory or conjectures that history decides with regard to 
the state or character of nations. It produces facts as the foundation of 
every judgment which it ventures to pronounce. In collecting those which 
must regulate our opinion in the present inquiry, some occur that suggest 
an idea of considerable progress in civilization in the Mexican empire, 
and others which seem to indicate that it had advanced but little beyond 
the savage tribes around it. Both shall be exhibited to the view of the 
reader, that, from comparing them, he may determine on which side the 
evidence preponderates. 

In the Mexican empire, the right of private property was perfectly un- 
derstood, and established in its full extent. Among several savage tribes, 
we have seen, that the idea of a title to the separate and exclusive pos- 
session of any object was hardly known ; and that among all it was 
extremely limited and ill defined. But in Mexico, where agriculture and 
industry had made some progress, the distinction between property in land 
and property in goods had taken place. Both might be transfierred from 
one person to another by sale or barter ; both might descend by inherit- 
ance. Every person who could be denominated a freeman had property 
in land. This, however, they held by various tenures. Some possessed 
it in full right, and it descended to their heirs. The title of others to 
their lands was derived from the office or dignity which they enjoyed ; 
and when deprived of the latter, they lost possession of the former. Both 
these modes of occupying land were deemed noble, and peculiar to citi- 
zens of the highest class. The tenure by which the great body of the 
people held their property, was very different. In every district a certain 
quantity of land was measured out in proportion to the number of families. 
This was cultivated by the joint labour of the whole ; its produce was 
deposited in a common storehouse, and divided among them according to 
their respective exigencies. The members of the Calpullee, or associa- 
tions, could not alienate their share of the common estate ; it was an indi- 
visible permanent property, destined for the support of their families.! 
In consequence of^ this distribution of the territory of the state, every man 
had an mterest in its welfare, and the happiness of the individual was 
connected with the public security. 

Another striking circumstance, which distinguishes the Mexican empire 
from those nations in America we have already described, is the number 
and greatness of its cities. While society continues in a rude state, the 
wants of men are so few, and they stand so little in need of mutual as- 
sistance, that their inducements to crowd together are extremely feeble. 
Their industry at the same time is so imperfect, that it cannot secure sub- 
sistence for any considerable number of families settled in one spot. 
They live dispersed, at this period, from choice, as well as from neces- 
sity, or at the utmost assemble in small hamlets on the banks of the river 

* Henrera, dec. 3. lib. ii. c. 18. t Herrnra. Hpc. 3. lih. iv. c. 15. Torqurm. Mon. Ind. lib. xiv. 
e. 7. Porita MS. 



AMERICA. 317 

which supplies them with food, or on the border of some plain left open 
by nature, or cleared by their own labour. The Spaniards, accustomed 
to this mode of habitation among all the savage tribes with which they 
were hitherto acquainted, were astonished, on entering New Spain, to find 
the natives residing in towns of such extent as resembled those of Europe. 
In the first fervour of their admiration, they compared Zempoalla, though 
a town only of the second or third size, to the cities of greatest note in 
their own country. When, afterwards, they visited in succession Tlascala, 
Cholula, Tacuba, Tezeuco, and Mexico itself, their amazement increased 
so much, that it led them to convey ideas of their magnitude and popu- 
lousness bordering on what is incredible. Even when there is leisure for 
observation, and no interest that leads to deceive, conjectural estimates of 
the number of people in cities are extremely loose, and usually much 
exaggerated. It is not surprising, then, that Cortes and his companions, 
little accustomed to such computations, and powerfully tempted to mag- 
nify, in order to exalt the merit of their own discoveries and conquests, 
should have been betrayed into this common eiror, and have raised their 
descriptions considerably above truth. For this reason, some considerable 
abatement ought to be made from their calculations of the number of in- 
habitants in the Mexican cities, and we may fix the standard of their popu- 
lation much lower than they have done ; but still they will appear to be 
cities of such consequence as are not to be found but among people who 
have made some considerable progress in the arts of social life [l45]. 
From their accounts, we can hardly suppose Mexico, the capital of the 
enipire, to have contained fewer than sixty thousand inhabitants. 

The separation of professions among the Mexicans is a symptom of im- 
provement no less remarkable. Arts, in the early ages of society, are so 
few and so simple, that each man is sufficiently master of them all, to 
gratify every demand of his own limited desires. The savage can form 
his bow, point his arrows, rear his hut, and hollow his canoe, without calling 
in the aid of any hand more skilful than his own. Time must have 
augmented the wants of men, and ripened their ingenuity, before the pro- 
ductions of art became so complicated in their structure, or so curious in 
their fabric, that a particular course of education was requisite towards 
forming the artificer to expertness in contrivance and workmanship. In 
proportion as refinement spreads, the distinction of protessions increases, 
and they branch out into more numerous and minute subdivisions. Among 
the Mexicans, this separation of the arts necessary in life had taken place 
to a considerable extent. The functions of the mason, the weaver, the 
goldsmith, the painter, and of several other crafts, were carried on by 
different persons. Each was regularly instructed in his calling. To it 
alone his industry was confined, and by assiduous application to one object^ 
together with the persevering patience peculiarto Americans, their artisans 
attained to a degree of neatness and perfection in work, far beyond what 
could have been expected from the rude tools which they employed. 
Their various productions were brought into commerce ; and by the ex- 
change of them in the stated markets held in the cities, not only were 
their mutual wants supplied,* in such orderly intercourse as characterizes 
an improved state of society, but their industry was daily rendered per- 
severing and inventive. 

The distinction of ranks established in the Mexican empire, is the next cir- 
cumstance that merits attention. In surveying the savage tribes of America, 
we observed, that consciousness of equality, and impatience of subordi- 
nation, are sentiments natural to man in the infancy of civil life. During 
peace, the authority of a superior is hardly felt among them, and even in 

* Cortes Relat. ap. Ramus, iii. 239, &;c. fioin. Cron. r. 79. Torquem. lib. xiii. r. 34. Herrei.i, 
dec. 2. lib. vii. c. 15. &p 



318 HISTORY OF [BookVU. 

war it is but little acknowledged. Strangers to the idea of property, the 
difference in condition resulting from the inequality of it is unknown. Birth 
or titles confer no pre-eminence ; it is only by personal merit and accom- 
plishments that distinction can be acquired. The form of society was 
very dili'erent among the Mexicans. The great body of the people was 
in a most humiliating state. A considerable number, known by the name 
of Mayeques, nearly resembled in condition those peasants who, under 
various denominations, were considered, during the prevalence of the 
feudal system, as instruments of laliour attached to the soil. The Mayeques 
could not change their place of residence without permission of the supe- 
rior on whom they depended. They were conveyed, together with the 
lands on which they were settled, trom one proprietor to another ; and 
were bound to cultivate the ground, and to perform several kinds of servile 
work.* Others were reduced to the lowest form of subjection, that of 
domestic servitude, and felt the utmost rigour of that wretched state. 
Their condition was held to be so vile, and their lives deemed of so little 
value, that a pei-son who killed one of these slaves was not subjected to 
any punishment.! Even those considered as freemen were treated by 
their Laughty lords as beings of an inferior species. The nobles, possessed 
of ample territories, were divided into various classes, to each of which 
peculiar titles of honour belonged. Some of these titles, like their lands, 
descended from father to son in perpetual succession. Others were annexed 
to particular offices, or conferred during life as marks of personal distinc- 
tion.J The monarch, exalted above all, enjoyed extensive power and 
supreme dignity. Thus the distinction of ranks was completely established, 
in a line of regular subordination, reaching from the highest to the lowest 
member of the community. Each of these knew what he could claim, 
and what he owed. The people, who were not allowed to wear a dress 
of the same fashion, or to dwell in houses of a form similar to those of the 
nobles, accosted them with the most submissive reverence. In the pre- 
sence of their sovereign, they durst not lift their eyes from the ground, or 
look him in the face.§ The nobles themselves, when admitted to an 
audience of their sovereign, entered barefooted, in mean garments, and, as 
his slaves, paid him homage approaching to adoration. This respect, due 
from inferiors to those above them in rank, was prescribed with such 
ceremonious accuracy, that it incorporated with the language, and influenced 
its genius and idiom. The Mexican tongue abounded in expressions of 
reverence and courtesy. The style and appellations used in the intercourse 
between equals would have been so unbecoming in the mouth of one in a 
lower sphere, when he accosted a person in higher rank, as to be deemed 
an insult [146]. It is only in societies, which time and the institution of 
regular government have moulded into form, that we find such an orderly 
arrangement of men into difl'erent ranks, and such nice attention paid to 
their various rights. 

The spirit of the Mexicans, thus familiarized and bended to subordina- 
tion, was prepared for submitting to monarchical government. But the 
ilescription of their policy and laws, by the Spaniards who overturned 
tiiem, are so inaccurate and contradictory, that it is difficult to delineate 
the form of their constitution with any precision. Sometimes they repre- 
sent the monarchs of Mexico as absolute, deciding according to their plea- 
sure with respect to every operation of the state. On other occasions, we 
fliscover the traces of established customs and laws, framed in order to 
circumscribe the power of the crown, and we meet with rights and privi- 
leges of the nobles which seemed to be opposed as barriers against its 
encroachments. This appearance of inconsistency has arisen from inatten- 

* Herrera, dr-c. 3. lib. iv, r. 17. Corita MS. 1 Uerrera, dec. 3. lib. iv. c. 7. % Ibid, c, 1.1. 

Cnrita MS. fj llcrrcra. di c. 3. lib. ii. c. 1-1. 



AMERICA. :il9 

tion to the innovations of Montezuma upon the Mexican policy. His 
aspiring ambition subverted the original system of government, and intro- 
duced a pure despotism. He disregarded the ancient laws, violated the 
privileges held most sacred, and reduced his subjects of every order to the 
level ol slaves.* The chiefs, or nobles of the first rank, submitted to the 
yoke with such reluctance that, from impatience to shake it off, and hope 
of recovering their rights, many of them courted the protection of Cortes, 
and joined a foreign power against their domestic oppressor.! It is not 
then under the dominion of Montezuma, but under the government of his 
predecessors, that we can discover what was the original form and genius 
of Mexican policy. From the foundation of the monarchy to the election 
of Montezuma, it seems to have subsisted with little variation. That body 
of citizens, which may be distinguished by the name of nobility, formed 
the chief and most respectable order in the state. They .were of various 
ranks, as has been already observed, and their honours were acquired and 
transmitted in different manners. Their number seems to have been great. 
According to an author accustomed to examine with attention what he 
relates, there were in the Mexican empire thirty of this order, each of 
whom had in his territories about a hundred thousand people ; and subor- 
dinate to these, there were about three thousand nobles of a lower class.| 
The territories belonging to the chiefs of Tezeuco and Tacuba were hardly 
inferior in extent to those of the Mexican monarch. § Each of these pos- 
sessed complete territorial jurisdiction, and levied taxes from their own 
vassals. But all followed the standard of Mexico in war, serving with a 
number of men in proportion to their domain, and most of them paid 
tribute to its monarch as their superior lord. 

In tracing those great lines of the Mexican constitution^ an image of 
feudal policy, in its most rigid form, rises to view, and we discern its three 
distinguishing characteristics, a nobility possessing almost independent 
authority, a people depressed into the lowest state of subjection, and a 
king intmsted with the executive' power of the state. Its spirit and prin- 
ciples seem to have operated in the New World in the same manner as in 
the ancient. The jurisdiction of the crown was extremely limited. All 
real and eflfective authority was retained by the Mexican nobles in their 
own hands, and the shadow of it only left to the king. Jealous to excess 
of their own rights, they guarded with the most vigilant anxiety against 
the encroachments of their sovereigns. By a fundamental law of the em- 
pire, it was provided that the king should not determine concerning any 
point of general importance without the approbation of a council com- 
posed of the prime nobility. || Unless he obtained their consent, he could 
not engage the nation m war, nor could he dispose of the most considera- 
ble branch of the public revenue at pleasure ; it was appropriated to cer- 
tain purposes from which it could not be diverted by the regal authority 
alone. IT In order to secure full effect to those constitutional restraints, the 
Mexican nobles did not permit their crown to descend by inheritance, but 
disposed of it by election. The right of election seems to have been 
originally vested in the whole body of nobility, but was afterwards com- 
mitted to six electors, of whom the chiefs of Tezeuco and Tacuba were 
always two. From respect for the family of their monarchs, the choict^ 
fell generally upon some person sprung from it. But as the activity and 
valour of their prince were of greater moment to a people perpetual Iv 
engaged in war, than a strict adherence to the order of birth, collaterafs 
of mature age or of distinguished merit were often preferred to those 
who were nearer the throne in direct descent.** To this maxira in their 

* Herrera, dec, 3. lili. ii. c. 14. Torqupm. lib. ii. c. 69. t Ilerrera, dec. 2. lib. v. c. 10, 1 J, 

Torqueni. lib. iv. c. 4'J, t Herrera, dec. 2. lib. viii. c. 12. $ Torqucm. lib. ii. c. .'it. 

• orita MS. || Herrera, dec. 3. lib. ii. c. 19. lib. iv. c. 16. Corita MS. IF Herrera, di c. 

■3. lib. iv. c. 17. ** .^costa, lib. vi. c, 24. Herrera, dec. 3. lib. ii, c. 13, Corita MS. 



320 HISTORY OF [Book Vll. 

policy, the Mexicans appear to be indebted for such a succession ot able 
and warlike princes, as raised their empire in a short period to that extra- 
ordinary height of power which it had attained when Cortes landed in 
New Spain. 

While the jurisdiction of the Mexican monarch continued to be limited, 
it is probable that it was exercised with little ostentation. But as their 
authority became more extensive, the splendour ot their government aug- 
mented. It was in this last state that the Spaniards beheld it ; and strudt 
with the appearance of Montezuma's court, they describe its pomp at great 
length, and with much admiration. The number of his attendants, the 
order, the silence, and the reverence with which they served him ; the 
extent of his royal mansion, the variety of its apartments allotted to dif- 
ferent officers, and the ostentation with which his grandeur was displayed, 
whenever he permitted his subjects to behold him, seem to resemble the 
magnificence of the ancient monarchies in Asia, rather than the simplicity 
of the infant states in the New World. 

But it was not in the mere parade of royalty that the Mexican potentates 
exhibited their power ; they manifested it more beneficially in the order 
and regularity with which tney conducted the internal administration and 
police of their dominions- Complete jurisdiction, civil as wel; as criminal, 
over its own immediate vassals, was vested in the crown. Judges were 
appointed for each department ; and if we may rely on the account which 
the Spanish writers give of the maxims and laws upon which they founded 
their decisions with respect to the distribution of property and the punish- 
ment of crimes, justice was administered in the Mexican empire with a 
degree of order and equity resembling what takes place in societies highly 
civilized. 

Their attention in providing for the support of government was not 
less sagacious. Taxes were laid upon land, upon the acquisitions of in- 
dustry, and upon commodities of every kind exposed to sale in the public 
markets. These duties were considerable, but not arbitrary or unequal. 
They were imposed according to established rules, and each knew what 
share of the common burden he had to bear. As the use of money was 
unknown, all the taxes were paid in kind ; and thus not only the natural 
productions of all the different provinces in the empire, but every species 
of manufacture, and every work of ingenuity and art, were collected in 
the public storehouses. From those the emperor supplied his numerous 
train of attendants in peace, and his armies during war, with food, with 
clothes, and ornaments. People of inferior condition, neither possessing 
land nor engaged in commerce, were bound to the performance of various 
services. By their stated labour the crown lands were cultivated, public 
works were carried on, and the various houses belonging to the emperor 
were built and kept in repair* [147]. 

The improved state of government among the Mexicans is conspicuous, 
not only in points essential to the being of a well-ordered society, but in 
several regulations of inferior consequence with respect to police. The 
institution which I have already mentioned, of public couriers, stationed 
at proper intervals, to convey intelligence from one part of the empire to 
the other, was a refinement in police not introduced into any kingdom of 
Europe at that period. The structure of the capital city in a lake, with 
artificial dykes, and causeways of great length, which served as avenues 
to it from different quarters, erected in the water, with no less mgenuity 
than labour, seems to be an idea that could not have occurred to any 
but a civilized people. The same observation may be applied to the 
structure of the aqueducts, or conduits, by which they conveyed a stream 
of fresh water from a considerable distance, into the city, along one of the 

* ITerrera. der. 2. lib. vii. c. i?,. dec 3. lib. iv. c l(i. IT 



AMERICA. 321 

causeways [148]. The appointment of a number ot persons to clean the 
streets, to liyht tliem by tires kindled in different places, and to patrol as 
watchmen during the ni^ht,* iscovers a degree of attention which even 
polished nations are late m acquiring. 

The progress of the Mexicans in various arts is considered as the most 
decisive proof of their superior refinement. Cortes and the early Spanish 
authors describe this with rapture, and maintain, that the most celebrated 
European artists could not surpass or even equal them in ingenuity and 
neatness of workmanship. They represented men, animals, and other 
objects, by such a disposition of various coloured leathers, as is said to 
have produced all the effects of light and shade, and to have imitated 
nature with truth and delicacy. Their ornaments of gold and silver have 
been described to be of a fabric no less curious. But in forming any idea, 
from general descriptions, concerning the state of arts among nations im- 
perfectly polished, we are extremely ready to err. In examining the 
works of people whose advances in improvement are nearly the saii e with 
our own, we view them with a critical and often with a jealous eye. 
Whereas, when conscious of our own superiority, we survey the arts of 
nations comparatively rude, we are astonished at woiks executed by 
them under such manifest disadvantages, and, in the warmth of our admi- 
ration, are apt to represent them as productions more finished than they 
really are. To the influence of' this illusion, without supposing any inten- 
tion to deceive, we may impute the exaggeration of some Spanish authors, 
in their accounts of the Mexican arts. 

It is not from those descriptions, but from considering such specimens of 
their arts as are still preserved, that we must decide concerning their degree 
of merit. As the ship in which Cortes sent to Charles V. the most curious 
productions of the Mexican artisans, which were collected by the Spaniards 
when they first pillaged the empire, was taken by a French corsair,! the 
remains of their ingenuity are less numerous than those of the Peruvians. 
Whether any of their works with feathers, in imitation of painting, be still 
extant in Spain, I have not learned ; but many of their ornaments in gold 
and silver, as well as various utensils employed in common life, are depo- 
sited in the magnificent cabinet of natural and artificial productions lately 
opened by the king of Spain ; and 1 am informed by persons on whose 
judgment and taste I can rely, that these boasted efforts of their art are 
uncouth representations of common objects, or very coarse images ( f he 
human and some other forms, destitute of grace and propriety [l49]. The 
justness of these observations is confirmed by inspecting the woodtn prints 
and copper plates of their paintings, which have been published by various 
authors. In them every figure of men, of quadrupeds, or birds, as wel' as 
every representation of inanimated nature, is extremely rude and awkward.^ 

• Herrera, dec. 2. lib. viii. c. 4. Tonibio MS. t ftelat. de Cort. Ramus, iii. 294. F. 

t As a specimen of the spirit and style in which M. Clavigero makes his striclures upon my 
History of America, I shall publish his remarks upon this passage. " Thus far Robertson ; to 
whuni we answer, first. That there is no reason to believe that those rude works were really 
Mf'xiiun : secondly, That neither do we know whelher those personsin whose judgmcnl he confides, 
may bi- persons fit to merit our faith, because we have observed thai Robertson trusts frequently to 
the testimony of Gai;<^, Correal, Ibacnez, and other such authors, who are entirely undeserving of 
credit : thirdly. It is uiore probable that the arms of copper, liellevcd by those intellii!enl judges to 
be certainly Oriental, are really Mexican." Vol. U. 391.— When an author, not entircny destitute 
of inietrrit) or discernment, and who has some solicitude about his own character, asserts that he 
received his information concerning any particular point from persons " on whose judgment and 
taste he can rely ;" a very slender degree of candour, one should Uiink, might induce the reader to 
believe that he dors not endeavour to impose upon the public by an appeal to testimony allogelher 
unworthy of credi' My inforniaiion concerning the Mexican works of art, deposited in the kiti" 
of Spain's cabinet, was received from the late Lord Urautham, ambassador extraordinary from the 
court of London li that of Madrid, and from Mr. Archdeacon Waddilove, chaplain to the embassy; 
and it was upon th -ir amhoruy that I pronounced the c«ai of aimour, mentioned in the note, to be 
of Oriental fabric. As they were both at Madrid in their public i haracter, when the first edition of 
the History of Am rica was published, I thought it improper at that lime to mention their names 
Did their decisiiui r oncerning a matter of taste, or their testimony concerning a point of fact, stand 
in need of c.i)nfirma'iin, I might produce the evidence of an intelligent traveller, who, in describine 

Vol. I. — 41 



322 HISTORY OF [Book VII. 

The hardest Egyptian style, stiff and imperfect as it was, is more elegant. 
The scrawls ofcljildren delineate olyects almost as accurately. 

But however low the Mexican paintings may be ranked, when viewed 
merely as works of art, a very different station belongs to them when con- 
sidered as the records of their country, as historical monuments of its policy 
and transactions ; and they become curious as well as interesting objects 
of attention. The noblest and most beneficial invention of which human 
ingenuity can boast, is that of writing. But the fiist essays of this art, 
which hath contributed more than all others to the improvement of the 
species, were very rude, and it advanced towards perfection slowly, and by 
a gradual progression. When the warrior, eager for fame, wished to 
transmit some knowledge of his exploits to succeeding ages ; when the 
gratitude of a people to their sovereign prompted them to hand down an 
account of his beneficent deeds to posterity ; the first method of accom- 
plishing this, which seems to have occurred to them, was to delineate, in 
the best manner they could, figures representing the action, of which they 
were solicitous to preserve the memoiy. Of this, which has very pro- 
perly been called picture •writing,* we find traces among some of the most 
savage tribes of America. When a leader returns from the field, he strips 
a tree of its bark, and with red paint scratches upon it some uncouth figures 
which represent the order of his march, the number of his followers, the 
enemy whom he attacked, the scalps and captives which he brought home. 
To those simple annals he trusts for renown, and soothes himself with hope 
that by their means he shall receive praise from the warriors of future 
times.] 

Compared with those awkward essays of their savage countrymen, the 
paintings of the Mexicans may be considered as works of composition and 
design. They were not acquainted, it is true, with any other method of 
recording transactions than that of delineating the objects which they wished 
to represent. But they could exhibit a more complex series of events in 
progressive order, and describe, by a proper disposition of figures, the oc- 
currences of a king's reign from his accession to his death ; the progress of 
an infant's education from its birth until it attain to the years of maturity ; 
the different recompenses and marks of distinction conferred upon war- 
riors, in proportion to the exploits which they had performed. Some sin- 
gular specimens of this picture writing have been preserved, which are 
justly considered as the most curious monuments of art brought from the 
New World. The most valuable of these was published by Purchas in 
sixty-six plates. It is divided into three parts. The first contains the 
history of the Mexican empire under its ten monarchs. The second is a 
tribute roll, representing what each conquered town paid into the royal 
treasuiy. The third is a code of their institutions, domestic, political, and 
military. Another specimen of Mexican painting has been published in 
thirty-two plates, by the present archbishop of Toledo. To both is an- 
nexed a full explanation of what the figures were intended to represent, 
which was obtained by the Spaniards from Indians well acquainted with 
their own arts. The style of painting in all these is the same. They 

she royal cabinet nf Madrid, takes notice tliat it contains " specimens of Mexican and Peruvian 
utensils, vases, &c. in earthenware, wretched both in taste and execution." Dillon's Travels 
through Spain, p. 77. As Gage composed his Survey of New Spain with all the zeal and acrimony 
of a new convert, I have paid little regard to his testimony with respect to points relating to religion. 
But as he resided In several provinces in New S[)ain, which travellers seldom visil, and as he seems 
to have observed their manners and laws vvilii an intelligent eye, I have availed myself of his 
information with respect to matters where religious opinion could have little influence. Correal i 
have seldom quoted, and never rested upon his evidence alone. The station in which [bagnez was 
employed in America, as well as the credit given to his veracity, by printing his Regno Jesuitico 
among the large collection of documents publiblied (as I believe by authority) .it Madrid, A. D. 1767, 
justifies me for appealing to liis avitliorily. 

• Divhie I>egai. of Moses, iii. 73. t Sir W. .Tohnson, Philos. Transact, vol, Ixiii. p. 143. 

Mfm. de la Hontan, ii. 191. Lafitau Mmurs de Sauv. ii. 13. 



AMERICA. ti23 

ifepresent things, not words. They exhibit images to the eye, not ideas to 
the understanding. They may therefore be considered as the earliest and 
most imperfect essay of men in their progress towards discovering the art 
of writing. The defects in this mode of recording transactions must have 
been early felt. To paint every occurrence was from its nature a very 
tedious operation ; and as affairs became more complicated, and events 
multiplied in any society, its annals must have swelled to an enormous 
bulk. Besides this, no objects could be delineated but those of sense ; the 
conceptions of the mind had no corporeal form ; and as long as picture 
writing could not convey an idea of these, it must have been a very imper- 
fect art. The necessity of improving it must have roused and sharpened 
invention ; and the human mind, holding the same course in the New- 
World as in the Old, might have advanced by the same successive steps, 
first, from an actual picture to the plain hieroglyphic ; next to the allego- 
rical symbol ; then to the arbitrary character ; until, at length, an alphabet 
of letters was discovered, capable of expressing all the various combinations 
of sound employed in speech. In the paintings of the Mexicans we ac- 
cordingly perceive that this progress was begun among them. Upon an 
attentive inspection of the plates, which I have mentioned, we may observe 
some approach to the plain or simple hieroglyphic, where some principal 
part or circumstance in the subject is made to stand for the whole. In the 
annals of their kings, published by Purchas, the towns conquered by each 
are uniformly represented in the same manner by a rude delineation of a 
house ; but in order to point out the particular towns which submitted to their 
victorious arms, peculiar emblems, sometimes natural objects, and sometimes 
artificial figures, are employed. In the tribute-roll published by the Arch- 
bishop of Toledo, the house which was properly the picture of the town, is 
omitted, and the emblem alone is employed to represent it. The Mexicans 
seem even to have made some advances beyond this, towards the use of the 
more figurative and fanciful hieroglyphic. In order to describe a monarch 
who had enlarged his dominions by force of arms, they painted a target orna- 
mented with darts, and placed it between him and those towns which he 
subdued. But it is only in one instance, the notation of numbers, that we 
discern any attempt to exhibit ideas which had no corporeal form. The 
Mexican painters had invented artificial marks, or sigm of convention, for 
this purpose. By means of these, they computed the years of their kings' 
reigns, as well as the amount of tribute to be paid into the royal treasury. 
The figure of a circle represented unit ; and in small numbers, the com- 
putation was made by repeating it. Larger numbers were expressed by a 
peculiar mark ; and they had such as denoted all integral numbers, from 
twenty to eight thousand. The short duration of their empire prevented 
the Mexicans from advancing further in that long course which conducts 
men from the labour of delineating real objects, to the simplicity and ease 
of alphabetic writing. Their records, notwithstanding some dawn of such 
ideas as might have led to a more perfect style, can be considered as little 
more than a species of picture-writing, so tar improved as to mark their 
superiority over the savage tribes of America ; but still so defective as to 
prove that tliey had not proceeded far beyond the first stage in that progress 
which must be completed before any people can be ranked among polished 
nations [150]. 

Their mode of computing time may be considered as a more decisive 
evidence of their progress in improvement. They divided their year into 
eighteen months, consisting of twenty days ; amounting in all to three hun- 
dred and sixty. But as they observed that the course of the sun was not 
completed in that time, they added five days to the year. These, which 
were properly intercalary days, they termed supernumerary or xt'aste ; and 
as they did not belong to any month, no work was done, and no sacred rite 



n24 HISTORY OF [Book VII. 

performed on them ; they were devoted wholly to festivity and pastime.* 
This near approach to philosophical accuracy is a remarkable proof, that 
the Mexicans had bestowed some attention upon inquiries and speculations 
to which men in a very rude state never turn their thoughts.! 

Such are the most striking particulars in the manners and policy of the 
Mexicans, which exhibit them to view as a people considerably refined. 
But from other circumstances, one is apt to suspect that their character, 
and many of their institutions, did not differ greatly from those of the other 
inhabitants of America. 

Like the rude tribes around them, the Mexicans were incessantly en- 
gaged in war, and the motives which prompted them to hostility seem to 
have been the same. They fought in order to gratify their vengeance by 
shedding the blood of their enemies. In battle they were chiefly intent on 
taking prisoners ; and it was by the number of these that they estimated 
the glory of victory. No captive was ever ransomed or spared. All were 
sacrificed without mercy, and their flesh devoured with the same barbarous 
joy as among the fiercest savages. On some occasions it arose to even 
wilder excesses. Their principal warriors covered themselves with the 
skins of the unhappy victims, and danced about the streets, boasting of 
their own valour, and exulting over their enemies. | Even in their civil 
institutions we discover traces of that barbarous disposition which their 
system of war inspired. The four chief counsellors of the empire were 
distinguished by titles, which could have been assumed only by a people 
who delighted in blood [151]. This ferocity of character prevailed among 
all the nations of New Spain. The Tlascalans, the people of Mechoacan, 
and other states at enmity with the Mexicans, delighted equally in war, 
and treated their prisoners with the same cruelty. In proportion as man- 
kind combine in social union, and live under the influence of equal laws 
and regular policy, their manners soften, sentiments of humanity arise, and 
the rights of the species come to be understood. The fierceness of war 
abates, and even while engaged in hostility, men remember what they owe 
one to another. The savage fights to destroy, the citizen to conquer. The 
ibrmer neither pities nor spares, the latter has acquired sensibility which 
tempers his rage. To this sensibility the Mexicans seem to have been 
perfect strangers ; and among them war was carried on with so much of 
its original barbarity, that we cannot but suspect their degree of civiliza- 
tion to have been very imperfect. 

Their funeral rites were not less bloody than those of the most savage 
tribes. On the death of any distinguished personage, especially of the 
emperor, a certain number of his attendants were chosen to accompany 
him to the other world ; and those unfortunate victims were put to deatn 
without mercy, and buried in the same tomb.§ 

Though their agriculture was more extensive than that of the roving 
tribes who trusted chiefly to their bow for food, it seems not to have sup- 
plied them with such subsistence as men require when engaged in efforts 
of active indust y. The Spaniards appear not to have been struck with 
any superiority of the Mexicans over the other people of America in bodily 
vigour. Both, according to their observation, were of such a feeble frame 
as to be unable to endure fatigue, and the strength of one Spaniard ex- 
ceeded that of several Indians. This they imputed to their scanty diet, 
on poor fare, sufllicient to preserve life, but not to give firmness to their 
constitution. Such a remark could hardly have been made with respect 
to any people furnished plentifully with the necessaries of life. The dilfi- 

* Acosta, lib. vi. c. 2. 

t The Mexican mode of computing lime, and evory other particular relating to their chronology, 
have been considerably elucidated by M. (^lavigero, vol. i. '288; vol. ii. 225, &.C. The observation.-} 
and theories of the Me.xicans conceruiiii; those siihji'ri.« discover a greater progress in speculaliv." 
•ciencc than we find among aiiy people in tiio New World. J Herrera, dec. 3. lib. ii. c. IS. 

Com. Cron. c. 217. ^ Herrera, dec. 3. lib. ii. c. 18. Gom. Crou. c. 202. 



AMERICA. 325 

culty which Cortes found in procuring subsistence for his small body of 
soldiers, who were often constrained to live on the spontaneous productions 
of the earth, seems to confirm the remark of the Spanish writers, and gives 
no high idea of the state of cultivation in the Mexican empire.* 

A practice that was universal in New Spain appears to favour this opi- 
nion. The Mexican women gave suck to their children for several years, 
and during that time they did not cohabit with their husbands.! This pre- 
caution against a burdensome increase of progeny, though necessary, as I 
have already observed, among savages, who from the hardships of their 
condition, and the precariousness of their subsistence, find it impossible to 
rear a numerous family, can hardly be supposed to have continued among 
a people who lived at ease and in abundance. 

The vast extent of the Mexican empire, which has been considered, and 
with justice, as the most decisive proof of a considerable progress in regu- 
lar government and police, is one of those facts in the history of the New 
World which seems to have been admitted without due examination or 
sufficient evidence. The Spanish historians, in order to magnify the valour 
of their countrymen, are accustomed to represent the dominion of Monte- 
zuma as stretching o^ er all the provinces of New Spain from the Northern 
to the Southern Ocean. But a great part of the mountainous country was 
possessed by the Olomies, a fierce uncivilized people, who seem to have 
been the residue of the original inhabitants. The provinces towards the 
north and west of Mexico, were occupied by the Chicheinecas, and other 
tribes of hunters. None of these recognised the Mexican monarch as their 
superior. Even in the interior and more level country, there were several 
cities and provinces which had never submitted to the Mexican yoke. 
Tlascala, though only twenty-one leagues from the capital of the empire, 
was an independent and hostile republic. Cholula, though still nearer, 
had been subjected only a short time before the arrival of the Spaniards. 
Tepeaca, at the distance of thirty leagues from Mexico, seems to have 
been a separate state, governed by its own laws.j Mechoacan, the fron- 
tier of which extended within forty leagues of Mexico, was a powerful 
kingdom, remarkable for its implacable enmity to the Mexican name.§ 
By these hostile powers the Mexican empire was circumscribed on every 
quarter, and the high ideas which we are apt to form of it from the de- 
scription of the Spanish historians, should be considerably moderated. ^-» 

In consequence of this independence of several states in New Spairr 
upon the Mexican empire, there was not any considerable intercourse be- 
tween its various provinces. Even in the interior country not far distant 
from the capital, there seems to have been no roads to facilitate the commu- 
nication of one district with another ; and when the Spaniards first attempt- 
ed to penetrate into its several provinces, they had to open their way 
through forests and marshes.|| Cortes, in his adventurous march from 
Mexico to Honduras, in 1525, met with obstructions, and endured hard- 
ships little inferior to those with which he must have struggled in the most 
uncivilized regions of America. In some places he could hardly force a 

)assage through impervious woods, and plains overflowed with water. 

n others he found so little cultivation, that his troops were frequently in 
danger of perishing by famine. Such facts correspond ill with the pom- 
pous descri))tion which the Spanish writers give of Mexican police and 
industry, and convey an idea of a country nearly similar to that possessed 
by the Indian tribes in North America. Here and there a trading or a 
war path, as they are called in North America, led from one settlement to 
another ;1f but generally there appeared no sign of any established com- 
munication, few marks of industry, and fewer monuments of art. 

» Relat. ap. lUmiis, iii. SOB. A. Herrcra, dec. 3. lib. iv. c. 17. dec. 2. lib. vi. c. 16. t G'>ni. 

Cron. c208. Ilerrera, dec. 3. lib. iv. c. 1«. jrUerrnra, dec. 3. lib. x. c. 15. 21. B. Diaz, c. 130. 
« Herrera. rifc. 3. lib. ii. c. ID. |l B. Diaz, e. 166 17B. IT Hurrera, dec. 3. lib. vii. c. if. 



I 



326 HISTORY OF [Book VII. 

A proof of this imperfection in their commercial intercourse no less stri- 
kir^ is their want of money, or some universal standard by which to esti- 
mate the value of commodities. The discovery of this is among the 
steps of greatest consequence in the progress of nations. Until it has been 
made, all their transactions must be so awkward, so operose, and so limited, 
that we may boldly pronounce that they have advanced but a little way 
in their career. The invention of such a commercial standard is of such 
high antiquity in our hemisphere, and rises so far beyond the era of au- 
thentic history, as to appear almost coeval with the existence of society. 
The precious metals seem to have been early employed for this purpose ; 
and from their permanent value, their divisibility, and many other qualities, 
they are better adapted to serve as a common standard than any other sub- 
stance of which nature has given us the command. But in the New 
World, where these metals abound most, this use of them was not known. 
The exigencies of rude tribes, or of monarchies imperfectly civilized, did 
not call lor it. All their commercial intercourse was carried on by barter ; 
and their ignorance of any common standard by which to facilitate that 
exchange of commodities which contributes so much towards the comfort 
of life, may be justly mentioned as an evidence of the infant state of their 
policy. But even in the New World the inconvenience of wanting some 
general instrument of commerce began to be felt, and some efiforts were 
making towards supplying that defect. The Mexicans, among whom the 
number and greatness of their cities gave rise to a more extended com- 
merce than in any other part of America, had begun to employ a common 
standard of value, which rendered smaller transactions much more easy. 
As chocolate was the favourite drink of persons in every rank of life, the 
nuts or almonds of cacao, of which it is composed, were of such universal 
consumption, that, in their stated markets, these were willingly received 
in return for commodities of small price. Thus they came to be consider- 
ed as the instrument of commerce, and the value of what one wished to 
dispose of was estimated by the number of nuts of the cacao, which he 
might expect in exchange tor it. This seems to be the utmost length 
which the Americans had advanced towards the discoveiy of any expe- 
dient for supplying the use of money. And if the want of it is to be held, 
on one hand, as a proof of their barbarity, this expedient for supplying 
that want should be admitted, on the other, as an evidence no less satis- 
fying of some progress which the Mexicans had made in refinement and 
civilization beyond the savage tribes around them. 

In such a rude state were many of the Mexican provinces when first 
visited by their conquerors. Even their cities, extensive and populous as 
they were, seem more fit to be the habitation of men just emerging from 
barbarity, than the residence of a polished people. The description of 
Tlascala nearly resembles that of an Indian village. A number of low 
straggling huts, scattered about irregularly, according to the caprice of 
each proprietor, built with turf and stone, and thatched with reeds, with- 
out any light but what they received by a door, so low that it could not 
be entereH upright.* In Mexico, though, from the peculiarity of its situa- 
tion, the disposition of the houses was more orderly, the structure of the 
greater part was equally mean. Nor does the fabric of their temples, and 
other public edifices, appear to have been such as entitled them to the 
high praise bestowed upon them by many Spanish authors. As far as one 
can gather from their obscure and inaccurate descriptions, the great temple 
of Mexico, the most famous in New Spain, which has been represented as 
a magnificent buildino^, raised to such a height, that the ascent to it was by 
a flight of a hundred and fourteen steps, was a solid mass of earth of a 
square forniy faced partly with stone. Its base on each side extended 

* HerrerH. dfc. S. Iil». vi. c. 13. 



AMERICA. 327 

ninety feet ; and decreasing gradually as it advanced in height, it termi- 
nated in a quadrangle of about thirty feet, where were placed a shrine of 
the deity, and two altars on which the victims were sacrificed.* All the 
other celebrated temples of New Spain exactly resembled that of Mex- 
ico [l52]. Such structures convey no high idea of progress in art and in- 
genuity ; and one can hardly conceive that a form more rude and simple 
could have occurred to a nation in its first efforts towards erecting any 
great work. 

Greater skill and ingenuity were displayed, if we may believe the Span- 
ish historians, in the houses of the emperor, and in those of the principal 
nobility. There, some elegance of design was visible, and a commodious 
arrangement of the apartments was attended to. But if buildings corres- 
ponding to such descriptions had ever existed in the Mexican cities, it is 
probable that some remains of them would still be visible. From the 
manner in which Cortes conducted the siege of Mexico, we can indeed 
easily account for the total destruction of whatever had any appearances 
of splendour in that capital. But as only two centuries and a half have 
elapsed since the conquest of New Spain, it seems altc^ether incredible 
that in a period so short, every vestige of this boasted elegance and gran- 
deur should have disappeared ; and that in the other cities, particularly in 
those which did not suffer by the destructive hand of the conquerors, there 
are any ruins which can be considered as monuments of their ancient mag- 
nificence. 

Even in a village of the rudest Indians, there are buildings of greater 
extent and elevation than common dwelling houses. Such as are destined 
for holding the council of the tribe, and in which all assemble on occasions 
of public festivity, may be called stately edifices, when compared with 
the rest. As among the Mexicans the distinction of ranks was established, 
and property was unequally divided, the number of distinguished struc- 
tures in their towns would of course be greater than in other parts of Ame- 
rica. But these seem not to have been either so solid or magnificent as to 
merit the pompous epithets which some Spanish authors employ in de- 
scribing them. It is probable that, though more ornamented, and built on 
a larger scale, they were erected with the same slight materials which the 
Indians employed in their common buildings [153], and Time, in a space 
much less than two hundred and fifty years, may have swept away all 
remains of them fl54l. 

From this enumeration of facts, it seems, upon the whole, to be evident, 
that the state of society in Mexico was considerably advanced beyond 
that of the savage tribes which we have delineated. But it is no less mani- 
fest that, with respect to many particulars, the Spanish accounts of their 
progress appear to be highly embellished. There is not a iiore frequent 
or a more fertile source of deception in describing the manners and arts of 
savage nations, or of such as are imperfectly civilized, than that of apply- 
ing to them the names and phrases appropriated to the institutions ana re- 
finements of polished life. When the leader of a small tribe, or the head 
of a rude community, is dignified with the name of King or Emperor, the 
place of his residence can receive no other name but that of his palace ; 
and whatever his attendants may be, they must be called his court. 
Under such appellations they acquire, in our estimation, an importance 
and dignity which does not belong to them. The illusion spreads ; and 
giving a false colour to every part of the narrative, the imagination is so 
much carried away with the resemblance, that it becomes difficult to dis- 
cern objects as they really are. The Spaniards, when they first touched 
on the Mexican coast, were so much strutk with the appearance of attain- 
ments in policy and in the arts of life, far superior to those of the rude 

* Vi'TTfm. dpc. ?. lib vii. c. 17. 



32fi HISTORY OF [Book VII. 

tribes with which they were hitherto acquainted, that they fancied they 
had at length discovered a civilized people in the New WorJd. This 
comparison between the people of Mexico and their uncultivated neigh- 
bours, they appear to have kept constantly in view ; and observing with 
admiration many things which marked the pre-eminence of the former, 
they employ, in describing their imperfect policy and infant arts, such terms 
as are applicable to the institutions of men far beyond them in improve- 
ment. Both these circumstances concur in detracting from the credit due 
to the descriptions of Mexican manners by the early Spanish ^^•Iiters. By- 
drawing a parallel between them and those of people so much less civil- 
ized, they raised their own ideas too high. By their mode oi' describing 
them, they conveyed ideas to others no less exalted above truth. Later 
writers have adopted the style of the oiiginal historians, and improved 
upon it. The colours with which De Solis delineates the character and 
describes the actions of Montezuma, the splendour of his court, the laws 
and policy of his empire, are the same that he must have employed in 
exhibiting to view the monarch and institutions of a highly polished people. 
But though we may admit, that the warm imagination of the Spanish 
writers has added some embellishment to their descriptions, this will not 
justify the decisive and peremptory tone with which several authors pro- 
nounce all their accounts of the Mexican power, policy, and laws, to be 
the fictions of men who wished to deceive, or who delighted in the mar- 
vellous. There are few historical facts that can be ascertained by evidence 
more unexceptionable, than may be produced in support of the material 
articles in the description of the Mexican constitution and manners. Eye- 
witnesses relate what they beheld. Men who had resided among the 
Mexicans, both before and after the conquest, describe institutions and 
customs which were familiar to them. Persons of professions so difJ'erent 
that objects must have presented themselves to their view under every 
various aspect ; soldiers, priests, and lawyers, all concur in their testimony. 
Had Cortes ventured to impose upon his sovereign, by exhibiting to him a 
picture of imaginary manners, there wanted not enemies and rivals who 
were qualified to detect his deceit, and who would have rejoiced in 
exposing it. But according to the just remark of an author, whose inge- 
nuity has illustrated, and whose eloquence has adorned, the history of 
America,* this supposition is in itself as improbable as the attempt would 
have been audacious. Who, among the destroyers of this great empire, 
was so enlightened by science, or so attentive to the progress and operations 
of men in social lite, as to frame a fictitious system of policy so well com- 
bined and so consistent, as that which they dehneate in their accounts of 
the Mexican government ? Where could they have borrowed the idea of 
many institutions in legislation and police, to which, at that period, there 
was nothing parallel in the nations with which they were acquainted? 
There was not, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, a reg; ar esta- 
blishment of posts for conveying intelligence to the sovereign of any 
kingdom in Europe. The same observation will apply to what the 
Spaniards relate with respect to the structure of the city of Mexico, the 
regulations concerning its police, and various laws established for the 
administration of justice, or securing the happiness of the community. 
Whoever is accustomed to contemplate the progress of nations will ol'ten, 
at very early stages of it, discover a premature and unexpected dawn of 
those ideas which gave rise to institutions that are the pride and ornament 
of its most advanced period. Even in a state as imperfectly polished as 
the Mexican empire, the happy genius of some sagacious observer, excited 
or aided by circumstances unknown to us, may have introduced institutions 
which are seldom found but in societies highly refined. But it is almost 

* M. l'.\bbe Kayna! Hist, philos. ct polit. &c. iii, 127. 



AMERICA. 329 

impossible that the illiterate conquerors of the New World should have 
formed in any one instance a conception of customs and laws beyond the 
standard of improvement in their own age and country. Or if Cortes had 
been capable of this, what inducement had those by whom he was super- 
seded to continue the deception ? Why should Corita, or Motolinea, or 
Acosta, have amused their sovereign or their fellow-citizens with a tale 
purely fabulous ? 

In one particular, however, the guides whom we must follow have repre- 
sented the Mexicans to be more barbarous, perhaps, than they really were. 
Their religious tenets and the rites of their worship are described by them 
as wild and cruel in an extreme degree. Religion, which occupies no 
considerable place in the thoughts of a savage, whose conceptions of any 
superior power are obscure, and his sacred rites (ew as well as simple, 
was formed, among the Mexicans, into a regular system, with its complete 
train of priests, temples, victims, and festivals. This, of itself, is a clear 
proof that the state of the Mexicans was very different from that of the 
ruder American tribes. But from the extravagance of their religious 
notions, or the barbarity of their rites, no conclusion can be drawn with 
certainty concerning the degree of their civilization. For nations, long 
after their ideas begin to enlarge, and their manners to refine, adhere to 
systems of superstition founded on the crude conceptions of early ages. 
From the genius of the Mexican religion we may, however, form a most 
just conclusion with respect to its influence upon the character of the 

feople. The aspect of superstition in Mexico was gloomy and atrocious, 
ts divinities were clothed with terror, and delighted in vengeance. They 
were exhibited to the people under detestable forms, which created horror. 
The figures of serpents, of tigers, and of other destructive animals, deco- 
rated their temples. Fear was the only principle that inspired their 
votaries. Fasts, mortifications, and penances, al! rigid, and many of them 
excruciating to an extreme degree, were the means employed to appease 
the wrath of their gods, and the Mexicans never approached their altars 
without sprinkling them with blood drawn from their own bodies. But, of 
all offerings, human sacrifices were deemed the most acceptable. This 
religious belief mingling with the implacable spirit of vengeance, and 
adding new force to it, every captive taken in war was brought to the 
temple, was devoted as a victim to the deity, and sacrificed with rites no 
Jess solemn than cruel* [155], The heart and head were the portion 
consecrated to the gods ; the warrior, by whose prowess the prisoner bad 
been seized, carried off the body to feast upon it with his liiends. Under 
the impression of ideas so dreary and terrible, and accustomed daily to 
scenes of bloodshed rendered awful by religion, the heart of man must 
harden and be steeled to every sentiment of humanity. The spirit of the 
Mexicans was accordingly unfeeling ; and the genius of their religion so 
far counterbalanced the influence oi policy and arts, thai notwithstanding 
their progress in both, their manners, instead of softening, became more 
fierce. To what circumstances it was owing that superstition assumed such 
a dreadful form among the Mexicans, we have not sufficient knowledge of 
their history to determine. But its influence is visible, iud produced an 
effect that is singular in the history of the human species. The manners of 
the people in the New World, who had made the greatest progress in the 
arts of policy, were, in several respects, the most ferocious, and the barbarity 
of some of their customs exceeded even those of the savage state. 

The empire of Peru boasts of a higher antiquity than that of Mexico. 
According to the traditionary accounts collected by the Spaniards, it had 
subsisted tour hundred years, under twelve successive monarchs. But the 

* Cort. Ri'lat. ap Ramus, iii. 240, &c. B. Diaz, c. 82. Acosta, lib. v. r. 13, &r. ncrrpr.i, deo. 
3. lib. ii. c. I.'), &C. Uoiiiara C.hron. c. 80, ir, 
Vor.. I.— 42 



330 HISTORY OF [Book Vll. 

knowledge of their ancient story, which the Peruvians could communicate 
to their conquerors, must have been both imperfect and uncertain [156], 
Like the other American nations, they were totally unacquainted with the 
art of writing, and destitute of the only means by which the memoir of 
past transactions can be preserved with any degree of accuracy. Even 
among people to whom the use of letters is known, the era where the 
authenticity of history commences is much posterior to the intro<iuction of 
writing. That noble invention continued every where to be long subser- 
vient to the common business and wants of life, before it was employed in 
recording events, with a view of conveying information from one age to 
another. But in no country did ever tradition alone carry down historical 
knowledge, in any full continued stream, during a period of half the length 
that the monarchy of Peru is said to have subsisted. 

The Quipos, or knots on cords of different colours, which are celebrated 
by authors fond of the marvellous, as if they had been regular annals of 
the empire, imperfectly supplied the place of writing. According to the 
obscure description of them by Acosta,* which Garcilasso de la Vega has 
adopted with little variation and no improvement, the quipos seem to have 
been a device for rendering calculation more expeditious and accurate. 
Bj the various colours dififerent objects were denoted, and by each knot a 
distinct number. Thus an account was taken, and a kind of register kept, 
of the inhabitants in each province, or of the several productions collected 
there for public use. But as by these knots, however varied or combined, 
no moral or abstract idea, no operation or quality of the mind could be 
represented, they contributed little towards preserving the memory of 
ancient events and institutions. By the Mexican paintings and symbols, 
rude as they were, more knowledge of remote transactions seems to have 
been conveyed than the Peruvians could derive from their boasted quipos. 
Had the latter been even of more extensive use, and better adapted to 
supply the place of written records, they perished so generally, together 
with other monuments of Peruvian ingenuity, in the wreck occasioned by 
the Spanish conquest, and the civil wars subsequent to it, that no accession 
of light or knowledge comes from them. All the zeal of Garcilasso de la 
Vega, for the honour of that race of monarchs from whom he descended, 
all the. industry of his researches, and the superior advantages with which 
he carried them on, opened no source of information unknown to the 
Spanish authors who wrote before him. In his Royal Commentaries, he 
confines himself to illustrate what they had related concerning the antiqui- 
ties and institutions of Peru ;t and his illustrations, like their accounts, are 
derived entirely from the traditionary tales current among his countrymen. 

Very little credit then is due to the minute details which have been 
given of the exploits, the battles, the conquests, and private character of 
the earlj Peruvian monarchs. We can rest upon nothing in their story as 
authentic, but a few facts so interwoven in the system of their religion and 
policy, as preserved the memory of them from being lost ; and upon the 
description of such customs and institutions as continued in force at the 
time of the conquest, and fell under the immediate observation of the 
Spaniards. By attending carefully to these, and endeavouring to separate 
them from what appears to be fabulous or of doubtful authority, 1 have 
laboured to form an idea of the Peruvian government and manners. 

The people of Peru, as I have already observed,J had not advanced 
beyond the rudest form of savage life, when Manco Capac, and his con- 
sort Mama OcoUo, appeared to instruct and to civilize them. Who these 
extraordinary personages were, whether they imported their system ot 
legislation and knowledge of arts from some country more improved, or, it 
natives of Peru, how they acquired ideas so far superior to those of the 

* met. Tib. vi c. S. t Lib. i. c. 10. * Book vl. 



AMERICA. 331 

people wliom they addressed, are circumstances witli respect to which the 
Peruvian tradition conveys no information. Manco Capac and his consort, 
taking advantage of the propensity in the Penjvians to superstition, and 
particularly of their veneration for the Sun, pretended to be children of that 
glorious luminary, and to deliver their instructions in his name, and by au- 
thority from him. The multitude listened and believed. What reforma- 
tion in policy and manners the Peruvians ascribe to those founders of their 
empire, and how, from the precepts of the Inca and his consort, their an- 
cestors gradually acquired some knowledge of those arts, and some relish 
for that industry, which render subsistence secure and life comfortable, 
hath been formerly related. Those blessings were originally confined 
within narrow precincts ; but in process of time, the successors of Manco 
Capac extended their dominion over all the regions that stretch to the 
west of the Andes from Chili to Quito, establishing in every province their 
peculiar policy and religious institutions. 

The most singular and striking circumstance in the Peruvian govern- 
ment is the influence of religion upon its genius and laws. Religious ideas 
make such a feeble impression on the mind of a savage, that their eCFect 
upon his sentiments and manners is hardly perceptible. Among the 
Mexicans, religion, reduced into a regular system, and holding a consider- 
able place in their public institutions, operated with conspicuous efficacy 
in forming the peculiar character of that people. But in Peru, the whole 
system of policy was founded on religion. The Inca appeared not only 
as a legislator, but as the messenger of Heaven. His precepts were re- 
ceived not merely as the injunctions of a superior, but as the mandates of 
the Deity. His race was to be held sacred ; and in order to preserve it 
distinct, without being polluted by any mixture of less noble blood, the 
sons of Manco Capac married their own sisters, and no person was ever 
admitted to the throne who could not claim it by such a pure descent. 
To those Children of the Sun, for that was the appellation bestowed upon 
all the ofi'spring of the first Inca, the people looked up with the reverence 
due to beings of a superior order. They were deemed to be under the 
immediate protection of the deity from whom they issued, and by him 
every order of the reigning Inca was supposed to be dictated. 

From those ideas two consequences resulted. The authority of the 
Inca was unlimited and absolute in the most extensive meaning of the 
words. Whenever the decrees of a prince are considered as the com- 
mands of the Divinity, it is not only an act of rebellion, but of impiety, to 
dispute or oppose his will. Obedience becomes a duty of religion ; and as 
it would be profane to control a monarch who is believed to be under the 
guidance of Heaven, and presumptuous to advise him, nothing remains but 
to submit with implicit respect. This must necessarily be the effect of 
every government established on pretensions of intercourse with superior 
powers. Such accordingly was the blind submission which the Peruvians 
yielded to their sovereigns. The persons of highest rank and greatest 
power in their dominions acknowledged them to be of a more exalted 
nature ; and in testimony of this, when admitted into their presence, they 
entered with a burden upon their shoulders, as an emblem of their servi- 
tude, and willingness to bear whatever the Inca was pleased to impose. 
Among their subjects, force was not requisite to second their commands. 
Every officer intrusted with the execution of them was revered, and, 
according to the account* of an intelligent observer of Peruvian manners, 
he might proceed alone from one extremity of the empire to another with- 
out meeting opposition ; for, on producing a fringe trom the royal borla, an 
ornament of the head peculiar to the reigning Inca, the lives and fortunes 
of the people were at his disposal. 

♦ Zaraff>. lib, i. r. 13. 



332 HlSTORi' OF [Book VII. 

Another consequence of establishing government in Peru on the founda- 
tion of religion was, that all crimes were punished capitally. They were 
not considered as transgressions of human laws, but as insults offered to 
the Deity. Each, without an} distinction between such as weie slight and 
such as were atrocious, called for vengeance, and could be expiated only 
by the blood of the offender. Consonan'iy to the same ideas, punishment 
followed the trespass with inevitable certainty, because an offence against 
Heaven was deemed such a high enormity as could not be pardoned.* 
Among a people ot corrupted morals, maxims of jurisprudence so severe 
and unrelenting, bv rendering men ferocious and desperate, would be 
more apt to multiply crimes than to restrain them. But the Peruvians, of 
simple manners and unsuspicious faith, were held in such awe by this rigid 
discipline, that the number of offenders was extremely small. Veneration 
for monarchs enlightened and dijected, as they believed, by the divinity 
whom they adored, prompted d^.em to their duty ; the dread of punish- 
ment, which they were taught to consider as unavoidable vengeance 
inflicted by offended Heaven, withheld them fiom evil. 

The system of superstition, on which the Incas ingrafted their preten- 
sions to such high authority, was of a genius very different Irom that 
established among the Mexicans. Manco Capac turned the veneration of 
his tbllowers entirely towards natural objects. The Sun, as the great 
source of light, of joy, and fertility in the creation, attracted their principal 
homage. The 3Ioon and Stars, as co-operating with him, were entitled 
to secondary honours. Wherever the propensity in the human mind to 
acknowledge and to adore some superior power lakes this direction, and 
is employed in contemplating the order and beneticence that really exists 
in nature, the spirit of superetition is mild. ^^ herever imaginary beings, 
created by the tancy and the tears ol men, are supposed to preside in 
nature, and become the objects of worship, superstition alwaj^s assumes a 
more severe and atrocious iorm. Of the latter we have an example among 
the Mexicans, of the former among the people of Peru. The Peruvians 
had not. indeed, made such progress in observation or inquiry, as to have 
attained just conceptions of the Deity ; nor was there in Qieir language any 
proper name or appellation of the Supreme Power, which intimated that 
they had formed any idea of him as the Creator and Governor of the 
world. t 

But by directing their veneration to that gloiious luminary, which, by 
its universal and vivifying energy, is the best emblem of Divine benefi- 
cence, the rites and observances which they deemed acceptable to him 
were innocent and humane. They offered to the Sun a part ot those pro- 
ductions which his genial warmth had called forth from the bosom of the 
earth, and reared to maturity-. They sacrificed, as an oblation of grati- 
tude, some of the animals which were indebted to his influence for nourish- 
ment. They presented to him choice specimens of those w orks of ingenu- 
ity which his light had guided the hand of man in tbrming. But the Incas 
never stained his altars with human blood, nor could they concei\e that 
their beneficent lather, the Sun, would be delighted widi such horrid vic- 
tims [l37]. Thus the Pemvians, unacquainted with those barbarous rites 
which extinguish sensibility, and suppress the teelings of nature at the sight 
of human sufferings, were tbrmed by the spirit of the superstition which 
they had adopted, to a national character more gentle than that of any 
people in America. 

The influence of this superstition operated in the same manner upon 
their civil insntutions, and tended to correct in them whatever was adverse 
to gentleness of character. The dominion of the Incas, though the most ab- 
solute of all despotisms, was mitigated by its alliance with religion. The 

* Vega, Tib. ii. c. 6. t Acosta, lib. v. r. 3. 



AMERICA. 333 

mind was not humbled and depressed by the idea of a forced subjection to 
the will of a superior ; obedience, paid to one who was beiieved to be clothed 
%vith l3ivine authority, was williuffly yielded, and implied no deg^radation. 
The sovereign, conscious that the submissive reverence of his people 
flowed trom Their belief of his heavenly descent, was continually reminded 
of a distinction which prompted him" to imitate that beneticent power 
which he was supposed to represent. In consequence of those impressions, 
there hardly occurs in the traditional historj- of Peru, any instance of re- 
bellion against the reigning prince, and among twelve successive monarchs 
there wns not one tyrant. 

Even the wars in which the Incas engaged were carried on with a spirit 
very different from that of other American nations. They tbugbt not, like 
savages, to destroy and to exterminate ; or, like the Mexicans, to glut blood- 
thirsty divinities with human sacrifices. They conquered, in order to reclaim 
and civihze the vanquished, and to diffuse the knowledge of their own 
institutions and arts. Prisoners seem not to have been exposed to the insults 
and tortures which were their lot in every other part ol the New World. 
The Incas look the people whom they subdued under their protection, and 
adnutted them to a participation of all the advantages enjoyed by their 
original subjects. This practice, so repugnant to American I'erocity, and 
re-sembling' the humanity of the most polished nations, must be ascribed, 
like other peculiarities which we have observed in the Peruvian manners, 
to the genius of their religion. The Incas. considering the homage paid to 
any other object than to the heavenly powers which ^hey adored as impi- 
ous, were fond of gaining proselytes to their t'avourite system. The idols 
of every conquered province were carried in triumph to the great temple 
at Cuzco,* and placed there as trophies of the superior power of the 
divinity who was the protector of their empire. The people were treated 
Avith lenity, and instructed in the religious tenets of their new masters,! 
that the conqueror might have the glory of having added to the number of 
the votaries of his lather the Sun. 

The state of property in Peru was no less singular than that of religion, 
and contributed, hkewise, towards giving a mild turn of character to the 
people. All the lands capable of culfivation were divided into three shares. 
One was consecrated to the Sun. and the product of it was applied to the 
erection of temples, and furnishing what was requisite towards celebratir^ 
the public rites of religion. The second belonged to the Inca, and was 
set apart as the provision made by the community tor the support of 
government. The third and largest share was reserved tor the maintenance 
of the people, amone whom it was parcelled out. Neither individuals, 
however, nor communities had a right of exclusive property in the portion 
set apart for their use. They possessed it only tor a year, at the expiration 
of which a new division was made in proportion to the rank, the number, 
and exigencies of each family. All those lands were cultivated by the 
joint industry ot" the community. The people summoned by a proper 
officer, repaired in a body to the fields, and pertbrmed their common task, 
while soiKTS and musical instruments cheered them to their labour.| By 
this singular distribution of territory, as well as by the mode of cultivating 
it, the idea of a common interest, and of mutual subserviency, was continu- 
ally inculcated. Each individual telt his connexion with those around him, 
and knew that he depended on their friendly aid tor what increase he was 
to reap. A state thus constituted may be considered as one great family, 
in which the union of the members was so complete, and the exchange ot 
good offices so perceptible, as to create stroneer attachment, and to oind 
man to man in closer intercourse than subsisted under any form of society 

• HerTera,dec.5. lil>. ir. C.4. Vega, lib. t. e. 12. t Herrera, dec. 5. lib. ir. c P. lib. c.?. 
Vpfa, lib. V. f . .1 



334 HISTORY OF [BookVII, 

established in America, From this resulted gentle manners and mild 
virtues unknown in the savage state, and with which the Mexicans were 
little acquainted. 

But, though the institutions of the Incas were so framed as to strengthen 
the bonds o? affection among their subjects, there was great inequality in 
their condition. The distinction of ranks was fully established in Peru. 
A great body of the inhabitants, under the denomination of Yanaconas, 
were held in a state of servitude. Their garb and houses were of a form 
different from those of freemen. Like the Tamenes of Mexico, they were 
employed in carrying burdens, and in performing every other work of 
drudgery.* Next to them, in rank, were such of the people as were free, 
but distinguished by no official or hereditary honours. Above them were 
raised those whom the Spaniards call Orejones, from the ornaments worn in 
their ears. They formed what may be denominated the order of nobles, 
and in peace as well as war held every office of power or trust.j And 
the head of all were the children of the Sun, who, by their high descent 
and peculiar privileges, were as much exalted above the Orejones, as these 
were elevated above the people. 

Such a form of society, from the union of its members, as well as from 
the distinction in their ranks, was favourable to progress in the arts. But 
the Spaniards, having been acquainted with the improved state of various 
arts in Mexico several years before they discovered Peru, were not so 
much struck with what they observed in the latter countiy, and describe 
the appearances of ingenuity there with less warmth of admiration. The 
Peruvians, nevertheless, had advanced far beyond the Mexicans, both in 
the necessary arts of life, and in such as have some title to the name of 
elegant. 

In Peru, agriculture, the art of primary necessity in social life, was more 
extensive, and carried on with greater skill than in any part of America. 
The Spaniards, in their progress through the country, were so fully sup- 
plied with provisions of every kind, that in the relation of their adventures 
we meet with few of those dismal scenes of distress occasioned by famine, 
in which the conquerors of Mexico were so often involved. The quantity 
of soil under cultivation was not left to the discretion of individuals, but 
regulated by public authority in proportion to the exigencies of the com- 
munity. Even the calamity of an unfruitful season was but little felt ; for 
the product of the lands consecrated to the Sun, as well as those set apart 
for the Incas, being deposited in the Tambos, or public storehouses, it 
remained there as a stated provision for times of scarcity.]: As the extent 
of cultivation was determined with such provident attention to the demands 
of the state, the invention and industry of the Peruvians were called forth 
to extraordinary exertions, by certain defects peculiar to their climate and 
soil. All the vast rivers that flow from the Andes take their course east- 
ward to the Atlantic Ocean. Peru is watered only by some streams which 
rush down from the mountains like torrents. A great part of the low 
country is sandy and barren, and never refreshed with rain. In order to 
render such an unpromising region fertile, the ingenuity of the Peruvians 
had recourse to various expedients. By means of artificial canals, conducted 
with much patience and considerable art from the torrents that poured across 
their country, they conveyed a regular supply of moisture to their fields^ [l 58]. 
They enriched the soil by manuring it with the dung of sea fowls, of which 
they found an inexhaustible store on all the islands scattered along the 
coasts.ll In describing the customs of any nation thoroughly civilized, such 
practices would hardly draw attention, or be mentioned as in any degree 

* Herrera, dec. 5. lib. iii. c. 4. lib. x. c. 8. t Ib.lil). iv. c. 1. t Zarate, lib. i. c. 14. Vega, 
lib. i. c. 8. $ Zarate, lib. i. c. 4. Vega, lib. v. c. 1 & 34 II Acosta, lib. iv. c. 37. Vega, 

lib. V. c. 3 



AMERICA. 335 

I 

remarkable ; but in the history of llie improvident race of men in the New 
World, they are entitled to notice as singular proofs of industry and of art. 
The use of the plough, indeed, was unknown to the Peruvians. They turned 
up the earth with a kind of mattock of hard wood * Nor was this labour 
deemed so degrading as to be devolved wholly u|)on the women. Both 
sexes joined in performing this necessary work. Even the children of the 
Sun set an example of industry, by cultivating a field near Cuzco with their 
own hands, and they dignified this function by denominating it their triumph 
over the earth. f 

The superior ingenuity of the Peruvians is obvious, likewise, in the con- 
struction of their houses and public buildings. In the extensive plains which 
stretch along the Pacific Ocean, where the sky is perpetually serene, and the 
climate mild, their houses were very properly of a fabric extremely slight. 
But in the higher regions, where rain falls, where the vicissitude of seasons 
is known, and their rigour felt, houses were constructed with greater solidity. 
They were generally of a square form, the walls about eight feet high, built 
with bricks hardened in the sun, without any windows, and the door low 
and straight. Simple as these structures were, and rude as the materials 
may seem to be of which they were formed, they were so durable that many 
of them still subsist in different parts of Peru, long after every monument 
that might have conveyed to us any idea of the domestic state of the other 
American nations has vanished from the face of the earth. But it was in the 
temples consecrated to the Sun, and in the buildings destined for the residence 
of their monarchs, that the Peruvians displayed the utmost extent of their 
art and contrivance. The descriptions of them by such of the Spanish 
writers as had an opportunity of contemplating them, while in some measure 
entire, might have appeared highly exaggerated, if the ruins which still 
remain did not vouch the truth of their relations. These ruins of sacred or 
royal buildings are found in every province of the empire, and by their fre- 
quency demonstrate that they are monuments of a powerful people, who 
must have subsisted, during a period of some extent, in a state of no incon- 
siderable improvement. They appear to have been edifices various in their 
dimensions : some of a moderate size, many of immense extent, all remark- 
able for solidity, and resembling each other in the style of architecture. The 
temple of Pachacamac, together with a palace of the Inca, and a fortress, 
were so connected together as to form one great structure above half a 
league in circuit. In this prodigious pile, the same singular taste in building 
is conspicuous as in other works of the Peruvians. As they were unac- 
quainted with the use of the pulley, and other mechanical powers, and 
could not elevate the large stones and bricks which they employed in build- 
ing to any considerable height, the walls of this edifice, in which they seem 
to have made their greatest effort towards magnificence, did not rise above 
twelve feet from the ground. Though they had not discovered the use of 
mortar or of any other cement in building, the bricks or stones were joined 
with so much nicety, that the seams can hardly be discerned [^169]. The 
apartments, as far as the distribution of them can be traced in the ruins, 
were ill disposed, and afforded little accommodation. There was not a 
single window in any part of the building; and as no light could enter but 
by the door, all the apartments of largest dimensions must either have been 
perfectly dark, or illuminated by some other means. But with all these, 
and many other imperfections that might be mentioned in their art of build- 
ing, the works of the Peruvians which still remain must be considered as 
stupendous efforts of a people unacquainted with the use of iron, and convey 
to us a high idea of the power possessed by their ancient monarchs. 

These, however, were not the noblest or most useful works of the Incas. 
The two great roads from Cuzco to Qjuito, extending in an uninterrupted 

* Zarsf, lib. i. c. 8. ' Vrga, lib. v. e. 0. 



336 HISTORY OF fBooK VII. 

stretch above fifteen hundred miles, are entitled to still higher praise. The 
one was conducted throuLi;h the interior and mountainous country, the other 
through the plains on the sea coast. From the language of acfmiration in 
which some of the early writers express their astonishment when they first 
viewed those roads, and from the more pompous description of later writers, 
who labour to support some favourite theory concerning America, one 
might fje led to compare this work of the Incas to the tamous military 
ways which remain as monuments of the Roman power; but in a country 
where there was no tame animal except the llama, which was never used 
for draught, and but little as a beast of burden, where the high roads were 
seldom trod by any but a hujrian foot, no great degree of labour or art was 
requisite in forming them. The Peruvian roads were only fifteen feet in 
breadth,* and in many places so slightly formed, that time has efifaced every 
vestige of the course in which they ran. In the low country, little more 
seems to have been done than to plant trees or to fix posts at certain inter- 
vals, in order to mark the proper route to travellers. To open a path 
through the mountainous country was a more arduous task. Eminences 
were levelled, and hollows filled up, and for the preservation of the road 
it was fenced with a bank of turf. At proper distances, Tambos, or store- 
houses, were erected for the accommodation of the Inca and his attendants, 
in their progress through his dominions. From the manner in which the 
road was originally formed in this higher and more impervious region, it 
has proved more durable ; and though, from the inattention of the Spaniards 
to every object but that of working their mines, nothing has been done 
towards keeping it in repair, its course may still be traced.! Such was 
the celebrated road of the Incas ; and even from this description, divested 
of every circumstance of manifest exaggeration or of suspicious aspect, it 
must be considered as a striking proof of an extraordinary progress in im- 
provement and policy. To the savage tribes of Am.erica, the idea of 
facilitating communication with places at a distance had never occurred. 
To the Mexicans it was hardly known. Even in the most civilized coun- 
tries in Europe, men had advanced tar in refinement, before it became a 
regular object of national police to form such roads as render intercourse 
commodious. It was a capital object of Roman policy to open a commu- 
nication with all the provinces of their extensive empire by means of those 
roads which are justly considered as one of the noblest monuments both of 
their wisdom and their power. But during the long reign of barbarism, 
the Roman roads were neglected or destroyed ; and at the time when the 
Spaniards entered Peru, no kingdom in Europe could boast of any work 
ot public utility that could be compared with the great roads formed by 
the Incas. 

The formation of those roads introduced another improvement in Peru 
equally unknown over all the rest of America. In its course trom south 
to north, the road of the Incas was intersected by all the torrents which 
roll from the Andes towards the Western Ocean. From the rapidity of 
their course, as well as from the frequency and violence of their inunda- 
tion, these were not fordable. Some expedient, however, was to be found 
for passing them. The Peruvians from their unacquaintance with the use 
of arches, and their inability to work in wood, could not construct bridges 
either of stone or timber. But necessity, the parent of invention, suggested 
a device which supplied that defect. They formed cables ot great 
strength, by twisting together some of the pliable withs, or osiers, with 
which their country abounds ; six of these cables they stretched across the 
stream parallel to one another, and made them fast on each side. These 
they bound firmly together by interweaving smaller ropes so close as to 

* Cicca, c. 60. t Xercz, p. 189. 191. Zarate, lib. i. c. 13, 14. \>ga, lib. i.x. c. 13. Bourguer 
Voyage, p. 105. Ulloa Eutretenemientos, p. 365. 



AMERICA. 337 

form a compact piece of net-work, which being covered with branches of 
trees and earth, they passed alonff it with tolerable security [l60]. Proper 
persons were appointed to attend at each bridge, to keep it in repair, and 
to assist passengers.* In the level country, where the rivers became deep 
and broad and still, they are passed in balzas, or floats ; in the construction, 
as well as navigation of which the ingenuity of the Peruvians appears to 
be far superior to that of any people in America. These had advanced 
no further in naval skill than the use of the paddle or oar ; the Peruvian? 
ventured to raise a mast, and spread a sail, by means of which their bal- 
/as not only went nimbly before the wind, but could veer and tack with 
great celerity. t 

Nor were the ingenuity and art of the Peruvians confined solely to ob- 
jects of essential utility. They had made some progress in arts, which 
may be called elegant. They possessed the precious metals in greater 
abundance than any people of America. They obtained gold in the same 
manner with the Mexicans, by searching in the channels of rivers, or wash- 
ing the earth in which particles of it were contained. But in order to 
procure silver, they exerted no inconsiderable degree of skill and inven- 
tion. They had not, indeed, attained the art of sinking a shaft into the 
bowels of the earth, and penetrating to the riches concealed there ; but 
they hollowed deep caverns on the banks of rivers and the sides of moun- 
tains, and emptied such veins as did not dip suddenly beyond their reach. 
In other places, where the vein lay near the surface, they dug pits to such 
a depth, that the person who worked below could throw out the ore, or 
hand it up in baskets.! They had discovered the art of smelting and 
refining this, either by the simple application of fire, or, where the ore was 
more stubborn or impregnated with foreign substances, by placing it in 
small ovens or furnaces, on high grounds, so artificially constructed that the 
draught of air performed the function of a bellows, an engine with which 
they were totally unacquainted. By this simple device, the purer ores 
were smelted with facility, and the quantity of silver in Peru was so con- 
siderable, that many of tne utensils employed in the functions of common 
life were made of it.§ Several of those vessels and trinkets are said to 
have merited no small degree of estimation, on account of the neatness of 
the workmanship, as well as the intrinsic value of the materials. But as 
the conquerors of America were well acquainted with the latter, but had 
scarcely any conception of the former, most of the silver vessels and trin- 
kets were melted down, and rated according to the weight and fineness of 
the metal in the division of the spoil. 

In other works of mere curiosity or ornament, their ingenuity has been 
highly celebrated. Many specimens of those have been dug out of the 
Guacas, or mounds of earth, with which the Peruvians covered the bodies 
of the dead. Among these are mirrors of various dimensions, of hard 
shining stones highly polished ; vessels of earthen ware of different forms ; 
hatchets, and other instruments, some destined for war, and others for 
labour. Some were of flint, some of copper, hardened to such a degree 
by an unknown process, as to supply the place of iron on several occasions. 
Had the use of those tools, formed of copper, been general, the progress 
of the Peruvians in the arts might have been such as to emulate that of 
more cultivated nations. But either the metal was so rare, or the opera- 
lion by which it was hardened so tedious, that their instruments of copper 
were few, and so extremely small, that they seem to have been employed 
only in slighter works. But even to such a circumscribed use of this im- 
perfect metal, the Peruvians were indebted for their superiority to the 

Sancho ap. Ram. iii. 370. B. Zarate, lib. i. c. 14. Vnga, lib. iii. c. 7, 8. Heriera, dec. 5. lib. 
IV. c. 3, 4. 1 WIloa Voy. i. 167, &r,. i Ranmsio, iii. 414. A. ^ Acosts, lib. iv. o. 4, 5 

Veea, p. 1. lib. viii. c. 30. I'lloa Kntroten. S.*)**. 

Vol. J.— 4;? 



338 HISTORY OF [Book Vil. 

other people of America in various arts.* The same observation, how- 
ever, may be applied to them, which I formerly made with respect to the 
arts of the Mexicans. From several specimens of Peruvian utensils and 
ornaments, which are depasited in the royal cabinet of Madrid, and from 
some preserved in different collections in otlmr parts of Europe, I have 
reason to believe that the workmaaship is more to be admired on account 
of the rude tools with which it was executed, than on account of its in- 
trinsic neatness and elegance ; and that the Peruvians, though the most 
improved of all the Americans, were not advanced beyond the infancy of 
arts. 

But notwithstanding so many particulars, which seemed to indicate a 
high degree of improvement in Peru, other circumstances occur that sug- 
gest the idea of a society still in the first stages of its transition from bar- 
barism to civilization. In all the dominions of the Incas, Cuzco was the 
only place that had the appearance, or was entitled to the name, of a 
city. Every where else the people lived mostly irj detached habitations, 
dispersed over the country, or, at the utmost, settled together in small vil- 
lages.! But until men are brought to assemble in numerous bodies, and 
incorporated in such close union as to enjoy, frequent intercourse, and to 
feel mutual dependence, tliey never imbibe perfectly the spirit, or assume 
the manners of social life. In a country of immense extent, with only one 
city, the progress of manners, and the improvement either of the neces- 
sary or more refined arts, must have been so slow, and carried on under 
such disadvantages, that it is more surprising the Peruvians should have 
advanced so far in refinement, than that they did not proceed further. 

In consequence of this state of imperfect union, the separation of pro- 
fessions in Peru was not so complete as among the Mexicans. The less 
closely men associate, the more simple are their manners, and the fewer 
their wants. The crafts of common and most necessary use in life do not, 
in such a state, become so complex or ditficult as to render it requisite that 
men should be trained to them by any particular course of education. All 
the arts, accordingly, which were of daily and indispensable utility, were 
exercised by every Peruvian indiscrimmately. None but the artists em- 
ployed in works of mere curiosity, or ornament, constituted a separate 
order of men, or were distinguished from other citizens.| 

From the want of cities in Peru, another consequence followed. There 
was little commercial intercourse among the inhabitants of that great em- 
pire. The activity of commerce is coeval with the foundation of cities ; 
and from the moment that the members of any community settle in con- 
siderable numbers in one place, its operations become vigorous. • The citi- 
zen must depend for subsistence on the labour of those who cultivate the 
ground. They, in return, must receive some equivalent. Thus mutual 
intercourse is established, and the productions of art are regularly ex- 
changed for the fruits of agriculture. In the towns of the Mexican empire, 
stated markets were held, and whatever could supply any want or^desire 
of man was an object of commerce. But in Peru, from the singular mode 
of dividing property, and the manner in which the people were settled, 
there was hardly any species of commerce carried on between different 
provinces,§and the community was less acquainted with that active inter- 
course, which is at once a bond of union and an incentive to improvement. 

But the unwarlike spirit of the Peruvians was the most remarkable as 
well as the most fatal defect in their character.il The greater part of the 
rude nations of America opposed their invaders with undaunted ferocity, 
though with little conduct or success. The Mexicans maintained the 
struggle in defence of their liberties, with such persevering fortitude, that 

*niloa, Vov. tom.i. :J81, &c. Id. Enlrelcn. p. 3G9, &c. f Zarate, lib. i. c. 9. Herrera, dec. 5. 
lib. vi. c. 4. ' i Acosia, lib. vi. c. 15. Vega, lib. v. c. 9. llerrcia, dec. 5. lib. iy. c. 4. ^ Vega, 
lib. vi. c. 8. II Xercz. WO. Sancho, ap. Katii. iji. ST-i. Herrera, der. 5. lib. i. c. 3. 



AMERICA 339 

h was with difficulty the Spaniards triumphed over them. Peru Avas 
subdued at once, and ahnost without resistance ; and the most favourable 
opportunities of regaining their freedom, and of crushing their oppressors, 
were lost through the timidity of- tlie people, I'hough the traditional 
histoiy of the Peruvians represents all the Incas as warlike princes, fre- 
(juently at the head of arfiiies, which they led to victoij and conquest, 
few symptoms of such a martial spirit appear in any ot their operations 
subsequent to the invasion of the Spaniards. The influence, perhaps, of 
those institutions which rendered their manners gentle, gave their minds 
this unmanly softness ; perhaps the constant serenity and mildness of the 
climate may have enervated the vigour of their frame ; perhaps some 
principles in their government, unknown to us, was the occasion of this 
political debility. Whatever may have been the cause, the fact is certain ; 
and there is not an instance in history of any people so little advanced in 
refinement, so totally destitute of military enterprise. This character had 
descended to their posterity. The Indians of Peru are now more tame 
and depressed than any people of America. Their feeble spirits, relaxed 
in lifeless inaction, seem hardly capable of any bold or manl^ exertion. 

But, besides those capital defects in the political state of Peru, some 
tietached circumstances and facts occur in the Spanish writers, which dis- 
cover a considerable remainder of barbarity in their manners. A cruel 
custom, that prevailed in some of the most savage tribes, subsisted among 
the Peruvians. On the death of the Incas, and of other eminent persons, 
a considerable number of their attendants were put to death, and interred 
around their Guacas, that they might appear in the next world with their 
former dignity, and be served with the same respect. On the death of 
Huana-Capac, the most powerful of their monarchs, above a thousand 
vcitims were doomed to accompany him to the tomb.* In one particular 
their manners appear to have been more barbarous than those of most rude 
tribes. Though acquainted with the use of fire in preparing maize and other 
vegetables for food, they devoured both flesh and fish perfectly raw, and 
astonished the Spaniards with a practice repugnant to the ideas of all 
civilized people. f 

But though Mexico and Peru are the possessions of Spain in the New 
AVorld, which, on account both of their ancient and present state, have 
attracted the greatest attention ; her other dominions there are far from 
being inconsiderable either in extent or value. The greater part of them 
w^as reduced to subjection during the first part of the sixteenth centuiy, 
by private adventurers, who fitted out their small armaments either in 
Hispaniola or in Old Spain : and were we to follow each leader in his 
progress, we should discover the same daring courage, the same perse- 
vering ardour, the same rapacious desire for wealth, and the same capacity 
for enduring and surmounting every thing in order to attain it, which dis- 
tinguished the operations of the Spaniards in their greater American con- 
quests. But, instead of entering into a detail, which, from their similarity 
of the transactions, would appear alniost a repetition of what has been 
already related, I shall satisfy myself with such a view of those pro- 
vinces of the Spanish empire in America, which have not hitherto been 
mentioned, as may convey to my readers an adequate idea of its greatness, 
fertility, and opulence. 

I begin with the countries contiguous to the tvvo great monarchies of 
whose history and institutions I have given some account, and shall then 
briefly describe the other districts of Spanish America. The jurisdiction 
of the viceroy of New Spain extends over several provinces which were 
not subject to the dominion of the Mexicans. The countries of Cinaloa 
and Sonora that stretch along the east side of the Vermilion Sea, or Gulf 

* Arosu, lib. v. c. 7. * Xoriiz, p. 190 ?»iiclio. Hsni. iii, 3'3. C, Hejrera, dw. *. 



34« H I S T O K Y Ob [Book Vil. 

of California, as well as the immense king^doms of iVew Navarre, and 
New Mexico, which bend towards the west and north, did not acknowledge 
the sovereignty of Montezuma, or his predecessors. These regions, not 
inferior in magnitude to all the Mexican empire, are reduced some to a 
greater, others to a less degree of subjection to the Spanish yoke. They 
extend through the most delightful part of the temperate zone ; their soil 
is, in general, remarkably fertile ; and all their productions, whether animal 
or vegetable, are most perfect in their kind. They have all a communication 
either with the Pacific Ocean, or with the Gulf of Mexico, and are watered 
by rivers which not only enrich them, but may become subservient to 
commerce. The number of Spaniards settled in those vast countries is 
indeed extremely small. They may be said to have subdued rather than 
to have occupied them. But if the population in their ancient establish- 
ments in America shall continue to increase, they may gradually spread 
over those provinces, of which, however inviting, they have not hitherto 
been able to take full possession. 

One circumstance may contribute to the speedy population of some 
districts. Very rich mines both of gold and silver have been discovered 
in many of the regions which I have mentioned. Wherever these are 
opened, and worked with success, a multitude of people resort. In order 
to supply them with the necessaries of life, cultivation must be increased, 
artisans of various kinds must assemble, and industry as well as wealth 
will be gradually diffused. Many examples of this have occurred in 
different parts of America, since they fell under the dominion of the 
Spaniards. Populous villages and large towns have suddenly arisen 
amidst uninhabitable wilds and mountains ; and the working of mines, 
though far from being the most proper object towards which the attention 
of an infant society should be turned, may become the means both of pro- 
moting useiul activity, and of augmenting the number of people. A recent 
and singular instance of this has happened, which, as it is but little known 
in Europe, and may be productive of great effects, merits attention. The 
Spaniards settled in the provinces of Cinaloa and Sonora had been long 
disturbed by the depredations of some fierce tribes of Indians. In the 
year 1765, the incursions of those savages became so frequent and so de- 
structive, that the Spanish inhabitants, in despair, applied to the Marquis 
de Croix, viceroy of Mexico, for such a body of troops as might enable 
them to drive those formidable invaders from their places of retreat in the 
mountains. But the treasury of Mexico was so much exhausted by t e 
large sums drawn from it, in order to support the late war against Great 
Britain, that the viceroy could afford them no aid. The respect die to 
his virtues accomplished what his official power could not effect. He 
prevailed with the merchants of New Spain to advance about two hundred 
thousand pesos for defraying the expenses of the expedition. The war 
was conducted by an officer of abilities ; and after being protracted for 
three years, chiefly by the difficulty of pursuing the fugitives over moun- 
tains, and through defiles which were almost impassable, it terminated, in 
the year 1771, in the final submission of the tribes which had been so long 
the object of terror to the two provinces. In the course of this service, 
the Spaniards marched through countries into which they seem not to have 
penetrated before that time, and discovered mines of such value as was 
astonishing even to men acquainted with the riches contained in the moun- 
tains of the New World. At Cineguilla, hi the province of Sonora, they 
entered a plain of fourteen leagues in extent, m which, at the depth of 
only sixteen inches, they fouml gold in grains of such a size, that s(»ine of 
them weighed nine marks, and in such quantities, that in a short time, 
with a few labourers, they collected a thousand marks of gold in grains, 
even without taking time to wash the earth that had been dug, which 
appeared to be so rich, that persons of skill computed that it might yield 



AMERICA, 341 

what would be equal in value to a million of pesos. Before the end of 
the year 1771, above two thousand persons were settled in Cineguilla, 
under the government of proper magistrates, and the inspection of several 
ecclesiastics. As several other mines, not inferior in richness to that of 
Cineguilla, have been discovered, both in Sonora and Cinaloa [161], it is 
probable that these neglected and thinly inhabited provinces may soon 
become as populous and valuable as any part of the Spanish empire of 
America. 

The peninsula of California, on the other side of the Vermilion Sea, 
seems to have been less known to the ancient Mexicans than the provinces 
which I have mentioned. It was discovered by Cortes in the year* 1536. 
During a long period it continued to be so little frequented, that even its 
form was unknown, and in most charts it was represented as an island, not 
as a peninsula [l62j. Though the climate of this country, if we may 
judge from its situation, must be very desirable, the Spaniards have made 
small progress in peopling it. Towards the close of the last century, the 
Jesuits, vvho had great merit in exploring this neglected province, and in 
civilizing its rude inhabitants, imperceptibly acquired a dominion over it 
as complete as that which they possessed in their missions in Paraguay, 
and they laboured to introduce into it the same policy, and to govern the 
natives by the sarfie maxims. In order to prevent the court of Spain from 
conceiving any jealousy of their designs and operations, they seem studi- 
ously to have depreciated the country, by representing the climate as so 
disagreeable and unwholesome, and the soil as so barren, tliat nothing but 
a zealous desire of converting the natives could have induced them to settle 
there. t Several public spirited citizens endeavoured to undeceive their 
sovereigns, and to give them a better view of California ; but in vain. At 
length, on the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Spanish dominions, the court 
of Madrid, as prone at that juncture to suspect the purity of the Order's 
intentions, as formerly to confide in them with implicit trust, appointed 
Don Joseph Galvez, whose abilities have since raised him to the high rank 
of minister for the Indies, to visit that peninsula. His account of the 
country was favourable ; he found the pearl fishery on its coast to be 
valuable, and he discovered mines of gold of a very promising appearance.;]; 
From its vicinity to Cinaloa and Sonora, it is probable that, if the 
population of these provinces shall increase in the manner which I have 
supposed, California may, by degrees, receive from them such a recruit of 
inhabitaiiis, as to be no longer reckoned among the desolate and useless 
districts of the Spanish empire. 

On the east of Mexico, Yucatan and Honduras are comprehended in the 
government of New Spain, though anciently they can hardly be said to 
nave formed a part of the Mexican empire. These large provinces, 
stretching from the bay of Campeachy beyond Cape Gracias a Dios, do not, 
like the other territories of Spain in the New World, derive their value 
either from the fertility of their soil, or the richness of their mines ; but 
they produce in greater abundance than any part of America, the logwood 
tree, which, in dying some colours, is so far preferable to any other 
material, that the consumption of it in Europe is considerable, and it has 
become an article in commerce of great value. During a long period, no 
European nation intruded upon the Spaniards in those provinces, or 
attempted to obtain any share in this branch of trade. But after the con- 
quest of Jamaica by the English, it soon appeared that a formidable rival 
was now seated in the neighbourhood of the Spanish tciritories. One of 
the first objects which tempted the English settled in that island, was the 
great profit arising from the logwood trade, and the facility of wresting 
some portion of it from the Spaniards. Some adventurers from Jamaica 

* Book V. + Vo)T>gaF, Hist, of ralirornia. i. W. * I.nrr-nzano, SW, 350. 



342 H 1 S T O R i" O F i^BooK VIi: 

made the first attempt at Cape Catoche, the south-east proinontory of 
ifiicatan, and by cutting logwood there carried on a gainful traffic. When 
most of the trees near the coast in that place were felled, they removed to 
the island of Trist. in the bay of Campeachy, and in later times their prin- 
cipal station has been in the bay of Honduras. The Spaniards, alarmed 
at this encroachment, endeavoured by negotiation, remonstrances, and open 
force, to prevent the English from obtaining any footing on that part of the 
American continent. But after struggling against it for more than a 
century, the disasters of the last war extorted from the court of Madrid a 
reluctant consent to tolerate this settlement of foreigners in the heart of its 
territories.* The pain which this huml)ling concession occasioned seems 
to have prompted the Spaniards to devise a method of rendering it of little 
consequence, more efiectual than all the efforts of negotiation or violence. 
The logwood produced on the west coast of Yucatan, where the soil is drier, 
is in quality tar superior to that which grows on the marshy grounds where 
the English are settled. By encouraging the cutting of this, and permit- 
ting the importation of it into Spain without paying any duty,t such vigour 
has been given to this branch of commerce, and the logwood which the 
English bring to market has sunk so much in value, that their trade to the 
bay of Honduras has gradually declined [163] since it obtained a legal 
sanction ; and, it is probable, will soon be finally abandoned. In that 
event, Yucatan and Honduras will become possessions of considerable 
importance to Spain. 

Still further east than Honduras lie the two provinces of Costa Rica and 
Veragua, which likewise belong to the viceroyalty of New Spain ; but 
both have been so much neglected by the Spaniards, and are apparently 
of such small value, that they merit no particular attention. 

The most important province depending on the viceroyalty of Peru is 
Chili. The Incas had established their dominion in some ot its northern 
districts ; but in the greater part of the country, its gallant and high spirited 
inhabitants maintained their independence. The Spaniards, allured by 
the fame of its opulence, early attempted the conquest of it under Diego 
AlmagTo ; and after his death Pedro de Valdivia resumed the design. 
Both met with fierce opposition. The former relinquished the enterprise 
in the manner which I have mentioned.! The latter, after having given 
inany displays both of courage and military skill, was cut off, together 
with a considerable body of troops under his command. P^rancisco de 
Villagra, Valdivia's lieutenant, by his spirited conduct checked the natives 
in their career, and saved the remainder of the Spaniards trom destruction. 
By degrees, all the champaign country along the coast was subjected to 
ihe Spanish dominion. The mountainous country is still possessed by the 
Puelches, Araucos, and other tribes of its original inhabitants, formidable 
neighbours to tlie Spaniards ; with whom, during the course ot' two centu- 
ries, they have been obliged to maintain an almost perpetual hostility, 
suspended only by a tew intervals of insecure peace. 

That part of Chili, then, which may properly be deemed a Spanish 
province, is a narrow district, extended along the coast from the desert of 
Atacamas to the island of Chiloe, above nine hundred miles. Its climate is 
the most delicious in the New World, and is hardly equalled by that of 
any region on the tace of the earth. Though bordering on the Torrid Zone, 
it never t'eels the extremity of heat, being screened on the east by the 
Andes, and refreshed from the west by cooling sea breezes. The 
temperature of the air is so mild and equable, that the Spaniards give it the 
preference to that of the southern provinces in their native country. The 
fertility ot the suil corresponds with the benignity of the climate, and is 
wonderfully accommodated to European productions. The most valuable 

^ Tiffily nf Paiirt, Alt. xviii. t Ht'al Ccdiila, CRiiipninaiu's. iii. H5. i Book v1, 



AMERICA. 34S 

v*t' these, corn, wine, and oil, abound in Chili as il'they had been native to 
the country. All the fruits imported liom Europe attained to lull maturity 
there. The animals of our hemisphere not only multiply, but improve in 
this delightful reg-ion. The horned cattle are of larger size than those of 
Spain. Its breed of horses surpasses, both in beauty and spirit, the famous 
Andalusian race, from which they sprung. Nor has nature exhausted her 
bounty on the surface of the earth ; she has stored its bowels with riches. 
V^aluable mines of gold, of silver, of copper, and of lead, have been dis- 
covered in various parts of it. 

A country distinguished by so many blessings, we may be apt to con- 
clude, would early become a favourite station of the Spaniards, and must 
have been cultivated with peculiar predilection and care. Instead of this, 
a great part of it remains unoccupied. In all this extent of country, 
there are not above eighty thousand white inhabitants, and about three 
tirnes that number of Negroes and people of a mixed race. The most fer- 
tile soil in America lies uncultivated, and some of its most promising mines 
remain unwrought. Strange as this neglect of the Spaniards to avail 
themselves of advantages which seemed to court their acceptance may 
appear, the causes of it can be traced. The only intercourse of Spain with 
its colonies in the South Sea was carried on during two centuries by the 
annual fleet to Porto Bello. All the produce of these colonies was shipped 
in the ports of Callao or Arica in Peru, for Panama, and carried from 
thence across the isthmus. All the commodities which they received from 
the mother countries were conveyed from Panama to the same harbours. 
Thus both the exports and imports of Chili passed through the hands of 
merchants settled in Peru. These had of course a profit on each ; and in 
both transactions the Chilese felt their own subordination ; and having no 
direct intercourse with the parent state, they depended upon another pro- 
vince for the disposal of their productions, as well as for the supply of 
their wants. Under such discouragements, population could not increase, 
and industry was destitute of one chief incitement. But now that Spain, 
from motives which I shall mention hereafter, has adopted a new system, 
and carries on her commerce with the colonies in the South Sea by ships 
which go round Cape Horn, a direct intercourse is opened between Chili 
and the mother country. The gold, the silver, and the other commodities 
of the province, will be exchanged in its wn harbours for the manufac- 
tures of Europe. Chili may speedily rise into that importance among the 
Spanish settlements to which it is entitled by its natural advantages. It 
may become the granary of Peru, and the other provinces along the Pacific 
Ocean. It may supply them with wine, with cattle, with norses, with 
hemp, and many other articles for which they now depend upon Europe. 
Though the new system has been established only a few years, those 
effects of it begin already to be observed.* If it shall be adhered to with 
any steadiness for half a century, one may venture to foretell that population, 
industry, and opulence will advance in this province with rapid progress. 

To the east of the Andes, the provinces of Tucuman and Rio do la Plata 
border on Chili, and like it were dependent on the viceroyalty of Peru. 
The-e regions of immense extent stretch in length from north to south 
abov<^ thirteen hundred miles, and in breadth more than a thousand. This 
country, which is larger than most European kingdoms, naturally forms 
itself into two great divisions, one on the north and the other on the south 
of Rio de la Plata. The former comprehends Paraguay, the famous 
rnissi )ns of the Jesuits, and several other districts. But as disputes have 
long subsisted between the courts of Spain and Portugal, concerning its 
boundaries, which, it is probable, will be soon finally ascertained, either 
amicably or by the decision of the sword, I choose to reserve my account 

♦ Campomanes, ii. 157. 



044 illSTORV OF [Book VII. 

of this norlhcni division, until I enter upon the history of Portuguese 
America, with which it is intimately connected ; and in relatii^ it, 1 shall 
be able, from authentic materials supplied both by Spain and Portugal, to 
give a full and accurate description of the operations and views of the 
Jesuits, in rearing that singular fabric of policy in America, which has 
drawn so much attention, and has been so imperfectly understood. The 
latter division of the province contains the governments of Tucuman and 
Buenos Ayres, and to these I shall at present confine my observations. 

The Spaniards entered this part of America by the river De la Plata ; 
and though a succession of cruel disasters befell them in their early attempts 
to establish their dominion in it, they were encouraged to persist in the 
design, at first by the hopes of discovering mines in the interior country, 
and afterwards by the necessity of occupying it, in order to prevent any 
other nation from settling there, and penetrating by this route into their 
rich possessions in Peru. But except at Buenos Ayres, they have made 
no settlement of any consequence in all the vast space which I have 
mentioned. There are indeed, scattered over it, a few places on which 
they have bestowed the name of towns, and to which they have endeavoured 
to add some dignity, by erecting them into bishoprics ; but they are no 
better than paltry villages, each with two or three hundred inhabitants. 
One circumstance, however, which was not originally foreseen, has 
contributed to render this district, though thinly peopled, of considerable 
importance. The province of Tucuman, together with the country to the 
south of the Plata, instead of being covered with wood like other parts of 
America, forms one extensive open plain, almost without a tree. The soil 
is a deep fertile mould, watered by many streams descending from the 
Andes, and clothed in perpetual verdure. In this rich pasturage, the 
horses and cattle imported by the Spaniards from Europe have multiplied 
to a degree which almost exceeds belief. This has enabled the inhabitants 
not only to open a lucrative trade with Peru, by supplying it with cattle, 
horses, and mules, but to carry on a commerce no less beneficial, by the 
exportation of hides to Europe. From both, the colony has derived great 
advantages. But its commodious situation for carrying on contraband trade 
has been the chief source of its prosperity. While the court of Madrid 
adhered to its ancient system, with respect to its communication with 
America, the river De la Plata lay so much out of the course of Spanish 
navigation, that interlopers, almost without any risk of being either observed 
or obstructed, could pour in European manufactures in such quantities, that 
they not only supplied the wants of the colony, but were conveyed into all 
the eastern districts of Peru. When the Portuguese in Brazil extended 
their settlements to the banks of Rio de la Plata, a new channel was 
opened, by which prohibited commodities flowed into the Spanish territories 
with still more facility, and in greater abundance. This illegal traffic, 
however detrimental to the parent state, contributed to the increase of the 
settlement which had the immediate benefit of it, and Buenos Ayres became 
gradually a populous and opulent town. What may be the effect of the 
alteration lately made in the government of this colony, the nature of 
which shall be described in the subsequent Book, cannot hitherto be known. 

All the other territories of Spain in the New World, the isl;>nds excepted, 
of whose discovery and reduction I have formerly given an account, are 
comprehended under two great divisions ; the former denominated the 
kingdom of Tierra Firme, the provinces of which stretch along the At- 
lantic, from the eastern frontier of New Spain to the mouth of the Orinoco ; 
the latter, the New Kingdom of Granada, situated in the interior countr}'. 
With a short view of these I shall close this part of my work. 

To the east of Vcragua, the last province subject to the viceroy of 
Mexico, lies the isthmus of Darien. Though it was in this part of the con- 
tinent that the Spaniards first began to plant colonies, thev have made nc 



AMERICA. 'Mo 

considerable progress in peopling it. As the country is extremely moun- 
tainous, deluded with rain during a good part of the year, remarkably un- 
healthful, and contains no mines of great value, the Spaniards would proba- 
bly have abandoned it altogether, if they had not been allured to continue 
by the excellence of the harbour of Porto Bello on the one sea, and that of 
Panama on the other. These have been called the keys to the communi- 
cation between the north and south sea, between Spain and her most valu- 
able colonies. In consequence of this advantage, Panama has become a 
considerable and thriving town. The peculiar noxiousness of its climate 
has prevented Porto Bello from increasing in the same proportion. As the 
intercourse with the settlements in the Pacific Ocean is now carried on by 
another channel, it is probable that both Porto Bello and Panama will de- 
cline, when no longer nourished and enriched by that commerce to which 
they were indebted for their prosperity, and even their existence. 

The provinces of Carthagena and Santa Martha stretch to the eastward 
of the isthmus of Danen. The country still continues mountainous, but its 
valleys begin to expand, are well watered, and extremely fertile. Pedro 
de Heredia subjected this part of America to the crown of Spain about the 
year 1532. It is thinly peopled, and of course ill cultivated. It produces, 
however, a variety of valuable drugs, and some precious stones, particu- 
larly emeralds. But its chief importance is derived from the harbour of 
Carthagena, the safest and best fortified of any in the American dominions 
of Spain. In a situation so favourable, commerce soon began to flourish. 
As early as the year 1544, it seems to have been a town of some note. 
But when Carthagena was chosen as the port in which the galeons should 
first begin to trade on their arrival from Europe, and to which they were 
directed to return, in order to prepare for their voyage homeward, the com- 
merce of its' inhabitants were so much favoured by this arrangement, that 
it soon became one of the most populous, opulent, and beautiful cities in 
America. There is, however, reason to apprehend that it has reached its 
highest point of exaltation, and that it will be so far aflfected by the change 
in the Spanish system of trade with America, which has withdrawn from 
it the desirable visits of the galeons, as to feel at least a temporaiy decline. 
But the wealth now collected there will soon find or create employment for 
itself, and may be turned with advantage into some new channel. Its 
harbour is so safe, and so conveniently situated for receiving commodities 
from Europe, its merchants have been so long accustomed to convey these 
into all the adjacent provinces, that it is probable they will still retain this 
branch of trade, and Carthagena continuQ to be a city of great importance. 

The province contiguous to Santa Martha on the east, was first visited 
by Alonso de Ojeda, in the year 1499 ;* and the Spaniards, on their land- 
ing there, having observed some huts in an Indian village, built upon piles, 
in order to raise them above the stagnated water which covered the plain, 
were led to bestow upon it the name of Venezuela, or little Venice, by 
their usual propensity to find a resemblance between what they discovered 
in America, and the objects which were familiar to them in Europe. They 
made some attempts to settle there, but with little success. The final 
reduction of the province was accomplished by means very different from 
those to which Spain was indebted lor its other acquisitions in the New 
World. The ambition of Charles V. often engaged him in operations of 
such variety and extent, that his revenues were not sufficient to defray the 
expense of carrying them into execution. Among other expedients for 
supplying the deficiency of his funds, he had borrowed large sums from 
the Velsers of Augsburg, the most opulent merchants at that time in Europe. 
By way of retribution for these, or in hopes, perhaps, of obtaining a new 
loan, he bestowed upon them the province of Venezuela, to be held as an 

• Bnok ii.p. 4?. 
VoT,. T. U 



346 HISTORY OF [Book VII. 

hereditary fief from the crown of Castile, on condition that within a limited 
time they should render themselves masters of the country, and establish a 
colony there. Under the direction of such persons, it might have been 
expected that a settlement would have been established on maxims very 
different from those of the Spaniards, and better calculated to encourage 
suchuselul industry, as mercantile proprietors might have known to be the 
most certain source of prosperity and opulence. But unfortunately they 
committed the execution of their plan to some of those soldiers of fortune 
Avith which Germany abounded in the sixteenth centurj^ These adven- 
turers, impatient to amass riches, that they might speedily abandon a 
station which they soon discovered to be very uncomfortable, instead of 
planting a colony in order to cultivate and improve the country, wandered 
from district to district in search of mines, plundering the natives with un- 
feeling rapacity, or oppressing them by the imposition of intolerable tasks. 
In the course of a few years, their avarice and exactions, in comparison 
with which those of the Spaniards were moderate, desolated the province 
so completely, that it could hardly afford them subsistence, and the Velsers 
relinquished a property from which the inconsiderate conduct of their agents 
left them no hope of ever deriving any advantage.* When the wretched 
remainder of the Germans deserted Venezuela, the Spaniards again took 
]'ossession of it ; but notwithstanding many natural advantages, it is one of 
their most languishing and unproductive settlements. 

The provinces of Caraccas and Cumana are the last of the Spanish ter- 
ritories on this coast ; but in relating the origin and operations of the mer- 
cantile company in which an exclusive right of trade with them has been 
vested, I shall hereafter have occasion to consider their state and pro- 
ductions. 

The New Kingdom of Granada is entirely an inland countiy of great 
extent. This important addition was made to the dominions of Spain about 
the year 1536, by Sebastian de Benalcazar and Gonzalo Ximenes de Que- 
sada, two of the bravest and most accomplished officers employed in the 
conquest of America. The former, who commanded at that time in Quito, 
attacked it from the south ; the latter made his invasion from Santa Martha 
on the north. As the original inhabitants of this region were further ad- 
vanced in improvement than any people in America hut the Mexicans and 
Peruvians,! they defended themselves with great resolution and good con- 
duct. The abilities and perseverance of Benalcazar and Quesada sur- 
mounted all opposition, though not without encountering many dangers, 
and reduced the country into the form of a Spanish province. 

The New Kingdom of Granada is so far elevated above the level of the 
sea that, though it approaches almost to the equator, the climate is re- 
markably temperate. The fertility of its valleys is not inferior to that of 
the richest districts in America, and its higher grounds yield gold and 
precious stones of various kinds. It is not by digging into the jjowels of 
the earth that this gold is found; it is mingled with the soil near the sur- 
face, and separated from it by repeated washing with water. This ope- 
ration is carried on wholly by Negro slaves; tor though the chill subter- 
ranean air has been discovered, by experience, to be so fatal to them, that 
they cannot be employed with advantage in the deep silver mines, they 
are more capable of performing the other species of labour than Indians. 
As the natives in the New Kingdom of Granada are exempt from that 
service, which has wasted their race so rapidly in other parts of Aineiica, 
the country is still remarkably populous. Some districts yield gold with a 
profusion no less wonderlul than that in the vale of Cineguilla, which I have 
ibrm«;rly mentioned, and it is often found in large petitas, or giains, which 
manilest the abundance in which it is produced. On a rising ground near 

♦ rivcdo y Bagnos riii--t. de Vcncziiola. p. 11. &c. 1 Book iv. p. HLkc. 



AxMERICA. 347 

r'amplona, single labourers have collected in a day what was equal in 
value to a thousand pesos.* A late governor of Santa Fe brought with 
him to Spain a lump of pure gold, estimated to be worth seven hundred 
and forty pounds sterling. This, which is perhaps the largest and finest 
specimen ever found in the New World, is now deposited in the royal 
cabinet of Madrid. But without founding any calculation on what is rare 
and extraordinary, the value of the gold usually collected in this country, 
particularly in the provinces of Popayan and Choco, is of considerable 
amount. Its towns are populous and flourishing. The number of inhabitants 
in almost every part of the country daily increases. Cultivation and in- 
dustry of various kinds begin to be encouraged, and to prosper. A con- 
siderable trade is carried on with Carthagena, the produce of the mines, 
and other commodities, being conveyed down the great river of St. Magda- 
lene to that city. On another quarter, the New Kingdom of Granada has a 
communication with the Atlantic by the river Orinoco ; but the country 
which stretches along its banks towards the e«6t, is little known, and im- 
perfectly occupied by the Spaniards. 



BOOK VIII. 



After tracing the progress of the Spaniards in their discoveries and 
conquests during more than half a century, I have conducted them to that 
period when their authority was established over almost all the vast 
regions in the New World still subject to their dominion. The effect of 
their settlements upon the countries of which they took possession, the 
maxims which they adopted in forming their new colonies, the interior 
structure and policy of these, together with the influence of their progres- 
sive improvement upon the parent state, and upon the commercial inter- 
course of nations, are the o})jects to which we now turn our attention. 

The first visible consequence of the establishments made by the Span- 
iards in America, was the diminution of the ancient inhabitants, to a degree 
equally astonishing and deplorable. I have already, on different occasions, 
mentioned the disastrous influence under which the connection of the Ame- 
ricans with the people of our hemisphere commenced, both in the islands 
and in several parts of the continent, and have touched upon various causes 
of their rapid consumption. Wherever the inhabitants of America had 
resolution to take arms in defence of their liberty and rights, many perished 
in the unequal contest, and were cut off by their fierce invaders. But the 
greatest desolation followed after the sword was sheathed, and the con- 
querors were settled in tranquillity. It was in the islands, and in those 
provinces of the continent which stretch from the Gulf of Trinidad to the 
confines of Mexico, that the fatal effects of the Spanish dominion were first 
and most sensibly felt. All these were occupied either by wandering tribes 
of hunters, or by such as had made but small progress in cultivation and 
industry. When they were compelled by their new masters to take up a 
fixed residence, and to apply to regular labour ; when tasks were imposed 
upon them disproportioned to their strength, and were enacted with unre- 
lenting severity, they possessed not vigour either of mind or of body to 
sustain this unusual load of oppression. Dejection and despair drove many 
to end their lives by violence. J^atigue and famine destroyed more. Iti 

« Picdrahita HiM. del N. Rcyno, p. 481. M?. penes me. 



348 HISTORY OF [Book VIII. 

all those extensive regions, the ori^^inal race of inhabitants wasted away ; 
in some it was totafly extinguished. In Mexico, where a powerful and 
martial people distinguished their opposition to the Spaniards by efforts of 
courage worthy of a better fate, great numbers fell in the field ; and there, 
as well as in Peru, still greater numbers perished under the hardships of 
attending the Spanish armies in their various expeditions and civil wars, 
worn out with the incessant toil of carrying their baggage, provisions, and 
military stores. 

But neither the rage nor cruelty of the Spaniards was so destructive to 
the people of Mexico and Peru, as the inconsiderate policy with which 
they established their new settlements. The former were temporary ca- 
lamities, fatal to individuals : the latter was a permanent evil, which, with 
gradual consumption, wasted the nation. When the provinces of Mexico 
and Peru were divided among the conquerors, each was eager to obtain a 
district from which he might expect an instantaneous recompense for all 
his services. Soldiers, accustomed to the carelessness and dissipation of a 
military life, had neither industry to carry on any plan of regular cultiva- 
tion, nor patience to wait for its slow but certain returns. Instead of set- 
tling in the valleys occupied by the natives, where the fertility of the soil 
would have amply rewarded the diligence of the planter, they chose to 
fix their stations in some of the mountainous regions, frequent both in New 
Spain and in Peru. To search for mines of gold and silver was the chief 
object of their activity. The prospects which this opens, and the alluring 
hopes which it continually presents, correspond wonderfully with the spirit 
of enter])rise and adventure that animated the first emigrants to America in 
every part of their conduct. In order to push forward those favourite 
projects, so many hands were wanted, that the service of the natives be- 
came indispensably requisite. They were accordingly compelled to 
abandon their ancient habitations in the plains, and driven in crowds to the 
mountains. This sudden transition from the sultr}' climate of the valleys 
to the chill penetrating air peculiar to high lands in the torrid zone ; exor- 
bitant labour, scanty or unwholesome nourishment, and the despondency 
occasioned by a species of oppression to which they were not accustomed, 
and of vvhich they saw no end, afifected them nearly as much as their less 
industrious countrymen in the islands. They sunk under the united pres- 
sure of those calamities, and melted away with almost equal rapidity.* 
In consequence of this, together with the introduction of the smallpox, a 
malady unknown in America, and extremely fatal to the natives,! the num- 
ber of people both in New Spain and Peru was oo much reduced, that in 
a few years the accounts of their ancient population appeared almost incre- 
dible.J 

Such are the most considerable events and causes which, by their com- 
bined operation, contributed to depopulate America. Without attending 
to these, many authors, astonished at the suddenness of the desolation, have 
ascribed this unexampled event to a system of policy no less profound than 
atrocious. The Spaniards, as they pretend, conscious of their own inability 
to occupy the vast regions which they had discovered, and foreseeing the 
impossibility of maintaining their authority over a people infinitely supe- 
rior to themselves in number, in order to preserve the possession of Ame- 
rica, resolved to exterminate the inhaf)itants, and, by converting a great 
part of the country into a desert, endeavoured to secure their own domi- 
nion over it [t65]. But nations seldom extend their views to objects so 
remote, or lay their plans so deep ; and for the honour of humanity we 
may observe, that no nation ever deliberately formed such an execrable 
scheme. The Spanish monarchs, far from acting upon any such system of 

* ToniHemada, i. on. ' B. Di;i-/. c, V.'t. Ifrrrrrn. fVr. 2. lib. v. r. f. T'llnn Kntrrt< ■! W; 

:To!-qMonr,r>I5. f.4-.'. rt.13 [ 1 f"' T . 



AMERICA. 349 

destruction, were uniformly solicitous for the preservation of their new 
subjects. With Isabella, zeal for propagating the Christian faith, together 
with the desire of communicating the knowledge of truth, and the conso- 
lations of religion, to people destitute of spiritual light, were more than 
ostensible motives for encouraging Columbus to attempt his discoveries. 
Upon his success, she endeavoured to fulfil her pious purpose, and mani- 
fested the most tender concern to secure not only religious instruction, but 
mild treatment, to that inoffensive race of men subjected to her crown [166]. 
Her successors adopted the same ideas ; and, on many occasions, which I 
have mentioned, their authority was interposed, in the most vigorous ex- 
ertions, to protect the people of America from the oppression of their Span- 
ish subjects. Their regulations for this purpose were numerous, and often 
repeated. They were framed with wisdom, and dictated by humanity. 
After their possessions in the New World became so extensive as mi^nt 
have excited some apprehensions of difficulty in retaining their dominion 
over them, the spirit of their regulations was as mild as when their set- 
tlements were confined to the islands alone. Their solicitude to protect 
the Indians seems rather to have augmented as their acquisitions increased : 
and from ardour to accomplish this, they enacted, and endeavoured to enforce 
the execution of laws, which excited a formidable rebellion in one of their 
colonies, and spread alarm and disaffection through all the rest. But the 
avarice of individuals was too violent to be controlled by the authority of 
laws. Rapacious and daring adventurers, far removed from the seat of 
government, little accustomed to the restraints of military discipline while 
in service, and still less disposed to respect the feeble jurisdiction of civil 

Sower in an infant colon)^ despised or eluded every regulation that set 
ounds to their exactions and tyranny. The parent state, with persevering- 
attention, issued edicts to prevent the oppression of the Indians ; the colo- 
nists, regardless of these, or trusting to their distance for impunity, con- 
tinued to consider and treat them as slaves. The governors themselves,^ 
and other officers employed in the colonies, several of whom were as indi- 
gent and rapacious as the adventurers over whom they presided, were too 
apt to adopt their contemptuous ideas of the conquered people ; and, in- 
stead of checking, encouraged or connived at their excesses. The desola- 
tion of the New World should not then be charged on the court of Spain, 
or be considered as the effect of any system of policy adopted there. It 
ought to be imputed wholly to the indigent and often unprincipled adven- 
turers, whose fortune it was to be the conquerors and first planters of 
America, who, by measures no less inconsiderate than unjust, counter- 
act! d the edicts of their sovereign, and have brought disgrace upon their 
country. 

With still greater injustice have many authors represented the intolera- 
ting spirit of the Roman Catholic religion, as the cause of exterminating 
the Americans, and have accused the Spanish ecclesiastics of animating 
their countrymen to the slaughter of that innocent people, as idolaters and 
enemies of God. But the first missionaries who visited America, though 
weak and illiterate, were pious men. They early espoused the defence 
of the natives, and vindicated their character from the aspersions of their 
conquerors, who, describing them as incapable of being formed to the 
offices of civil life, or of comprehending the doctrines of religion, con- 
tended, that they were a subordinate race of men, on whom the hand of 
nature had set the mark of servitude. From the accounts which I have 
given of the humane and persevering zeal of the Spanish missionaries, in 

ftrotecting the helpless flock committed to their charge, they appear in a 
ight which reflects lustre upon their function. They were nnnisteis of 
peace, who endeavoured to wrest the rod from the hands of oppressors. 
To their powerful interposition the Americotos vvf re indebted fV>r «;vciy 
regulation tending to mitigate the rigour of (heir fate, "^rhe clergy in llif- 



350 HISTORY OF IBookVIII. 

Spanish settlements, regular as well as secular, are still considered by the 
Indians as their natural guardians, to whom they have recourse under the 
hardships and exactions to which they are too often exposed [l^*']. 

But, notwithstanding the rapid depopulation of America, a veiy consi- 
derable number of the native race still remains both in Mexico and Peru, 
especially in those parts which were not exposed to the tirst fury of the 
Spanish arms, or desolated by the first efforts of their industry, still more 
ruinous. In Guatimala, Chiapa, Nicaragua, and the other delightful pro- 
vinces of the Mexican empire, which stretch along the South Sea, the race 
of Indians is still numerous. Their settlements in some places are so 
populous as to merit the name of cities [l68]. In the three audiences into 
which New Spain is divided, there are at least two millions of Indians; a 
pitiful remnant, indeed, of its ancient population, but such as still forms a 
body of people superior in number to that of all the other inhabitants of 
this extensive country [169]. In Peru several districts, particularly in the 
kingdom of Quito, are occupied almost entirely by Indians. In other pro- 
vinces they are mingled with the Spaniards, and in many of their settle- 
ments are almost the only persons who practise the mechanic arts, and fill 
most of the inferior stations in society. As the inhabitants both of Mexico 
and Peru were accustomed to a fixed residence, and to a certain degree of 
regular industry, less violence was requisite in bringing them to some con- 
formity with the European modes of civil life. But wherever the Span- 
iards settled among the savage tribes of America, their attempts to incor- 
porate with them have been always fniitless, and often fatal to the natives. 
Impatient of restraint, and disdaining labour as a mark of servility, they 
either abandoned their original seats, and sought for independence in 
mountains and forests inaccessible to their oppressors, or perished when 
reduced to a state repugnant to their ancient ideas and habits. In the 
districts adjacent to Carthagena, to Panama, and to Buenos Ayres, the 
desolation is more general than even in those parts of Mexico and Peru of 
which the Spaniards have taken most full possession. 

But the establishments of the Spaniards in the New World, though fatal 
to its ancient inhabitants, were made a ta period when that monarchy was 
capable of forming them to best advantage. By the union of all its petty 
kingdoms, Spain was become a powerful state, equal to so great an under- 
taking. Its monarchs, having extended their prerogatives far beyond the 
limits which once circumscribed the regal power in every kingdom of 
Europe, were hardly subject to control, either in concerting or in executing 
their measures. In every wide-extended empire, the form of government 
must be simple, and the sovereign authority such, that its resolutions rnay 
be taken with promptitude, and may pervade the whole with sufficient 
force. Such was the power of the Spanish monarchs when they were 
called to deliberate concerning the mode of establishing their dominions 
over the most remote provinces which had ever been subjected to any 
European state. In this deliberation, they felt themselves under no con- 
stitutional restraint, and that, as independent masters of their own resolves, 
they might issue the edicts requisite for modelling the government of the 
new colonies, by a mere act of prerogative. 

This early interposition of the Spanish crown, in order to regulate the 
policy and trade ol its colonies, is a peculiarity which distinguishes their 
progress from that of the colonies of any other European nation. ^^ hen 
the Portuguese, the English, and French took possession of the regions in 
America which they now occupy, the advantages which these promised 
to yield were so remote and uncertain, that their colonies were suffered to 
struggle through a hard infancy, almost without guidance or protection from 
the parent state. But gold and silver, the first productions ot the Spanish 
settlements in the New World, were more alluring, and in-.mediately at- 
tiactfd tlie attention of (hfir monarchs. Tliouirh they had contributed 



AMERICA. t>5i 

little to the discovery, and almost nothing to the conquest of the New 
World, they instantly assumed the function of its legislators ; and having 
acquired a species of dominion formerly unknown, they formed a plan for 
exercising it, to which nothing similar occurs in the history of human 
affairs. 

The fundamental maxim of the Spanish jurisprudence, with respect to 
America, is to consider what has been acquired there as vested in the 
crown, rather than in the state. By the bull of Alexander VI., on which, 
as its great charter, Spain founded its right, all the regions that had been 
or should be discovered were bestowed as a free gilt upon Ferdinand and 
Isabella. They and their successors were uniformly held to be the uni- 
versal proprietors of the vast territories which the arms of their subjects 
conquered in the New World. From them all grants of land there flowed, 
and to them they finally returned. The leaders who conducted the various 
expeditions, the governors who presided over the different colonies, the 
officers of justice, and the ministers of religion, were all appointed by 
their authority, and removable at their pleasure. The people who com- 
posed infant settlements were entitled to no privileges independent of the 
sovereign, or that served as a barrier against the power of the crown. It 
is true, that when towns were built, and formed into bodies corporate, the 
citizens were permitted to elect their own magistrates, who governed them 
by laws which the community enacted. Even in the most despotic states, 
this feeble spark of liberty is not extinguished. But in the cities of 
Spanish America, this jurisdiction is merely municijjal, and is confined to 
the regulation of their own interior commerce and police. In whatever 
relates to public government, and the general interest, the will of the 
sovereign is law. No political power originates from the people. All 
centres in the crown, and in the officers of its nomination. 

When the conquests of the Spaniards in America were completed, their 
monarchs, in forming the plan of internal policy for their new dominions, 
divided them into two immense governments, one subject to the viceroy 
of New Spain, the other to the viceroy of Peru. The jurisdiction of the 
former extended over all the provinces belonging to Spain in the northern 
division of the American continent. Under that of the latter, was com- 
prehended whatever she possessed in South America. This arrangement, 
which, from the beginning, was attended with many inconveniences, became 
intolerable when the remote provinces of each viccroyalty began to im- 
prove in industry and population. The people complained of their sub- 
jection to a superior, whose place of residence was so distant, or so inac- 
cessible, as almost excluded them from any intercourse with the seat of 
government. The authority of the viceroy over districts so far removed 
from his own eye and observation, was unavoidably both feeble and ill 
directed. As a remedy ibr those evils, a third viceroyalty has been esta- 
blished in the present century, at Santa Fe de Bogota, the capital of the 
new kingdom of Granada, the jurisdiction of which extends over the 
whole kingdom of Tierra Firme and the province of (^uito.* Those 
viceroys not only represent the person of their sovereign, but possess his 
regal prerogatives within the precincts of their own governments in their 
utmost extent. Like him, they exercise supreme authority in every de- 
partment of^ government, civil, militarj', and criminal. They have the 
sole right of nominating the persons who hold many otHces of the highest 
importance, and the occasional privilege of supplying those which, whciu 
they become vacant by death, are in the royal gift, until the successor 
appointed by the king shall arrive. The external pomp of their govern- 
ment is suited to its real dignity ami power. Their courts are formed upon 
the model of that at JMadrid, witli horse and foot guards, a householtl 

♦ Vov. (leUltoa. i. 2^. O.').'!, 



352 HIS T O K V O F [Book Vill. 

regularly established, numerous attendants, and ensigns of command, 
displaying such magniticence as hardly retains the appearance of delegated 
authority.* 

But as the viceroys cannot discharge in person the functions of a supreme 
magistrate in every part of their extensive jurisdiction, they are aided in 
their government by officers and tribunals similar to those in Spain. The 
conduct of civil affairs in the various provinces and districts, into which the 
Spanish dominions in America are divided, is committed to magistrates of 
various orders and denominations ; some appointed by the king, others by 
the viceroy, but all subject to the command of the latter, and amenable to 
his jurisdiction. The administration of justice is vested in tribunals, known 
by the name of Jludiences, and formed upon the model ot the court of 
Chanceiy in Spain. These are eleven in number, and dispense justice to 
as many districts into which the Spanish dominions in America are 
divided [170]. The number of judges in the Court of Audience is vari- 
ous, according to the extent and importance of their jurisdiction. The 
station is no less honourable than lucrative, and is commonly fi led by per- 
sons of such abilities and merit as render this tribunal extremely respect- 
able. Both civil and criminal causes come under their cognizance, and 
for each peculiar judges are set apart. Though it is only in the most 
despotic governments that the sovereign exercises in person the formidable 
prerogative of administering justice to his subjects, and, in absolving or 
condemning, consults no law but what is deposited in his own breast ; 
though, in all the monarchies of Europe, judicial authority is committed to 
magistrates, whose decisions are regulated by known laws and established 
forms ; the Spanish viceroys have often attempted to intrude themselves 
into the seat of justice, and, with an ambition which their distance from 
the control of a superior rendered bold, have aspired at a power which 
their master does not venture to assume. In order to check a usurpation 
which must have annihilated justice and security in the Spanish colonies, 
by subjecting the lives and property of all to the will of a single man, the 
viceroys have been prohibited in the most explicit terms, by repeated laws, 
from interfering in the judicial proceedings of the Courts of Audience, or 
from delivering an opinion, or giving a voice, with respect to any point 
litigated before them.f In some particular cases, in which any question 
of civil right is involved, even the political regulations of the viceroy may 
be brought under the review of the Court of Audience, which in those 
instances may be deemed an intermediate power placed between him and 
the people, as a constitutional barrier to circumscribe his jurisdiction. But 
as legal restraints on a person who represents the sovereign, and is clothed 
with his authority, are little suited to the genius of Spanish policy ; the 
hesitation and reserve with which it confers this power on the Courts of 
Audience are remarkable. They may advise, they may remonstrate ; but, 
in the event oi a direct collision between their opinion and the will of the 
viceroy, what he determines must be carried into execution, and nothing 
remains for them, but to lay the matter before the king and the Council of 
the Indies.J But to be entitled to remonstrate, and inform against a person 
before whom all others must be silent, and tamely submit to his decrees, is a 
privilege ^vhich adds dignity to the Courts of Audience. This is further 
augmented by another circumstance. Upon the death of a viceroy, with- 
out any provision of a successor by the king, the supreme power is vested 
in the Court of Audience resident in the capital of the viceroyalty ; and 
the senior judge, assisted by his brethren, exercises all the functions of the 
viceroy while the office continues vacant. § In matters which come under 

* tntoa, Vov. i. 43<2. Gage, 61. T Recop. lib. ii. tit. xv. I. 35. 38. 44. lib. fii. tit. iii. 1. 36, 37. 

t rfolorz. de Jiire Ind. lib. iv. c. 3. n. 40, 41. Recop. lib. ii. li(. iv. '. S6. lib. iii. tit. iii. I. .14. lib. v. 
tir. ix. I. 1. <!j Rocnp. lib. ii. tit. xv. 1. 57, &.c. 



AMERICA. 3S3 

the cognizance of the Audiences, in the course of their ordinary jurisdic- 
tion, as courts of justice, their sentences are final in every htigation con- 
cerning property of less value thansix thousand pesos ; but when the subject 
in dispute exceeds that sum, their decisions are subject to review, and may 
be carried by appeal before the royal Council of the Indies.* 

In this council, one of the most considerable in the monarchy for dignity 
and power, is vested the supreme governnienl of all ihe Spanish dominions 
in America. It was first established by Ferdinand in the year 1511, and 
brought into a more perfect form by Charles V. in the year 1524. Its 
jurisdiction extends to every department, ecclesiastical, civil, military, and 
commercial. All laws and ordinances relative to the government and police 
of the colonies originate there, and must be approved of by two-thirds of 
the members before they are issued in the name of the king. All the 
offices, of which the nommation is reserved to the crown, are conferred in 
this council. To it each person employed in America, from the viceroy 
downwards, is accountable. It reviews their conduct, rewards their ser- 
vices, and inflicts the punishments due to their malversations.! Before it 
is laid whatever intelligence, either public or secret, is received from 
America ; and every scheme of improving the administration, the police, 
or the commerce of the colonies, is submitted to its consideration. From 
the first institution of the Council of the Indies, it has been the constant 
object of the Catholic monarchs to maintain its authority, and to make 
such additions from time to time, both to its power and its splendour, as 
might render it formidable to all their subjects in the New World. What- 
ever degree of public order and virtue still remains in that country, where 
so many circumstances conspire to relax the former, and to corrupt the 
latter, may be ascribed in a great measure to the wise regulations and 
vigilant inspection of this respectable tribunal.| 

As the king is supposed to be always present in his Council of the 
Indies, its meetings are held in the place where he resides. Another 
tribunal has been instituted in order to regulate such commercial afiairs, 
as required the immediate and personal inspection of those appointed to 
superintend them. This is called Casa de la Contratacion, or the house 
of trade, and was established in Seville, the port to which commerce with 
the New World was confined, as early as the year 1501. It may he con- 
sidered both as a board of trade, and as a court of judicature. In the 
former capacity, it takes cognizance of whatever relates to the intercourse 
of Spain with America, it regulates what commodities should be exported 
thither, and has the inspection of such as are received in return. It decides 
concerning the departure of the fleets for the West Indies, the freight and 
burden of the ships, their equipment and destination. In the latter capa- 
city, it judges with respect to every question, civil, commercial, or criminal, 
arising in consequence of the transactions of Spain with America ; and in 
both these departments its decisions are exempted from the review of any 
court but that of the Council of the Indies.§ 

Such is the great outline of that system of government which Spain has 
established in her American colonies. To enumerate the various sulior- 
dinate boards and officers employed in the administration of justice, in 
collecting the public revenue, and in regulating the interior police of flie 
country ; to describe their different functions, and to inquire into the mode 
and enect of their operations; would prove a detail no less intricate than 
minute and uninteresting. 

The first object of the Spanish monarchs was to secure the productions 
of the colonies to the parent state, by an absolute prohibition of any inter- 
course with foreign nations. They took possession of America by right 

* Recop. lib. v. til xiii. I. 1, Su. t Ibid. lib. ii. tit. ii. I. 1, 2, fcc. J Solorz. de Jnr* 

Jiid. lib. iv. c. 12. <\ Rccop. lih. ix. tit. i. Veiiia None de la Ccotratar.ion, lib. i. !. 

Vor.. I.— 4fi 



354 HISTORY OF Ll^ooK VIII. 

of conquest, and conscious not only of the feebleness of their infant settle- 
ments, but aware of the difficulty in establishing their dominions over 
regions so extensive, or in retaining so many reluctant nations under the yoke, 
they dreaded the intrusion of strangers ; they even shunned their inspection, 
and endeavoured to keep them at a distance from their coasts. This spirit 
of jealousy and exclusion, which at first was natural, and perhaps necessary, 
augmented as their possessions in America extended, and the value of them 
came to be more fully understood. In consequence of it, a system of 
colonising was introduced, to which there had hitherto been nothing similar 
among mankind. In the ancient world, it was not uncommon to send forth 
colonies. But they were of two kinds only. They were either migrations, 
which served to disburden a state of its superfluous subjects, when they 
multiplied too fast for the territory which they occupied ; or they were 
military detachments, stationed as garrisons in a conquered province. The 
colonies of some Greek republics, and the swarms of northern barbarians 
which settled in different parts of Europe, were of the first species. The 
Roman colonies were of the second. In the former, the connection with 
the mother country quickly ceased, and they became independent states. 
In the latter, as the disjunction was not complete, the dependence continued. 
In their American settlements, the Spanish monarchs took what was pecu- 
liar to each, and studied to unite them. By sending colonies to regions so 
remote, hj establishing in each a form of inferior policy and administration, 
under distinct governors, and with peculiar laws, they disjoined them from 
the mother country. 3y retaining in their own hands the rights of legis- 
lation, as well as that of imposing taxes, together with the power of 
nominating the persons who filled every department of executive govern- 
ment, civil or military, they secured their dependence upon the parent 
state. Happily for Spain, the situation of her colonies was such as ren- 
dered it possible to reduce this new idea into practice. Almost all the 
countries which she had discovered and occupied, lay within the tropics. 
The productions of that large portion of the globe are different from those 
of Europe, even in its most southern provinces. The qualities of the 
climate and of the soil naturally turn the industry of such as settle there 
into new channels. When the Spaniards first took possession of their 
dominions in America, the precious metals which they yielded were the 
only object that attracted their attention. Even when their efforts began 
to take a better direction, they employed themselves almost wholly in 
rearing such peculiar productions of the climate as, from their rarity or 
value, were of chief demand in the mother country. Allured by vast 
prospects of immediate wealth, they disdained to w aste their industry on 
what was less lucrative, but of superior moment. In order to render it 
impossible to correct this error, and to prevent them from making any 
efforts in industry which might interfere with those of the mother country, 
the establishment of several species of manufactures, and even the culture 
of the vine or olive, are prohibited in the Spanish colonies [171], under 
severe penalties.* They must tnist entirely to the mother country for the 
objects of primary necessity. Their clothes, their furniture, their instru- 
ments of labour, their luxuries, and even a considerable part of the pro- 
visions which they consume, were imported from Spain. During a great 
part of the sixteenth centuiy, Spain, possessing an extensive commerce 
and flourishing manufactures, could supply with ease the growing demands 
of her colonies from her own stores. The produce of their mines and 
plantations was given in exchange for these. But all that the colonies 
received, as well as all that they gave, was conveyed in Spanish bottoms. 
No vessel belonging to the colonies was ever permitted to carry the com- 
modities of America to Europe. Even the commercial intercourse of one 

• B (Jlloa Rctab. Acs Mantif. &r. p. OTfi 



AMERICA. 365 

colony with another was either absolutely prohibited, or limited by many 
jealous restrictions. All that America yields flows into the ports ot Spain ; 
all that it consumes must issue from them. No foreigner can enter its 
colonies without express permission ; no vessel of any foreign nation is 
received into their harbours ; and the pains of death, with confiscation of 
moveables, are denounced against every inhabitant who presumes to trade 
with them.* Thus the colonies are kept in a state of perpetual pupilage ; 
and by the introduction of this commercial dependence, a refinement in 
policy of which Spain set the first example to European nations, the 
supremacy of the parent state hath been maintained over remote colonies 
during two centuries and a half. 

Such are the capital maxims to which the Spanish monarchs seem to 
have attended in forming their new settlements in America. But they 
could not plant with the same rapidity that they had destroyed ; and from 
many concurring causes, their progress has been extremely slow in filling 
up the immense void which their devastations ha<^ occasioned. As soon as 
the rage for discovery and adventure began to abate, tlie Spaniards opened 
their eyes to dangers and distresses which at first they did not perceive, 
or had despised. The numerous hardships with which the members of 
infant colonies have to struggle, the diseases of unwholesome climates fatal 
to the constitution of Europeans ; the difficulty of bringing a country 
covered with forests into culture ; the want of hands necessary tor labour 
in some provinces, and the slow reward of industiy in all, unless where 
the accidental discovery of mines enriched a few fortunate adventurers, 
Avere evils universally felt and magnified. Discouraged by the view of 
these, the spirit of migration was so much damped, that sixty years after 
the discovery of the New World, the number of Spaniards in all its pro- 
vinces is computed not to have exceeded fifteen thousand [172], 

The mode in which property was distributed in the Spanisn colonies, 
and the regulations established with respect to the transmission of it, whe- 
ther by descent or by sale, were extremely unfavourable to population. 
In order to promote a rapid increase of people in any new settlement, 
propei-ty in land ought to be divided into small shares, and the alienation 
of it should be rendered extremely easy.j But the rapaciousness of the 
Spanish conquerors of the New World paid no regard to this fundamental 
inaxim of policy ; and, as they possessed power which enabled them to 
gratify the utmost extravagance of their wishes, many seized districts of 
great extent, and held them as encomiendas. By degrees they obtained the 
privilege of converting a part of these into Mayorasgos, a species of fief, 
introduced into the Spanish system of feudal jurisprudence,! which can 
neither be divided nor alienatea. Thus a great portion of landed property, 
under this rigid form of entail, is withheld from circulation, and descends 
Irom father to son unimproved, and of little value either to the proprietor 
or to the community. In the account which 1 have given of the reduction 
of Peru, various examples occur of enormous tracts of country occupied 
by some of the conquerors. § The excesses in other provinces were simi- 
lar ; for, as the value of the lands which the Spaniards acquired was ori- 
ginally estimated according to the number of Indians which lived upon 
them, America was in general so thinly peopled, that only districts of 
great extent could afford such a number of labourers as might be employed 
in the mines with any prospect of considerable gain. The pernicious 
eflects of those radical errors in the distribution and nature of j^roperty in 
the Spanish settlements are felt through every department of industry, and 
may be considered as one great cause of a progress in population so much 
slower than that which has taken place in better constituted colonies [l73j. 

* Kecopil lib. ix. tit. xxvii, 1. 1. 4. 7. &c. t Hr. Smitli's Inquiry, ii, 166. X Recop. lib. iv. 
!>!. iii. I. 91. ^ Book vi 



3iS HISTORY OF [Book \ IK. 

To this we may add, that the support of the enormous and expensive 
fabric of their ecclesiastical establishment has been a burden on the Span- 
ish colonies, which has greatly retarded the progress of population and 
industry. The payment of tithes is a heavy tax on industiy : and if the 
exaction of them be not regulated and circumscribed by the wisdom of the 
civil magistrate, it becomes intolerable and ruinous. But, instead of any 
restraint on the claims of ecclesiastics, the inconsiderate zeal of the Span- 
ish legislators admitted them into America in their full extent, and at once 
imposed on their infant colonies a burden which is in no slight degree 
oppressive to society, even in its most improved state. As early as the 
year 1501, the payment of tithes in the colonies was enjoined, and the 
mode of it regulated by law. Every article of primary necessity, towards 
which the attention of new settlers must naturally be turned, is subjected 
to that grievous exaction.* Nor were the demands of the clergy confined 
to articles of simple and easy culture. Its more artificial and operose pro- 
ductions, such as sugar, indigo, and cochineal, were soon declared to be 
titheable ;t and thus the industry of the planter was taxed in eveiy stage 
of its progress, from its rudest essay to its highest improvement. To the 
weight of this legal imposition, the bigotry of the American Spaniards has 
made many voluntary additions. From their fond delight in the external 
pomp and parade of religion, and from superstitious reverence for ecclesi- 
astics of every denomination, they have bestowed profuse donatives on 
churches and monasteries, and have unprofitably wasted a large proportion 
of that wealth, which might have nourished and given vigour to productive 
labour in growing colonies. 

But so fertile and inviting are the regions of America, which the Span- 
iards have occupied, that, notwithstanding all the circumstances which nave 
checked and retarded population, it has gradually increased, and filled the 
colonies of Spain with citizens of various orders. Among these, the Span- 
iards who arrive from Europe, distinguished by the name of Chnpetones, 
are the first in rank and power. From the jealous attention of the Span- 
ish court to secure the dependence of the colonies on the parent state, all 
departments of consequence are filled by persons sent from Europe ; and in 
order to prevent any of dubious fidelity from being employed, each must 
bring proof of a clear descent from a family of Old Christians, untainted 
with any mixture of Jewish or Mahometan blood, and never disgraced by 
any censure of the Inquisition.| In such pure hands power is deemed to 
be safely lodged, and almost every function, from the viceroyalty down- 
wards, is committed to them alone. Every person, who, by his birth or 
residence in America, may be suspected of any attachment or interest 
adverse to the mother country, is the obiect of distrust to such a degree, 
as amounts nearly to an exclusion from all offices of confidence or autnori- 
ty [174]. By this conspicuous predilection of the court, the Chapetones 
are raised to such pre-eminence in America, that they look down with dis- 
dain on every other order of men. 

The character and state of the Creoles, or descendants of Europeans set- 
tled in America, the second class of subjects in the Spanish colonies, have 
enabled the Chapetones to acquire other advantages, hardly less consider- 
able than those which they derived from the partial favour of government. 
Though some of the Creolian race are descended from the conquerors of 
the New World ; though others can trace up their pedigree to the noblest 
families in Spain ; though many are possessed of ample fortunes ; yet, by 
the enervating influence of a sultry climate, by the rigour of a jealous 
government, and by their despair of attaining that distinction to which 
mankind naturally aspire, the vigour of their minds is so entirely broken, 

♦ Recop. lib. i. tit. xiv. 1. 2. t Rofon. lib. i til. xiv. 1. :?, 4. i Recop. lib, ix. tit. xstvi. 

I 15. 16. 



AMERICA. 357 

that a great part of them waste life in luxurious indulgences, mingled with 
an illiberal superstition still more debasing. 

Languid and unenterprising, the operations of an active extended com- 
merce would be to them so cumbersome and oppressive, that in almost 
every part of America they decline engaging in it. The interior traffic of 
every colony, as well as any trade which is permitted with the neighbour- 
ing provinces, and with Spain itself, is carried on chiefly by the Chape- 
tones ;* who, as the recompense of their industry, amass immense wealth, 
while the Creoles, sunk in sloth, are satisfied with the revenues of their 
paternal estates. 

From this stated competition for power and wealth between those two 
orders of citizens, and the various passions excited by a rivalship so inter- 
esting, their hatred is violent and implacable. On every occasion, symp- 
toms of this aversion break out, and the common appellations which each 
bestows on the other are as contemptuous as those which flow from the 
most deep-rooted national antipathy.! The court of Spain, from a refine- 
ment of distrustful policy, cherishes those seeds of discord, and foments 
this mutual jealousy, which ix)t only prevents the two most powerful 
classes of its subjects in the New World from combining against the parent 
state, but prompts each, with the most vigilant zeal, to observe the motions 
and to counteract the schemes of the other. 

The third class of inhabitants in the Spanish colonies is a mixed race, 
the offspring ei(her of a European and a Negro, or of a European and 
Indian, the former called Mulattoes, the latter Mestizos. As the court of 
Spain, solicitous to incorporate its new vassals with its ancient subjects, 
early encouraged the Spaniards settled in America to marry the natives of 
that country, several alliances of this kind were formed in their infant colo- 
nies. J But it has been more owing to licentious indulgence, than to com- 
pliance with this injunction of their sovereigns, that this mixed breed has 
multiplied so greatly as to constitute a considerable part of the population 
in all the Spanish settlements. The several stages of descent in this race, 
and the gradual variations of shade until the African black or the copper 
colour of America brighten into a European complexion, are accurately 
marked by the Spaniards, and each distinguished by a peculiar name. 
Those of the first and second generations are considered and treated as 
mere Indians and Negroes ; but in the third descent, the characteristic hue 
of the former disappears ; and in the fifth, the deeper tint of the latter is 
so entirely effaced, that they can no longer be distinguished from Europe- 
ans, and become entitled to all their privileges.§ It is chiefly by this 
mixed race, whose frame is remarkably robust and hardy, that the me- 
chanic arts are carried on in the Spanish settlements, and other active func- 
tions in society are discharged, which the two higher classes of citizens, 
from pride, or from indolence, disdain to exercise.ll 

The Negroes hold the fourth rank among the inhabitants of the Spanish 
colonies. The introduction of that unhappy part of the human species 
into America, together with their services and sufferings there, shall be 
fully explained in another place ; here they are mentioned chiefly in order 
to point out a peculiarity in their situation under the Spanish dominion. In 
several of their settlements, particularly in New Spain, Negroes are mostly 
employed in domestic service. They form a principal part in the train of 
luxuiy, and are cherished and caressed by their superiors, to whose vanity 
and pleasures they are equally subservient. Their dress and appearance 
are hardly less splendid than that of their masters, whose manners they 
imitate, and whose passions they imbibe. IT Elevated by this distinction, 

• Voy. de Ulloa, i. 27. 951. Voy. de Frczier, 227. t flagft's Survey, p. 9. Frezier,22C. 

{Recopil. lib. vi. tit. i. I. 2. Herrcra, dec. 1. lib. v. c. 12. dec. 3. lib. vii. c. 2. $ Voy. de Ulloa, 
l.p.27. II Ibid. i. 29. Voyage de Boupuer, p. 104. Mclendez, Teswros Verdaderop, i. 3.54 

*> fJace. p. 56. Voy. de Ulloa. i. 451. 



i35U H i S T O R V O I" [DooK VJll. 

they have assumed such a tone of superiority over the Indians, and treat 
them with such insolence and scorn, tliat the antipathy between the two 
races has become implacable. Even in Peru, where Negroes seem to be 
more numerous, and are employed in field work as well as domestic ser- 
vice, they maintain their ascendant over the Indians, and the mutual hatred 
of one to the other subsists with equal violence. The laws have indus- 
triously fomented this aversion, to which accident gave rise, and, by most 
rigorous injunctions, have endeavoured to prevent every intercourse that 
might form a bond of union between the two races. Thus, by an artful 
policy, the Spaniards derive stren£:th from that circumstance in population 
which is the weakness of other European colonies, and have secured, as 
associates and defenders, those very persons who elsewhere are objects of 
jealonsy and terror.* 

The Indians form the last and most depressed order of men in the coun- 
try which belonged to their ancestors. I have already traced the progress 
of the Spanish ideas with respect to the condition and treatment of that 
people ; and have mentioned the most important of their more early re^'u- 
lations, concerning a matter of so much consequence in the administration 
of their new dominions. But since the period to which I have brought 
down the history of America, the information and experience acquired 
during two centuries have enabled the court of Spain to make such im- 
provements in this part of its American system, that a short view of the 
present condition of the Indians may prove both curious and interesting. 

By the famous regulations of Charles V. in 1542, which have been so 
often mentioned, the high pretensions of the conquerors of the New World, 
who considered its inhabitants as slaves to whose service they had acquired 
a full right of property, were finally abrogated. From that period, the 
Indians have been reputed freemen, and entitled to the privileges of sub- 
jects. When admitted into this rank, it was deemed just that they should 
contribute towards the support and improvement of the society which had 
adopted them as members. But as no considerable benefit could be ex- 
pected from the voluntary efforts of men unacquainted with regular indus- 
try, and averse to labour, the court of Spain found it necessary to fix and 
secure, by proper regulations, what it thought reasonable to exact from 
them. With this view, an annual tax was imposed upon every male, from 
the age of eighteen to fifty ; and at the same time the nature as well as 
the extent of the services, which they might be required to perform, was 
ascertained with precision. This tribute varies in different provinces ; 
but if we take that paid in New Spain as a medium, its annual amount is 
nearly four shillings a head ; no exorbitant sum in countries where, as at 
the source of wealth, the value of money is extremely lowt [I'^Sj- The 
right of levying this tribute likewise varies. In America, every Indian is 
either an immediate vassal of the crown, or depends upon some subject to 
whom the district in which he resides has been granted for a limited time, 
under the denomination of an encomienda. In the former case, about 
three-fourths of the tax is paid into the royal treasury ; in the latter, the 
same proportion of it belongs to the holder of the grant. When Spain first 
took possession of America, the greater part of it was parcelled out among 
its conquerors, or those who first settled there, and but a small portion 
reserved for the crown. As those grants, which were made for two lives 
only,! reverted successively to the sovereign, he had it in his power either 
to diffuse his favours by grants to new proprietors, or to augment his own 
revenue by valuable annexations 1176]. Of these, the latter has been 
frpqiuently chosen ; the number of Indians now depending immediately on 

♦ Recopil. lib. vii. tit. v. I. 7. Herrora, ilcc. 8. lib. vii. c. 12. Frczior, 344. t Recopil. lili. 

vi. tit. V. 1. 42. Uakluyt, vol. iii. p. .llil. t Rrmpil. lil>. vi. fit. viii. I, 4S. Solnr/.. (!<■ Ir.a. .Ii;r( 
]}t,. ii. c. Ifi, 



AMERICA. 359 

the crown is much greater than in the first stage alter the conquest, and 
this branch of the royal revenue continues to extend. 

The benefit arising from the services of the Indians accrues either to the 
crown, or to the holder of the encomienda, according to the same rule ob- 
served in the payment of tribute. Those services, however, which can 
now be legally exacted, are veiy different from the tasks originally im- 
posed upon the Indians. The nature of the work which they must perform 
is defined, and an equitable recompense is granted for their labour. The 
stated services demanded of the Indians may be divided into two branches. 
They are either employed in works of primary necessity, without which 
society cannot subsist comfortably, or are compelled to labour in the mines, 
from which the Spanish colonies derive their chief value and importance. 
In consequence ot the former, they are obliged to assist in the culture of 
maize, and other grain of necessary consumption ; in tending cattle ; in 
erecting edifices ot public utility ; in building bridges ; and in forming high 
roads ;* but they cannot be constrained to labour in raising vines, olives, 
and sugar-canes, or any species of cultivation which has for its object the 
gratification of luxury or conmiercial profit.! In consequence of the latter, 
the Indians are compelled to undertake the more unpleasant task of ex- 
tracting ore from the bowels of the earth, and of refining it by successive 
processes, no less unwholesome thanoperose [177]. 

The mode of exacting both these services is the same, and is under 
regulations framed with a view of rendering it as little oppressive as pos- 
sible to the Indians. They are called out successively in divisions, termed 
Mitas, and no person can be compelled to go but in his turn. In Peru, the 
number called out must not exceed the seventh part of the inhabitants in 
any district. | In New Spain, where the Indians are more numerous, it is 
fixed at four in the hundred. § During what time the labour of such Indians 
as are employed in agriculture continues, I have not been able to learn [178]. 
But in Peru, each mita, or division, destined for the mines, remains there 
six months ; and while engaged in this service, a labourer never receives 
less than two shillings a day, and often earns more than double that sum.lj 
No Indian, residing at a greater distance than thirty miles from a mine, is 
included in the mita, or division employed working it ;11 nor are the inha- 
bitants of the low country exposed now to certain destruction, as they 
•were .it first when under the dominion of the conquerors, by compelling 
them to remove from that warm climate to the cold elevated regions where 
minerals abound** [179]. 

The Indians who live in the principal towns are entirely subject to the 
Spanish laws and magistrates ; but in their own villages they are governed 
by caziques, some ot" whom are the descendants of their ancient lords, 
others are named by the Spanish viceroys. These regulate the petty affairs 
of the people under them, according to maxims of justice transmitted to 
them by tradition from their ancestors. To the Indians this jurisdiction, 
lodged in such friendly hands, affords some consolation ; and so little formi- 
dable is this dignity to their new masters, that they often allow it to descend 
by hereditary right.tt For the further relief of men so much exposed to 
oppression, the Spanish court has appointed an officer in every district vvith 
the title of Protector of the Indians. It is his function, as the name implies, 
to assert the rights of the Indians ; to appear as their defender in the courts 
of justice ; and, by the interposition of his authority, to set bounds to the 
encroachments and exactions of his countrymen.|| A certain portion of 
the reserved fourth of the annual tribute is destined for the salary of the 

* Recop. lib. vi. lit. xiii. 1. 19. Solorz. dc lud. .lure, ii lib. i. c. 6, 7. 9. t Rrcop. lib. vl. tit. 

xiii 1. 8. Solorz. lib. i. c. 7. No. 41, fee t Hecop. lib. vi. tit. xii. 1. 21. § Uiid. lib. vi. 1. 22. 
II tilloa Entrcten. 26.5, 266. H Recop. lib. vi. tit. .xii. 1. 3. ** Ibid. lib. vi. tit. xii. 1. 29, tit. i. 

1. 13. tt Solorz. de Jure Ind. lib. i, c. 26. Recnpil. lib. vi. tit. vii. it Solorz, lib. i. C. 17. p. 
201. Rocop. lib. vi. tit. vi. 



360 HISTORY OF [Book VIII. 

caziques and protectors ; another is applied to the maintenance of the 
clergy employed in the instruction of the Indians.* Another part seems 
to be appropriated for the benefit of the Indians themselves, and is applied 
for the payment of their tribute in years of famine, or when a particular 
district is affected by any extraordinary local calamity. t Besides this, 
provision is made by various laws, that hospitals shall be founded in 
every new settlement for the reception of Indians.J Such hospitals have 
accordingly been erected, both for the indigent and infirm, in Lima, in 
Cuzco, and in Mexico, where the Indians are treated with tenderness 
and humanity .§ 

Such are the leading principles in the jurisprudence and policy by which 
the Indians are now governed in the provinces belonging to Spain. In 
those regulations of the Spanish monarchs, we discover no traces of that 
cruel system of extermination, which they have been charged with adopt- 
ing ; and if we admit that the necessity of securing subsistence for their 
colonies, or the advantages derived from working the mines, give them a 
right to avail themselves of the labour of the Indians, we must allow, that 
the attention with which they regulate and recompense that labour is pro- 
vident and sagacious. In no code of laws is greater solicitude displayed, 
or precautions multiplied with more prudent concern, tor the preservation, 
the security, and the happiness of the subject, than we discover in the col- 
lection of the Spanish laws for the Indies. But those latter regulations, 
like the more early edicts which have been already mentioned, have too 
often proved ineffectual remedies against the evils which they were intend- 
ed to prevent. In every a2:e, if the same causes continue to operate, the 
same effects must follow. From the immense distance between the power 
intrusted with the execution of laws, and that by whose authority they are 
enacted, the vigour even of the most absolute government must relax, and 
the dread of a superior, too remote to observe with accuracy or to punish 
with despatch, must insensibly abate. Notwithstanding the numerous 
injunctions of the Spanish monarch, the Indians still suffer, on many occa- 
sions, both from the avarice of individuals, and from the exactions of the 
magistrates who ought to have protected them ; unreasonable tasks are 
imposed ; the term of their labour is prolonged beyond the period fixed 
by law, and they groan under many of^ the insults and wrongs which are 
the lot of a dependent people [I80]. From some information on which I 
can depend, such oppression abounds more in Peru than in any other colony. 
But it is not general. According to the accounts even ot those authors 
who are most disposed to exaggerate the sufferings of the Indians, they, in 
several provinces, enjoy not only ease but affluence ; they possess large 
farms ; they are masters of numerous herds and flocks ; and, by the know- 
ledge which they have acquired of European arts and industry, are sup- 
plied not only with the necessaries but with m.any luxuries of life.|| 

After explaining the form of civil government in the Spanish colonies, and 
the state of the various orders of persons subject to it, the peculiarities in 
their ecclesiastical constitution merit consideration. Notwithstanding the 
superstitious veneration with which the Spaniards are devoted to the Holy 
See, the vigilant and jealous policy of Ferdinand early prompted him to 
take precautions against the introduction of the Papal dominion in America. 
With this view, he solicited Alexander VI. for a grant to the crown of the 
tithes in all the newly-discovered countries,^ which he obtained on condi- 
tion of his making provision for the religious instruction of the natives. 
Soon after Julius II. conferred on him and his successors, the right ot 
patronage, and the absolute disposal of all ecclesiastical benefices there.** 

* Rccop. lib. vi. til. V. I. 30. tit. xvi. 1. 13—15. t Ibid. lib. vi. tit. iv. I. IX } Ibid. lib. i. tii. 
iv. 1. 1, &.C. § Voy. do Ulloa, i. 4:W. 509. (^Imrchiil, Iv. 496. || Gape's Survey, p. P5. 90. KM. 
llO, &c. IF Bulla Alex. VI. A.l>. 1501, ap. Solorz. de Jure Iiid. ii. p. 498. ** Bulla .lulli 1], 

ii. 1508, ap. Solorz. dc Jure Im'. ii. ^<.l. 



AiMERICA. 361 

But tliese Pontiffs, unacquainted with the value of what he demanded, 
bestowed these donations with an inconsiderate liberality, which their 
successors have often lamented, and wished to recall. In consequence of 
those grants, the Spanish monarchs have become in effect the heads of the 
American church. In them the administration of its revenues is vested. 
Their nomination of persons to supply vacant benefices is instantly con- 
firmed by the Pope. Thus, in all Spanish America, authority of every 
species centres in the crown. There no collision is known between 
spiritual and temporal jurisdiction. The King is the only superior, his 
name alone is heard of, and no dependence upon any foreign power has 
been introduced. Papal bulls cannot be admitted into America, nor are 
they of any force there until they have been previously examined and 
approved of by the royal council of the Indies ;* and if any bull should 
be surreptitiously introduced and circulated in America without obtaining 
that approbation, ecclesiastics are required not only to prevent it from 
taking effect, but to seize all the copies of it, and transmit them to the 
council of the Indies.! To this limitation of the Papal jurisdiction, 
equally singular, whether we consider the age and nation in which it was 
devised, or the jealous attention with which Ferdinand and his succes- 
.sors have studied to maintain it in full force,| Spain is indebted, in a 
great measure, for the uniform tranquillity which has reigned in her Ame- 
rican dominions. 

The hierarchy is established in America in the same form as in Spain, 
Avith its full train of archbishops, bishops, deans, and other dignitaries. 
The inferior clergy are divided into three classes, under the denomination 
of Curas, Doctrineros, and Missioneros. The first are parish priests in 
those parts of the country where the Spaniards have settled. The second 
have the charge of such districts as are inhabited by Indians subjected to 
the Spanish government, and living under its protection. The third are 
employed in instructing and converting those fiercer tribes which disdain 
submission to the Spanish yoke, and live in remote or inaccessible regions 
to which the Spanish arms have not penetrated. So numerous are the 
ecclesiastics of^ all those various orders, and such the profuse liberality 
with which many of them are endowed, that the revenues of the church 
in America are immense. The Romish superstition appears with its utmost 
pomp in the New World. Churches and convents there are magnificent, 
and richly adorned ; and on high festivals, the display of gold and silver, 
and precious stones, is such as exceeds the conception of a European.^ 
An ecclesiastical establishment so splendid and extensive is unfavourable, 
as has been formerly observed, to the progress of rising colonies ; but in 
countries where riches abound, and the people are so delighted with parade 
that religion must assume it in order to attract their veneration, this pro- 
pensity to ostentation has been indulged, and becomes less pernicious. 

The early institution of monasteries in the Spanish colonies, and the 
inconsiderate zeal in multiplying them, have been attended with conse- 
quences more fatal. In every new settlement, the first object should be to 
encourage population, and to incite every citizen to contribute towards 
augmenting the number and strength of the community. During the youth 
and vigour of society, while there is room to spread, and sustenance is 
procured with facility, mankind increase with amazing rapidity. But the 
Spaniards had hardly taken possession of America, when, with a most 
preposterous policy, tney began to erect convents, where persons of both 
sexes were shut up, under a vow to defeat the purpose of^ nature, and to 
counteract the first of her laws. Influenced by a misguided piety, which 
ascribes transcendent merit to a state of celibacy, or allured by the prospect 

* Recopil. lib. i. tit. ix. I. 2. and Aulas del Consejo do las Indiaa, clxi. t Rccop. lib. i. tit. vii. 
1. 55. X Id. lit', i. tit. vii. I. 55. passim. $ Vov. de Ullna, i. 4:^0. 

Vol. I.— 4ft 



362 HISTORY OF [BookVIII. 

of that listless ease which in sultry climates is deemed supreme felicity, 
numbers crowded into those mansions of sloth and superstition, and are 
lost to society. As none but persons of Spanish extract are admitted into 
the monasteries of the New World, the evil is more sensibly felt, and 
every monk or nun may be considered as an active person withdrawn from 
civil life. The impropriety of such foundations in any situation where the 
extent of territory requires additional hands to improve it, is so obvious, 
that some Catholic states have expressly prohibited any person in their 
colonies from taking the monastic vows.* Even the Spanish motiarchs, 
on some occasions, seem to have been alarmed with the spreading of a 
spirit so adverse to the increase and prosperity of their colonies, that they 
have endeavoured to check it.j But the Spaniards in America, more 
thoroughly under the influence of superstition than their countrymen in 
Europe, and directed by ecclesiastics more bigoted and illiterate, have 
conceived such a high opinion of monastic sanctity, that no regulations can 
restrain their zeal ; and, by the excess of their ill judged bounty, religious 
houses have multiplied to a degree no less amazing than pernicious to 
society [l8l]. 

In viewing the state of colonies, where not only the number but influ- 
ence of ecclesiastics is so great, the character of this powerful body is an 
object that merits particular attention. A considerable part of the secular 
clergy in Mexico and Peru are natives of Spain. As persons long accus- 
tomed, by their education, to the retirement and indolence of academic 
life are more incapable of active enterprise, and less disposed to strike into 
new paths than any order of men, the ecclesiastical adventurers by whom 
the American church is recruited, are commonly such as, from merit or rank 
in life, have little prospect of success in their own country. Accordingly, 
the secular priests in the New World are still less distinguished than their 
brethren in Spain for literary accomplishments of any species; and though, 
by the ample provision which has been made for the American church, 
many of its members enjoy the ease and independence which are favourable 
to the cultivation of science, the body of secular clergy has hardly, during 
two centuries and a half, produced one author whose works convey such 
useful information, or possess such a degree of merit, as to be ranked 
among those which attract the attention of enlightened nations. But the 
greatest part of the ecclesiastics in the Spanish settlements are regulars. 
On the discovery of America, a new field opened to the pious zeal of the 
monastic orders ; and, with a becoming alacrity, they immediately sent 
forth missionaries to labour in it. The first attempt to instruct and convert 
the Americans was made by monks ; and as soon as the conquest of any 
province was completed, and its ecclesiastical establishment began to 
assume some form, the Popes permitted the missionaries of the four mendi- 
cant orders, as a reward for their services, to accept of parochial charges 
in America, to perform all spiritual functions, and to receive the tithes and 
other emoluments of the benefice, without depending on the jurisdiction 
of the bishop of the diocess, or being subject to his censures. In conse- 
quence of this, a new career of usefulness, as well as new objects of am- 
bition, presented themselves. Whenever a call is made for a fresh supply 
of missionaries, men of the most ardent and aspiring minds, impatient 
imder the restraint of a cloister, weary of its insipid uniformity, and 
fatigued with the irksome repetition of its frivolous functions, ofifer their 
service with eagerness, and repair to the New World in quest of liberty 
and distinction. Nor do they pursue distinction without success. The 
highest ecclesiastical honours, as well as the most lucrative preferments in 
I^Iexico and Peru, are often in the hands of regulars ; and it is chiefly to 

* Voy. de Ulloa, ii. 124. t Herrera. dor. v. lili. ix. r. 1, 2. R:.-cop. lib, i. til. iii. I. 1, 2. tit. iv. c. 
ii. Solorz. lib. iii. r. 33. 



AMERICA. 363 

the monastic orders that the Americans are indebted for any portion of 
science which is cultivated among them. They are almost the only 
Spanish ecclesiastics from whom we have received, any accounts either of 
the civil or natural history of the various provinces in America. Some of 
them, though deeply tinged with the indelible superstition of their profes- 
sion, have published books which give a favourable idea of their abilities. 
The natural and moral history of the New World, by the Jesuit Acosta, 
contains more accurate observations, perhaps, and more sound science, than 
are to be found in any description of remote countries published in the six- 
teenth century. 

But the same disgust with monastic life, to which America is indebted 
for some instructers of worth and abilities, filled it with others of a very 
different character. The giddy, the profligate, the avaricious, to whom 
the poverty and rigid discipline of a convent are intolerable, consider a 
mission to America as a release from mortification and bondage. There 
they soon obtain some parochial charge ; and far removed, by their situa- 
tion, from the inspection of their monastic superiors, and exempt, by their 
character, from the jurisdiction of their diocesan,* they are hardly sub- 
jected to any control. According to the testimony of the most zealous 
catholics, many of the regular clergy in the Spanish settlements are not 
only destitute of the virtues becoming their profession, but regardless of 
that external decorum and respect for the opinion of mankind, which pre- 
serve a semblance of worth where the reality is wanting. Secure of im- 
punity, some regulars, in contempt of their vow of poverty, engage openly 
in commerce, and are so rapaciously eager in amassing wealth, that they 
become the most grievous oppressors of the Indians whom it was their 
duty to have protected. Others, with no less flagrant violation of their 
vow of chastity, indulge with little disguise in the most dissolute licen- 
tiousness [182]. 

Various schemes have been proposed for redressing enormities so mani- 
fest and so offensive. Several persons, no less eminent for piety than 
discernment, have contended, that the regulars, in conformity to the canons 
of the church, ought to be confined within the walls of their cloisters, and 
should no longer be permitted to encroach on the functions of the secular 
clergy. Some public-spirited magistrates, from conviction of its being 
necessary to deprive the regulars of a privilege bestowed at first with 
good intention, but of which time and experience had discovered the per- 
nicious effects, openly countenanced the secular clergy in their attempts 
to assert their own rights. The prince D'Esquilache, viceroy of Peru 
under Philip III., took measures so decisive and effectual for circumscribing 
the regulars within their proper sphere as struck them with general con- 
sternation [l8.i]. They had recourse to their usual arts. They alarmed 
the superstitious, by representing the proceedings of the viceroy as inno- 
vations fatal to religion. They employed all the refinements of intrigue in 
order to gain persons in power ; and seconded by the powerful influence 
of the Jesuits, who claimed and enjoyed all the privileges which belonged to 
the Mendicant orders in America, they made a deep impression on a bigoted 
prince and a weak ministry. The ancient practice was tolerated. The 
abuses which it occasioned continued to increase, and the corruption of 
monks, exempt from the restraints of discipline, and the inspection of any 
superior, became a disgrace to religion. At last, as the veneration of the 
Spaniards for the monastic orders began to abate, and the power of the 
Jesuits was on the decline, Ferdinand VI. ventured to apply the only 
effectual remedy, by issuing an edict [June 23, 1757], prohibiting regulars 
of every denomination from taking the chaise of any parish with the cure 
of souls ; and declaring that on the demise of the present incumbents, 

* Avendano The. Inflir. ii. 25^. 



364 HISTORY OF [Book VIII. 

none but secular priests, subject to the jurisdiction of their diocessfhs, shall 
be presented to vacant benefices.* If this regulation is carried into exe- 
cution with steadiness in any degree proportional to the wisdom with which 
it is framed, a very considerable reformation may take place in the eccle- 
siastical state of Spanish America, and the secular clergy may gradually 
become a respectable body of men. The deportment of many ecclesiastics, 
even at present, seems to be decent and exemplary ; otherwise we can 
hardly suppose that they would be held in such high estimation, and pos- 
sess such a wonderful ascendant over the minds of their countrymen 
throughout all the Spanish settlements. 

But whatever merit the Spanish ecclesiastics in America may possess, 
the success ot their endeavours in communicating the knowledge of true 
religion to the Indians, has been more imperfect than might have been 
expected, either from the degree of their zeal, or from the dominion which 
they had acquired over that people. For this, various reasons may be 
assigned. The first missionaries, in their ardour to make proselytes, 
admitted the people of America into the Christian church without previous 
instruction in the doctrines of religion, and even before they themselves 
had acquired such knowledge in the Indian language, as to be able to 
explain to the natives the mysteries of faith, or the precepts of duty. 
Resting upon a subtle distinction in scholastic theology, between that degree 
of assent which is founded on a complete knowledge and conviction of 
duty, and that which may be yielded when both these are imperfect, 
they adopted this strange practice, no less inconsistent with the spirit of a 
religion which addresses itself to the understanding of men, than repug- 
nant to the dictates of reason. As soon as any body of people overawed 
by dread of the Spanish power, moved by the example of their own 
chiefs, incited by levity, or yielding from mere ignorance, expressed the 
slightest desire of embracing the religion of their conquerors, they were 
instantly baptized. While this rage of conversion continued, a single 
clergyman baptized in one day above five thousand Mexicans, and did not 
desist until he was so exhausted by fatigue that he was unable to lift his 
hands.t In the course of a few years after the reduction of the Mexican 
empire, the sacrament of baptism was administered to more than four 
millions.! Proselytes adopted with such inconsiderate haste, and who were 
neither mstructed in the nature of the tenets to which it was supposed they 
had given assent, nor taught the absurdity of those which they were required 
to relinquish, retained their veneration tor their ancient superstitions in full 
force, or mingled an attachment to its doctrine and rites with that slender 
knowledge of Christianity which they had acquired. These sentiments 
the new converts transmitted to their posterity, into whose minds they 
have sunk so deep, that the Spanish ecclesiastics, with all their industry, 
have not been able to eradicate them. The religious institutions of their 
ancestors, are still remembered and held in honour by many of the Indians, 
both in Mexico and Peru ; and whenever they think themselves out of 
reach of inspection by the Spaniards, they assemble and celebrate their 
idolatrous rites. § 

But this is not the most unsurmountable obstacle to the progress of Chris- 
tianity among the Indians. The powers of their uncultivated understandings 
are so limited, their observations and reflections reach so little beyond the 
mere objects of sense, that they seem hardly to have the capacity of forming 
abstract ideas, and possess not language to express them. To such men the 
sublime and spiritual doctrines ofChristianity must be, in a great measure, 
incomprehensible. The numerous and splendid ceremonies of the Popish 

* Real Cedula MS. penes me. t P. Tonibio, MS. Torquem. Mond. Ind. lib. xvi. c. fi. 

t Torribio, M . Torquem. lib. xvi. c. 8. « Voy. de Ulloa. i. 341. Torquem. lib. iv. c. 

23. lib. xvi. c. 28. Gaee, 17J. 



AMERICA. 365 

worship catch the eve, please and interest them ; but when their instnicters 
attempt to explain the articles of faith with which those external observances 
are connected, though the Indians may listen with patience, they so little 
conceive the meaning of what they hear, that their acquiescence does not 
merit the name of belief. Their indifference is still greater than their 
incapacity. Attentive only to the present moment, and engrossed by the 
objects before them, the Indians so seldom reflect upon wnat is past, or 
take thought for what is to come, that neither the promises nor threats of 
religion make much impression upon them ; and while their foresight rarely 
extends so far as the next day, it is almost impossible to inspire them with 
solicitude about the concerns of a future world. Astonished equally at 
their slowness of com])rehension, and at their insensibility, some oi the 
early missionaries pronounced them a race of men so brutish as to be inca- 

Eable of understanding the lirst principles of religion. A council held at 
lima decreed, that, on account of this incapacity, they ought to be ex- 
cluded from the sacrament of the Eucharist.* Though Paul III., by his 
famous bull issued in the year 1537, declared them to be rational creatures 
entitled to all the privileges of Christians ;t yet, after the lapse of two 
centuries, during which they have been members of the church, so imper- 
fect are their attainments in knowledge that very few possess such a portion 
of spiritual discernment as to be deemed wortny of being admitted to the 
holy communion. j From this idea of their incapacity and imperfect 
knowledge of religion, when the zeal of Philip II. established the inquisi- 
tion in America in the year 1570, the Indians were exempted from the 
jurisdiction of that severe tribunal,§ and still continue under the inspection 
of their diocesans. Even after the most perfect instruction, their faith is 
held to be feeble and dubious ; and though some of them have been taught 
the learned languages, and have gone through the ordinary course of 
academic education with applause, their frailty is still so much suspected, 
that few Indians are either ordained priests, or received into any religious 
orderli [184]. 

From this brief survey some idea may be formed of the interior state 
of the Spanish colonies. The various productions with which they supply 
and enrich the mother country, and the systen) of commercial intercourse 
between them, come next in order to be explained. If the dominions of 
Spain in the New World had been of such moderate extent as bore a due 
proportion to the parent state, the progress of her colonising might have 
been attended with the same benefit as that of other nations. But when, 
in less than half a century, her inconsiderate rapacity had seized on coun- 
tries larger than all Europe, her inability to fill such vast regions with a 
number of inhabitants sufficient for the cultivation of them was so obvious, 
as to give a wrong direction to all the efforts of the colonists. They did 
not form compact settlements, where industry, circumscribed within proper 
limits, both in its views and operations, is conducted with that sober per- 
severing spirit which gradually converts whatever is in its possession to a 
proper use, and derives thence the greatest advantage. Instead of this, 
the Spaniards, seduced by the boundless prospect which opened to them, 
divided their possessions m America into governments of great extent. As 
their number was too small to attempt the regular culture of the immense 
provinces which they occupied rather than peopled, they bent their atten- 
tion to a few objects that allured them with hopes of sudden and exorbitant 
gain, and turned away with contempt from the humbler paths of industry, 
which lead more slowly, but with greater certainty, to wealth and increase 
of national strength. 

Of all the metnods by which riches may be acquired, that of searching 

♦ Torqucm. lib. xvi. c. 20. t W- lib. xvi. c. 25. Garcia Origin 311. * Voy. dc Ulloa. i 
343. (S Recnp. lib. vi. tit. i. I. 35. II Torouem. lib. xvii. r. 13. 



366 HISTORY OF [BookVIII. 

for the precious metals is one of the most inviting to men who are either 
unaccustomed to the regular assiduity with which the culture of the earth 
and the operations of commerce must be carried on, or who are so enter- 
prising and rapacious as not to be satisfied with the gradual returns of profit 
which they yield. Accordingly, as soon as the several countries in America 
were subjected to the dominion of Spain, this was almost the only method 
of acquiring wealth which occurred to the adventurers by whom they 
were conquered. Such provinces of the continent as did not allure them 
to settle, by the prospect of their affording gold and silver, were totally 
neglected. Those in which they met with a disappointment of the san- 
gume expectations they had formed, were abandoned. Even the value of 
the islands, the first fruits of their discoveries, and the first object of their 
attention, sunk so much in their estimation, when the mines which had 
been opened in them were exhausted, that they were deserted by many 
of the planters, and left to be occupied by more industrious possessors. All 
crowded to Mexico and Peru, where the quantities of gold and silver found 
among the natives, who searched for them with little industry and less 
skill, promised an unexhausted store, as the recompense of more intelligent 
and persevering efforts. 

During several years, the ardour of their researches was kept up by 
hope rather than success. At length, the rich silver mines of Potosi in 
Peru were accidentally discovered in the j^ear 1545* by an Indian, as he 
was clambering up the mountains in pursuit of a llama which had strayed 
from his flock. Soon after, the mines of Sacotecas in New Spain, little 
inferior to the other in value, were opened. From that time successive 
discoveries have been made in both colonies, and silver mines are now so 
numerous, that the working of them, and of some few mines of gold in the 
provinces of Tierra Firme, and the new kingdom of Granada, has become 
the capital occupation of the Spaniards, and is reduced into a system no 
less complicated than interesting. To describe the nature of the various 
ores, the mode of extracting them from the bowels of the earth, and to 
explain the several processes by which the metals are separated from the 
substances with which they are mingled, either by the action of fire, or the 
attractive powers of mercury, is the province of the natural philosopher or 
chymist, rather than of the historian. 

The exuberant profusion with which the mountains of the New World 
poured forth their treasures astonished mankind, who had been accustomed 
hitherto to receive a penurious supply of the precious metals from the more 
scanty stores contained in the mines of the ancient hemisphere. According 
to principles of computation, which appear to be extremely moderate, the^ 
quantity of gold and silver that has been regularly entereu in the ports of 
Spain, is equal in value to four millions sterling annually, reckoning from 
the year 1492, in which America was discovered, to the present time. 
This, in two hundred and eighty-three years, amounts to eleven hundred 
and thirty-two millions. Immense as this sum is, the Spanish writers con- 
tend, that as much more ought to be added to it in consideration of treasure 
which has been extracted from the mines, and imported fraudulently into 
Spain without paying duty to the King. By this account, Spain has drawn 
from the New World a supply of wealth amounting at least to two thousand 
millions of pounds sterlingj [185]. 

The mines, which have yielded this amazing quantity of treasure, are 
not worked at the expense of the crown or of the public. In order to 
encourage private adventurers, the person who discovers and works a new 
vein is entitled to the property of it. Upon laying his claim to such a dis- 
covery before the governor of the province, a certain extent of land is 

* Fernandez, p. I. lih. xi, c. 1 1 • T'zlariz Theor. y I'ract, de Commerr ia, c. 3 Herrtra 

d.T. ''iii. lib. li. r. I.'i. 



AMERICA. 367 

measured off, and a certain number of Indians allotted him, under the 
obligation of his opening the mine within a limited time, and of liis paying 
the customary duty to the King for what it shall produce. Invited by the 
facility with which such grants are obtained, and encouraged by some 
striking examples of success in this line of adventure, not onlj the sanguine 
and the bold, but the timid and diffident, enter upon it with astonishing 
ardour. With vast objects always in view, fed continually with hope, and 
expecting every moment that ibrtune will unveil her secret stores, and give 
up the wealth which they contain to their wishes, they deem every other 
occupation insipid and uninteresting. The charms of this puisuit, like the 
rage for deep play, are so bewitching, and take such full possession of the 
mind, as even to give a new bent to the natural temper. Under its in- 
fluence the cautious become enterprising, and the covetous profuse. Pow- 
erful as this charm naturally is, its force is augmented by the arts of an 
order of men known in Peru by the cant name of searchers. These are 
commonljf persons of desperate fortune, who, availing themselves of some 
skill in mmeralogy, accoitipanied with the insinuating manner and confident 
pretensions peculiar to projectors, address the wealthy and tlie credulous. 
By plausible descriptions of the appearances which they have discovered 
of rich veins hitherto unexplored ; by producing, when requisite, specimens 
of promising ore ; by affirming, with an imposing assurance, that success is 
certain, and that the expense must be trifling, they seldom fail to persuade. 
An association is formed ; a small sum is advanced by each copartner ; the 
mine is opened ; the searcher is intrusted with the sole direction of everj" 
operation : unforeseen difficulties occur ; new demands of money are made ; 
but, amidst a succession of disappointments and delays, hope is never ex- 
tinguished, and the ardour of expectation hardly abates. For it is observed, 
that if any person once enters this seducing path, it is almost impossible to 
return ; his ideas alter, he seems to be possessed with another spirit ; 
visions of imaginary wealth are continually before his eyes, and he thinks, 
and speaks, and dreams of nothing else.* 

Such is the spirit that must be formed, wherever the active exertions of 
any society are chiefly employed in working mines of gold and silver. No 
spirit is more adverse to such improvements in agriculture and commerce 
as render a nation really opulent. If the system of administration in the 
Spanish colonies had been founded upon principles of sound policy, the 
power and ingenuity of the legislator would have been exerted with as 
much ardour in restraining its subjects from such pernicious industry, as is 
now employed in alluring them towards it. " Projects of mining," says a 
good judge of the political conduct of nations, " instead of replacing the 
capital employed in them, together with the ordinaiy profit of stock, 
commonly absorb both capital and profit. They are the projects, there- 
fore, to which, of all others, a prudent lawgiver, who desired to increase 
the capital of his nation, would least choose to give any extraordinary 
encouragement, or to turn towards them a greater share of that capital 
than would go to them of its own accord. Such, in reality, is the absurd 
confidence which all men have in their own good Ibrtune, that wherever 
there is the least probability of success, too great a share of it is apt to go 
to them of its own accord, t But in the Spanish colonies, government is 
studious to cherish a .spirit which it .should have laboured to depress, and, 
by the sanction of its approbation, augments that inconsiderate credulity 
which has turned the active indu.stry of Mexico and Peru into .such an im- 
proper channel. To this may be imputed the slender progress which 
Spanish America has made, during two centuries and a half, either in useful 
Mianufactures, or in those lucrative branches of cultivation which furnish 

* T'lloa Eiitreton. p. 221^. ♦ Pr. Smith's Inquiry, &r. ii. LIS. 



368 HISTORY OF [Book Vllf. 

the colonies of other nations with their staple commodities. In comparison 
with the precious metals every bounty ot nature is so much despised, that 
this extravagant idea of their value has mingled with the idiom ot language 
in America, and the Spaniards settled there, denominate a country rich, not 
from the fertility of its soil, the abundance of its crops, or the exuberance 
of its pastures, but on account of the minerals which its mountains con- 
tain. In quest of these, they abandon the delightful plains of Peiu and 
Mexico, and resort to barren and uncomfortable regions, where they have 
built some of the largest towns which they possess in the New World. 
As the activity and enterprise of the Spaniards originally took this direc- 
tion, it is now so difficult to bend them a different way, that although, from 
various causes, the gain of working mines is much decreased, the fascination 
continues, and almost every person, who takes any active part in the com- 
merce of New Spain or Peru, is still engaged in some adventure of this 
kind [186], 

But though mines are the chief object of the Spaniards, and the precious 
metals which these yield form the principal article in their conunerce 
with America ; the fertile countries which they possess there abound with 
other commodities of such value, or scarcity, as to attract a considerable 
degree of attention. Cochineal is a production almost peculiar to New 
Spain, of such demand in commerce that the sale is always certain, and 
yet 3'ields such profit as amply rewards the labour and care employed in 
rearing the curious insects of which this valuable drug is composed, and 
l)reparing it for the market. Quinquina, or Jesuits' Bark, the most salutary- 
simple, perhaps, and of most restorative virtue, that Providence, in com- 
passion to human infirmity, has made known unto man, is found only in 
Peru, to which it affords a lucrative branch of commerce. The Indigo of 
Guatimala is superior in quality to that of any province in America, and 
cultivated to a considerable extant. Cacao, though not peculiar to the 
Spanish colonies, attains to its highest state of perfection there, and, froK» 
the great consu?iiption of chocolate in Europe, as well as in America, is a 
valuable commodity. The Tobacco of Cuba, of more exquisite flavour 
than any brouglit from the New World ; the Sugar raised in that island, 
in Hispaniola, and in New Spain, together with drugs of various kinds, 
may be mentioned among the natural productionsof America which enrictj 
the Spanish commerce. To these must be added an article of no incon- 
siderable account, the exportation of hides ; for which, as well as for many 
of those which I have enumerated, the Spaniards are more indebted to the 
v/onderful fertility of the country, than to their own foresight and industry. 
The domestic animals of Europe, particularly horned cattle, have multiplied 
in the New World with a rapidity which almost exceeds belief. A few 
years after the Spaniards settled there, the herds of tame cattle became so 
numerous that their proprietors reckoned them by thousands.* Less atten- 
tion being paid to them as they continued to increase, tht-y vvere suffered 
to run wild ; and spreading over a country of boundless extent, under a 
mild climate and covered with rich pasture, their number became im- 
mense. They range over the vast plains which extend from Buenos Ayres 
towards the Andes, in herds of thirty or forty thousand ; and the unlucky 
traveller who once falls in among them, may proceed several days before 
he can discntang e himself from among the crowd that covers the face of 
the earth, and seems to have no end. They are hardly less numerous m 
New Spain, and in several other provinces : they are killed merely for 
the sake of their hides ; and the slaughter at certain seasons is so great, 
that the stench of the carcasses, which are left in the field, would infect 
the air, if large packs of wild dogs, and vast flocks of gaUinazos, or 

* Oviedo ap. Ramus, iii. lOJ, B. Unklnyt, iil. 46fi.511 



M ERICA. 369 

American vultures, the most voracious ot" all tlif; leathered kind, did not 
instantly devour them. The number of those hides exported in every 
lleet to Europe, is very great, and is a lucrative branch of commerce.* 

Almost all these may be considered as staple commodities peculiar to 
America, and different, if we except that last mentioned, from the produc- 
tions of the mother country. 

When the importation into Spain of those various articles from her colo- 
nies first became active and considerable, her interior industry and manu- 
factures were in a state so prosperous, that with the product of these she 
was able both to purchase the commodities of the New World, and to 
answer its growing demands. Under the reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella, 
and Charles V., Spain was one of the most industrious countries in Europe- 
Her manufactures in wool, and flax, and silk, were so extensive, as not only 
to furnish what was sufficient for her own consumption, but to aftbrd a sur- 
plus for exportation. When a market for them, formerly unknown, and 
to which she alone had access, opened in America, she had recourse to her 
domestic store, and found there an abundant supply [187]. This new em- 
ployment must naturally have added vivacity to the spirit of industry, 
Nourished and invigorated by it, the manufactures, the population, and 
wealth of Spain, might have gone on increasing in the same proportion 
with the growth of her colonies. Nor was the state of the Spanish marine 
at this period less flourishing than that of its manufactures. In the begin- 
ning of the sixteenth centuiy, Spain is said to have possessed above a 
thousand merchant ships,t a number probably far superior to that of any 
nation in Europe in that age. By the aid which foreign trade and domes- 
tic industry give reciprocally to each other in their progress, the augmen- 
tation of both must have been rapid and extensive, and Spain might have 
received the same accession of opulence and vigour from her acquisitions 
in the New World that other powers have derived from their colonies 
there. 

But various causes prevented this. The same thing happens to nations 
as to individuals. Wealth, which flows in gradually, and with moderate 
increase, feeds and nourishes that activity which is friendly to commerce, 
and calls it forth into vigorous and well conducted exertions ; but when 
opulence pours in suddenly, and with too full a stream, it overturns all 
sober plans of industry, and brings along with it a taste for what h wild 
and extravagant and daring m business or in action. Such was the great 
and sudden augmentation of power and revenue that the possession of 
America brought into Spain ; and some symptoms of its pernicious influ- 
ence upon the political operations of that monarchy soon began to appear. 
For a considerable time, however, the supply of treasure from the New 
World was scanty and precarious ; and the genius of Charles V. conducted 
public measures with such prudence, that the effects of this influence were 
little perceived. But when Philip II. ascended the Spanish throne, with 
talents far inferior to those of his father, and remittances from the colonies 
became a regular arui considerable branch of revenue, the fatal operation 
of this rapid change in the state of the kingdom, both on the monarch and 
his people, was at once conspicuous. Philip, possessing that spirit of un- 
ceasing assiduity which often characterizes the ambition of men of mode- 
rate talents, entertained such a high opinion of his own resources that he 
thought nothing too arduous for him to undertake. Shut up himself in 
the solitude of the Escurial, he troubled and annoyed all the nations around 
him. He waged open war with the Dutch and English ; he encouraged 
and aided a rebellious faction in France ; he conquered Portugal, and 
maintained armies and garrisons in Italy, Africa, and both the Indies. By 

* Acosta, lit), iii c. 33. Ovallg Uifl. of Chili. Cliurch. CoIIcrt iii 47. sept ILid. v. p. 6«0. 
C*J. Lettrts lidif. xiii. '"-5. FeuiHii, i.'-Jl£» ^ f:'i'iu<<niane», ii. 140. 

Vol. 1—47 



370 lilSTORY OF [Book VIII. 

such a multiplicity of great and complicated operations, pursued with 
ardour during the course of a long reign, Spain was drained both of men 
and money. Under the weak administration of his successor, Philip III. 
[A. D. 1611], the vigour of the nation continued to decrease, and sunk into 
the lowest decline, when the inconsiderate bigotry of that monarch expel- 
led at once near a million of his most industrious subjects, at the very time 
when the exhausted state of the kingdom required some extraordinary ex- 
ertion of political wisdom to augment its numbers, and to revive its strength. 
Early in the seventeenth century, Spain felt such a diminution in the num- 
ber of her people, that from inability to recruit her armies she was obliged 
to contract her operations. Her flourishing manufactures were fallen into 
decay. Her fleets, which had been the terror of all Europe, were ruined. 
Her extensive foreign commerce was lost. The trade between different 
parts of her own dominions was interrupted, and the ships which attempt- 
ed to carry it on were taken and plundered by enemies whom she once 
despised. Even agriculture, the primary object of industry in every pros- 
perous state, was neglected, and one of the most fertile countries in Europe 
hardly raised what was sufficient for the support of its own inhabitants. 

In proportion as the population and manufactures of the parent state de- 
clined, the demands of her colonies continued to increase. The Spaniards, 
like their monarchs, intoxicated with the wealth which poured in annually 
upon them, deserted the paths of industry to which they had been accus- 
tomed, and repaired with eagerness to those regions Irom which this opu- 
lence issued. By this rage of emigration another drain was opened, and 
the strength of the colonies augmented by exhausting that of the mother 
country. All those emigrants, as well as the adventurers who had at first 
settled in America, depended absolutely upon Spain for almost every arti- 
cle of necessary consumption. Engaged in more alluring and lucrative 
pursuits, or prevented by restraints which government imposed, they could 
not turn their own attention towards establishing the manufactures requisite 
tor comfortable subsistence. They received (as I have observed in another 
place) their clothing, their furniture, whatever ministers to the ease or lux- 
ury of life, and even their instruments of labour, from Europe. Spain, 
thinned of people and decreasing in industry, was unable to supply their 
growing demands. She had recourse to her neighbours. The manufac- 
tures of the Low Countries, of England, of France, and of Italy, which 
her wants called into existence or animated with new vivacity, furnished 
in abundance whatever she required. In vain did the fundamental law, 
concerning the exclusion of foreigners from trade with America, oppose 
this innovation. Necessity, more powerful than any statute, defeated its 
operation, and constrained the Spaniards themselves to concur in eluding 
it. The English, the French, and Dutch, relying on the fidelity and honour 
of Spanish merchants, who lend their names to cover the deceit, send out 
their manufactures to America, and receive the exorbitant price for which 
they are sold there, either in specie, or in the rich commodities of the 
New World. Neither the dread of danger, nor the allurement of profit 
ever induced a Spanish factor to betray or defraud the person who confided 
in him ;* and that probity, which is the pride and distinction of the nation, 
contributes to its ruin. In a short time, not above a twentieth part of the 
commodities exported to America, was of Spanish growth or fabric.f All 
the rest was the property of foreign merchants, though entered in the 
name of Spaniards. The treasure of the New World may be said hence- 
forward not to have belonged to Spain. Before it reached Europe it was 
anticipated as the price of goods purchased from foreigners. That wealth 
which by an internal circulation, would have spread through each vein of 
industry, and have conveyed life and movement to every branch of manu- 

* 7,avala Representacion, p. 2v!6. t Canipotnaiies, ii. 138. 



AMERICA. 371 

facture, flowed out of the kingdom with such a rapid course as neither 
<'nriched nor animated it. On the other hand, the artisans oi rival nations, 
encouraged by this quick sale ot' their commodities, improved so much in 
^kill and industry as to be able to aflbrd them at a rate so low, that the 
manufactures of Spain, which could not vie with theirs either in quality 
or cheapness of work, were still further depressed. This destructive 
commerce drained off the riches of the nation taster and more completely 
than even the extravagant schemes of ambition carried on by its monarchs. 
Spain was so much astonished and distressed at beholding her American 
Measures vanish almost as soon as they were imported, that Philip III., un- 
able to supply what was requisite in circulation, issued an edict, by which 
he endeavoured to raise copper money to a value in currency nearly equal 
to that of silver ;* and the lord of the Peruvian and Mexican mines was 
reduced to a wretched expedient, which is the last resource of petty im- 
poverished states. 

Thus the possessions of Spain in America have not proved a source of 
population and of wealth to her in the same manner as those of other 
nations. In the countries of Europe, where the spirit of industry subsists 
in full vigour, eveiy person settled in such colonies as are similar in their 
situation to those of Spain, is supposed to give employment to three or 
four at home in supplying his wants. t But wherever the mother country 
cannot atford this supply, every emigrant may be considered as a citizen 
lost to the community, and strangers must reap all the benefit of answer- 
ing his demands. 

Such has been the internal state of Spain from the close of the sixteenth 
century, and such her inability to supply the growing wants of her colonies. 
The iatal efllects of this disproportion between their demands, and her 
capacity of answering them, have been much increased by the mode in 
which Spain has endeavoured to regulate the intercourse between the 
mother country and her colonies. It is from her idea of monopolising the 
trade with America, and debarring her subjects there from any communi- 
cation with foreigners, that all her jealous and systematic arrangements 
have arisen. These are so singular in their nature and consequences as 
to merit a particular explanation. In order to secure the monopoly at 
which she aimed, Spain did not vest the trade with her colonies in an 
exclusive company, a plan which has been adopted by nations more com- 
mercial, and at a period when mercantile policy was an object of greater 
attention, and ought to have been better understood. The Dutch gave up 
the whole trade with their colonies, both in the East and West Indies, to 
exclusive companies. The English, the French, the Danes, have imitated 
their example with respect to the East Indian commerce ; and the two 
former have laid a similar restraint upon some branches of their trade with 
the New World. The wit of man cannot, perhaps, devise a method for 
checking the progress of industry and population in a new colony more effec- 
tual than this. The interest of the colony, and of the exclusive company, 
must in every point be diametrically opposite ; and as the latter possesses 
such advantages in this unequal contest, that it can prescribe at pleasure 
the terms of intercourse, the former must not only buy dear and sell cheap, 
but must suffer the mortification of having the increase of its surplus stock 
discouraged by those very persons to whom alone it can dispose of its 
productions.! 

Spain, it is probable, was preserved from falling into this error of policy 
by the high ideas which she early formed concerning the riches of the 
New World. Gold and silver were commodities of too high a value to 
vest a monopoly of them in private hands. The crown Avishcd to retain the 
direction of a commerce so inviting ; and, in 6rder to secure that, ordainecl 

• I'liarcr r. IU4. t Child on Trade and Colonies, 1 Sraith'B Inquiry, ii i:i. 



372 HISTORY OF [Book VIII. 

the cargo of every ship fitted out for America to be inspected by the 
officers of the Casa de Contratacion in Seville before it could receive a 
license to make the voyage ; and that, on its return, a report of the com- 
modities which it brought should be made to the same board before it 
could be permitted to land them. In consequence of this regulation, all 
the trade of Spain with the New World centred originally in the port of 
Seville, and was gradually brought into a form, in which it has been con- 
ducted, with little variation, from the middle of the sixteenth century almost 
to our own times. For the greater security of the valuable cargoes sent 
to America, as well as for the more easy prevention of fraud, the commerce 
of Spain with its colonies is carried on by fleets which sail under strong 
convoys. These fleets, consisting of two squadrons, one distinguished by 
the name of the Galeons, the other by that of the Flota, are equipped 
annually. Formerly they took their departure from Seville ; but as the 
port of Cadiz has been found more commodious, they have sailed from it 
since the year 1720. 

The Galeons destined to supply Tierra Firme, and the kingdoms of 
Peru and Chili, with almost every article of luxury or necessary consump- 
tion, that an opulent people can demand, touch first at Carthagena, and 
then at Porto Bello. To the former, the merchants of Santa Martha, 
Caraccas, the New Kingdom of Granada, and several other provinces, 
resort. The latter is the great mart for the rich commerce of Peru and 
Chili. At the season when the Galeons are expected, the product of all 
the mines in these two kingdoms, together with their other valuable com- 
modities, is transported by sea to Panama. From thence, as soon as the 
appearance of the fleet fiom Europe is announced, they are conveyed 
across the isthmus, partly on mules and partly down the river Chagre to 
Porto Bello. This paltry village, the climate of which, from the pernicious 
union of excessive heat, continual moisture, and the putrid exhalations 
arising from a rank soil, is more fatal to life than any perhaps in the known 
ivorld, is immediately filled with people. From being the residence of a 
few Negroes and Mulattoes, and of a miserable garrison relieved every 
three months, Porto Bello assumes suddenly a very different aspect, and 
its streets are crowded with opulent merchants from every corner of Peru 
and the adjacent provinces. A fair is opened, the wealth of America is 
exchanged for the manufactures of Europe ; and, during its prescribed term 
of forty days, the richest traffic on the face of the earth is begun and 
finished with that simplicity of transaction, and that unbounded confidence, 
which accompany extensive commerce [l88l. The Flota holds its course 
to Vera Cruz. The treasures and commodities of New Spain, and the 
depending provinces, which were deposited at Puebla de los Angeles, in 
expectation of its arrival, are carried thither ; and the commercial opera- 
tions of Vera Cruz, conducted in the same manner with those of Porto 
Bello, are inferior to them only in importance and value. Both fleets, as 
soon as they have completed their cargoes from America, rendezvous at 
the Havana, and return in company to Europe. 

The trade of Spain with her colonies, while thus fettered and restricted, 
came necessarily to be conducted with the same spirit, and upon the same 
principles as that of an exclusive company. Being confined to a single 
port, it was of course thrown into a few hands, and almost the whole of it 
was gradually engrossed by a small number of wealthy houses, formerly 
in Seville, and now in Cadiz. These by combinations, which they can 
easily form, may altogether prevent that competition which preserves 
commodities at their natural price ; and by acting in concert, to which 
they are prompted by their mutual interest, they may raise or lower the 
value of them at pleasure. In consequence of this, the price of European 
goods in America is always high, and often exorbitant. A hundred, two 
hundred, and even three hundred per cent., are profits not tincommon in 



AMERICA. 373 

ihe commerce of Spain with her colonies.* From the same engrossing 
spirit it frequently happens that traders of the second order, whose ware- 
houses do not contain a complete assortment of commodities for the Ameri- 
can market, cannot purchase from the more opulent merchants such goods 
as they want at a lower price than that for which they are sold in the 
colonies. With the same vigilant jealousy that an exclusive company 
guards against the intrusion of the free trader, those overgrown monopolists 
endeavour to check the progress of everj' one whose encroachments they 
dread. t This restraint of the American commerce to one port not only 
affects its domestic state, but limits its foreign operations. A monopolist may 
acquire more, and certainly will hazard less, by a confined trade which 
yields exorbitant profit, than by an extensive commerce in which he receives 
only a moderate return of gain. It is often his interest not to enlarge, but 
to circumscribe the sphere of his activity ; and instead of calling forth 
more vigorous exertions of commercial industry, it may be the object of 
his attention to check and set bounds to them. By some such maxim the 
mercantile policy of Spain seems to have regulated its intercourse with 
America. Instead of turnishing the colonies with European goods in such 
quantity as might render both the price and the profit moderate, the mer- 
chants ol Seville and Cadiz seem to have supplied them with a sparing 
hand, that the eagerness of competition, among customers obliged to pur- 
chase in a scanty market, might enable the Spanish factors to dispose of 
their cai^oes with exorbitant gain. About the middle of the last century, 
when the exclusive trade to America irom Seville was in its most flourishing 
state, the burden of the two united squadrons of the Galeons and Flota did 
not exceed twenty -seven thousand five hundred tons.| The supply which 
such a fleet could carry must have been very inadequate to the demands 
of those populous and extensive colonies, which depended upon it for all 
the luxuries and many of the necessaries of life. 

Spain early became sensible of her declension from her former pros- 
perity ; and many respectable and virtuous citizens employed their thoughts 
in devising methods for reviving the decaying industry and commerce of 
cheir country. From the violence of the remedies proposed, we may 
judge how desperate and fatal the malady appeared. Some, confounding 
a violation of police with criminality against the state, contended that, in 
order to check illicit commerce, every person convicted of carijing it on 
should be punished with death, and confiscation of all his effects.^ Others, 
forgetting the distinction between civil offences and acts of impiety, insisted 
that contraband trade should be ranked among the crimes reserved for the 
cognisance of the Inquisition ; that such as were guilty of it might be 
tried and punished according to the secret and summary form in which 
that dreadful tribunal exercises its jurisdiction.il Others, uninstructed by 
observing the pernicious effects of monopolies in every country where they 
have been established, have proposed to vest the trade with America in 
exclusive companies, which interest would render the most vigilant guardians 
of the Spanish commerce against the encroachment of the interlopers. IT 

Besides these wild projects, many schemes, better digested and more 
beneficial, were suggested. But under the feeble monarchs with whom 
the reign of the Austrian line in Spain closed, incapacity and indecision 
are conspicuous in every department of government. Instead ot taking 
for their model the active administration of Charles V., they affected to 
imitate the cautious procrastinating wisdom of Philip II. ; and destitute of 
his talents, they deliberated perpetually, but determined nothing. No 
remedy was applied to the evils under which the national commerce, 

• B. Ulloa Betabligs. part ii. p. 191. T Smith's Inquiry, ii. 171. Campomanes. Educ. Popul. 
I. 43. i Ibid. i. 435. ii. 1 10. ^ M. de Santa Cruz Conimercia Suelto, p. 142. || Moneada 

R«8tauracion politica de Espagna, p. 41. IT Zavalla y Augnon Representacion, &c. p. 190 



S74 HIS T O R Y O F [Book VIII. 

domestic as well as fbreifrn, languished. TJiese evils continued to increase ; 
and Spain, with dominions more extensive and more opulent than any 
European state, possessed neither vigour, normoney [189], nor industry. At 
leng^th, the violence of a great national convulsion roused the slumbering 
genius of Spain. The efforts of the two contending parties in the civil 
war kindled by the dispute concerning the succession of the crown at tlie 
beginning of this century, called forth, in isome degree, the ancient spirit 
and vigour of the nation. While men were thus forming, capable of 
adopting sentiments more liberal than those which had influenced the 
councils of the monarchy during the course of a century, Spain derived 
trom an unexpected source the means of availing itself of their talents. 
The various powers who favoured the pretensions either of the Austrian 
or Bourbon candidate for the Spanish throne, sent formidable fleets and 
armies to their support ; France, England, and Holland remitted immense 
sums to Spain. These were spent in the provinces which became the 
theatre of war. Part of the American treasure, of which Ibreigners had 
drained the kingdom, flowed back thither. From this era one of the most 
intelligent Spanish authors dates the revival of the monarchy ; and, how- 
ever humiliating the truth may be, he acknowledges, that it is to her 
enemies his country is indebted for the acquisition of a fund of circulating 
specie in some measure adequate to the exigencies of the public* 

As soon as the Bourbons obtained quiet possession of the throne, Ihey 
discerned this change in the spirit of the people and in the state of the 
nation, and took advantage of it ; for although that family has not given 
monarchs to Spain remarkable for superiority of genius, they have all been 
beneficent princes, attentive to the happiness of their subjects, and solicit- 
ous to promote it. It was, accordingly, the first object of Philip V. to 
suppress an innovation which had crept in during the course of the war, 
and had overturned the whole system of the Spanish commerce with 
America. The English and Dutch, by their superiority in naval power, 
having acquired such command of the sea as to cut off all intercourse be- 
tween Spain and her colonies, Spain, in order to furnish her subjects in 
America those necessaries of life without which they could not exist, and 
as the only means of receiving from thence any part of their treasure, de- 
parted so far from the usual rigour of its maxims as to open the trade with 
Peru to her allies the French. The merchants of St. Malo, to whom 
Louis XIV. granted the privilege of this lucrative commerce, engaged in 
it with vigour, and carried it on upon principles very different from those 
of the Spaniards. They supplied Peru with European commodities at a 
moderate price, and not in stinted quantity. The goods which they im- 
ported were conveyed to every province of Spanish America in such abun- 
dance as had never been known in any former period. If this intercourse 
had been continued, the exportation of European commodities from Spain 
must have ceased, and the dependence of the colonies on the mother coun- 
try have been at an end. The most peremptory injunctions were therefore 
issued [1713], prohibiting the admission of (breign vessels into any port of 
Peru or Chili,! and a Spanish squadron was employed to clear the South 
Sea of intruders, whose aid was no longer necessary. 

But though, on the cessation of the war which was terminated by the 
treaty of iftrecht, Spain obtained relief from one encroachment on her 
commercial system, she was exposed to another which she deemed hardly 
less pernicious. As an inducement that might prevail vyith Queen Anne 
to conclude a peace, which France and Spain desired with equal ardour, 
Philip V. not only conveyed to Great Britain the Assiento, or contract tor 
supplying the Spanish colonies with Negroes, which had formerly been 

• Campomanes, i. 4-20. t Frrzit-r Vov. 2jo. B. Ulloa Betab. ii. 101. Ac. Alrwlo y Hnmia, 
Aviso, &c. 23fi. 



AMERICA. 376 

enjoyed by FVance, but granted it the more extraordinary privilege of 
sending annually to the fair of Porto Bello a ship of five hundred tons, 
laden with European cominodities. In consequence of this, British facto- 
ries were established at Carthagena, Panama, Vera Cruz, Buenos Ayres, 
and other Spanish settlements. The veil with which Spain had hitherto 
covered the state and transactions of her colonies was removed. The 
agents of a rival nation, residing in the towns of most extensive trade, and 
of chief resort, had the best opportunities of becoming acquainted with 
the interior condition of the American provinces, of observing their stated 
and occasional wants, and of knowing what commodities might be imported 
into them with the greatest advantage. In consequence of information 
so authentic and expeditious, the merchants of Jamaica and other English 
colonies who traded to the Spanish main were enabled to assort and pro- 
portion their cai^oes so exactly to the demands of the market, that the 
contraband commerce was carried on with a facility and to an extent un- 
known in any former period. This, however, was not the most fatal con- 
sequence of the Assiento to the trade of Spain. The agents of the British 
South Sea Company, under cover of the importation which they were au- 
thorized to make by the ship sent annually to Porto Bello, poured in their 
commodities on the Spanish continent without limitation or restraint. In- 
stead of a ship of five hundred tons, as stipulated in the treaty, they usually 
employed one which exceeded nine hundred tons in burthen. She was 
accompanied by two or three smaller vessels, which, mooring in some neigh- 
bouring creek, supplied her clandestinely with fresh bales of goods to 
replace such as were sold. The inspectors of the fair, and officers of the 
revenue, gained by exorbitant presents, connived at the fraud [190]. Thus, 
partly by the operations of the company, and partly by the activity of 
private interlopers, almost the whole trade of Spanish America was engross- 
ed by foreigners. The immense commerce of the Galeons, formerly the 
pride of Spain, and the envy of other nations, sunk to nothing [1737] ; and 
the squadron itself, reduced from fifteen thousand to two thousand tons,* 
served hardly any purpose but to fetch home the royal revenue arising" 
from the fifth on silver. 

While Spain observed those encroachments, and felt so sensibly their 
pernicious effects, it was impossible not to make some effort to restrain 
them. Her first expedient was to station ships of force, under the appel- 
lation of guarda castas, upon the coasts of those provinces to which inter- 
lopers most frequently resorted. As private interest concurred with the 
duty which they owed to the public, in rendering the officers who com- 
manded those vessels vigilant and active, some check was given to the 
progress of the contraband trade, though in dominions so extensive and so 
accessible by sea, hardly any number of cruisers was sufficient to guard 
against its inroads in every quarter. This interruption of an intercourse 
which had been carried on with so much facility, that the merchants in the 
British colonies were accustomed to consider it almost as an allowed branch 
of commerce, excited murmurs and complaints. These, authorized in 
some measure, and rendered more interesting by several unjustifiable acts 
of violence committed by the captains of the Spanish guarda costas, pre- 
cipitated Great Britain into a war with Spain [1739] ; in consequence of 
which the latter obtained a final release from the Assiento, and was left at 
liberty to regulate the commerce of her colonies without being restrained 
by any engagement with a foreign power. 

As the formidable encroachments of the English on their American 
trade, had discovered to the Spaniards the vast consumption of European 
goods in their colonies, and taught them the advantage of accommodating 
their importations to the occasional demand of the various provinces, they 

♦ Alrf>do V Hfrrora. p. 359. Campomancs. i. 43*5 



376 HISTORY OF [Book VIII. 

perceived the necessity of devising some method ot" supplying their colo- 
nies, different from their ancient one of sending thither periodical fleets. 
That mode of communication had been found not only to be uncertain, as 
the departure of the Galeons and Flota was sometimes retarded by various 
accidents, and often prevented by the wars which raged in Europe ; but 
long experience had shown it to be ill adapted to aflord America a regu- 
lar and timely supply of what it wanted. The scarcity of European 
goods in tlie Spanish settlements irequently became excessive ; their price 
rose to an enormous height ; the vigilant eye of mercantile attention did 
not fail to observe this favourable opportunity ; an ample supply was poured 
in by interlopers from the English, the i rench, and Dutch islands ; and 
when the Galeons at length arrived, they found the markets so glutted by 
this illicit commerce, that there was no demand for the commodities with 
which they were loaded. In order to remedy this, Spain has permitted a 
considerable part of her commerce with America to be carried on by regis- 
ter ships. These are fitted out during the intervals between the stated 
seasons when the Galeons and Flota sail, by merchants in Seville or Cadiz, 
upon obtaining a license from the council of the Indies, for which they pay 
a very high premium, and are destined for those ports in America where 
any extraordinary demand is foreseen or expected. By this expedient, 
such a regular supply of the commodities for which there is the greatest 
demand is conveyed to the American market, that the interloper is no 
longer allured by the same prospect of excessive gain, or the people in the 
colonies urged by the same necessity to engage in the hazardous adventures 
of contraband trade. 

In proportion as experience manifested the advantages of carrying on 
trade in this mode, the number of register ships increased ; and at length, 
in the year 1748, the Galeons, after having been employed upwards of 
two centuries, were finally laid aside. From that period there has been 
no intercourse with Chili and Peru but by single ships, despatched from 
time to time as occasion requires, and when the merchants expect a profit- 
able market will open. These ships sail round Cape Horn, and convey 
directly to the ports in the South Sea the productions and manufactures of 
Europe, for which the people settled in those countries were formerly 
f)bliged to repair to Porto Bello or Panama. These towns, as has been 
formerly observed, must gradually decline, when deprived of that com- 
merce to which they owed their prosperity. This disadvantage, however, 
is more than compensated by the beneficial efifects of this new arrange- 
irient, as the whole continent of South America receives new supplies of 
European commodities with so much regularity, and in such abundance, as 
must not only contribute greatly to the happiness, but increase the popu- 
lation of all the colonies settled there. But as all the register ships destined 
for the South Seas must still take their departure from Cadiz, and are 
obliged to return thither,* this branch of the American commerce, even in 
its new and improved form, continues subject to the restraints of a species 
of monopoly, and feels those pernicious effects of it which I have already 
described. 

Nor has the attention of Spain been confined to regulating the trade 
with its more flourishing colonies ; it has extended likewise to the reviving 
commerce in those settlements where it was neglected, or had decayed. 
Among the new tastes which the people of Europe have acquired in con- 
sequence of importing the productions of those countries which they 
conquered in America, that for chocolate is one of the most universal. 
Tlie use of this liquor, made with a paste formed of the nut or almond 
of the cacao tree compounded with various ingredients, the Spaniards first 
learned from the Mexicans ; and it has appeared to them, and to the other 

* Canipomanos. i 43-I. 410, 



AMERICA. 377 

European nations, so palatable, so nourishing, and so wholesome, that it 
has become a commercial article of considerable importance. The cacao 
tree grows spontaneously in several parts of the torrid zone ; but the nuts 
of the best quality, next to those of Guatimala on the South sea, are pro- 
duced in the rich plains of Caraccas, a province of Tierra Fimie. In 
consequence of this acknowledged superiority in the quality of cacao in 
that province, and its communication with the Atlantic, which facilitates 
the conveyance to Europe, the culture of the cacao there is more extensive 
than in any district of America. But the Dutch, by the vicinity of their 
settlements in the small islands of Curazoa and Buenos Ayres, to the coast 
of Caraccas, gradually engrossed the greatest part of the cacao trade. 
The traffic with the mother country for this valuable commodity ceased 
almost entirely ; and such was the supine negligence of the Spaniards, or 
the defects of their commercial arrangements, that they were obliged to 
receive from the hands of foreigners this production of their own colonies 
at an exorbitant price. In order to remedy an evil no less disgraceful than 
pernicious to his subjects, Philip V., in the year 1728, granted to a body 
of merchants an exclusive right to the commerce with Caraccas and 
Cumana, on condition of their employing, at their own expense, a sufficient 
number of armed vessels to clear the coast of interlopers. This society, 
distinguished sometimes by the name of the Company of Guipuscoa, from 
the province of Spain in which it is established, and sometimes by that of 
the Company of Caraccas, from the district of America to which it trades, 
has carried on its operations with such vigour and success, that Spain has 
recovered an important branch of commerce which she had sufiFered to be 
wrested from her, and is plentifully supplied with an article of extensive 
consumption at a moderate price. Not only the parent state, but the colony 
of Caraccas, has derived great advantages from this institution ; for 
although, at the fii-st aspect, it may appear to be one of those monopolies 
whose tendency is to check the spirit of industry instead of calling it forth 
to new exertions, it has been prevented from operating in this manner by 
several salutary regulations framed upon foresight of such bad effects, and 
on purpose to obviate them. The planters in the Caraccas are not left to 
depend entirely on the company, either for the importation of European 
commodities or the sale of their own productions. The inhabitants of the 
Canary islands have the privilege of sending thither annually a register 
ship of considerable burden ; and from Vera Cruz, in New Spain, a free 
trade is permitted in every port comprehended in the charter of the 
company. In consequence of this, there is such a competition, that both 
with respect to what the colonies purchase and what they sell, the price 
seems to be fixed at its natural and equitable rate. The company has not 
the power of raising the former, or of degrading the latter, at pleasure ; 
and accordingly, since it was established, the increase of culture, of popu- 
lation, and of live stock, in the province of Caraccas, has been very consi- 
derable [I9i;|. 

But as it is slowly that nations relinquish any system which time has 
rendered venerable, and as it is still more slowly that commerce can be 
diverted from the channel in which it has long been accustomed to flow, 
Philip v., in his new regulations concerning the American trade, paid such 
deference to the ancient maxim of Spain, concerning the limitation of 
importation from the New World to one harbour, as to oblige both the 
register ships which returned from Peru, and those of the Guipuscoan 
Company from Caraccas, to deliver their cargoes in the port of Cadiz. 
Since his jeign, sentiments more liberal and enlarged begin to spread in 
Spain. The spirit of philosophical inquiry, which it is the glory of the 

E resent age to have turned from frivolous or abstruse speculations to the 
usiness and affairs of men, has extended its influence beyond the Pyre- 
nees. In the researches of ingenious authors concerning the police or 
Vol. I. — 48 



378 li i 6 T O II V O F [Book VIII. 

commerce of nations, the errors and defects of the Spanish system with 
respect to both met every eye, and have not only been exposed with seve- 
rity, but are held up as a warning to other states. The Spaniards, stung 
with the reproaches of these authors, or convinced by their arguments, 
and admonished by several enlightened writers of their own country, seem 
at length to have discovered the destructive tendency of those narrow 
maxims, which, by cramping commerce in all its operations, have so long 
retarded its progress. It is to the monarch now on the throne that Spain is 
indebted for the first public regulation formed in consequence of such 
enlarged ideas. 

While Spain adhered with rigour to her ancient maxim concerning her 
commerce with America, she was so much afraid of opening any channel 
by which an illicit trade might find admission into the colonies, that she 
almost shut herself out from any intercourse with them but that which was 
carried on by her annual fleets. There was no establishment, for a regular 
communication of either public or private intelligence, between the mother 
country and its American settlements. From the want of this necessary 
institution, the operations of the state, as well as the business of individuals, 
were retarded, or conducted unskiltully, and Spain often received Irom 
foreigners her first information with respect to very interesting events in 
her own colonies. But though this defect in police was sensibly felt, and 
the remedy for it was obvious, that jealous spirit with which the Spanish 
monarchs guarded the exclusive trade, restrained them from applying it. 
At length Charles III. surmounted those considerations which had deterred 
his predecessors, and in the year 1764 appointed packet boats to be 
despatched on the first day of each month from Corugna to the Havanna 
or Porto Rico. From thence letters are conveyed in smaller vessels to 
Vera Cruz and Porto Bello, and transmitted by post through the kingdoms 
of TierraFirme, Granada, Peru, and New Spain. With no less regularity 
packet boats sail once in two months to Rio de la Plata, for the accommo- 
dation of the provinces to the east of the Andes. Thus provision is made 
for a speedy and certain circulation of intelligence throughout the vast 
dominions of Spain, from which equal advantages must redound to the 
political and mercantile interest of the kingdom.* With this new ar- 
rangement a scheme of extending commerce has been more immediately 
connected. Each of the packet boats, which are vessels of some consi- 
derable burden, is allowed to take in half a loading of such commodities 
as are the product of Spain, and most in demand in the ports whither they 
are bound. In return for these, they may bring home to Corugna an equal 
quantity of American productions.! This may be considered as the first 
relaxation of those rigid laws, which confined the trade with the New 
World to a single port, and the first attempt to admit the rest of the kingdom 
to some share in it. 

It was soon followed by one more decisive. In the year 1765, Charles 
III. laid open the trade to the windward islands, Cuba, Hispaniola, Porto 
Rico, Margarita, and Trinidad, to his subjects in every province of Spain. 
He permitted them to sail from certain ports in each province, which are 
specified in the edict, at any seafj^in, and with whatever cargo they deemed 
most proper, without any other warrant than a simple clearance from the 
custom-house of the place whence they took their departure. He released 
them from the numerous and oppressive duties imposed on goods exported 
to America, and in place of the whole substituted a moderate tax of six 
in the hundred on the commodities sent from Spain. He allowed them to 
return either to the same port, or to any other where they might hope tor a 
more advantageous market, and there to enter the homeward cargo on 
payment of the usual duties. This ample privilege, which at once broke 

* Pont?. Viage do Ei-pajiia. vi. Trol. p. li*. + Appond. ii. a U Ediic. Fop. p. SI. 



AMERICA. z:<i 

through all the lences which the jealous policy of Spain had been labouring;," 
for two centuries and a half to throw round its commercial intercourse 
with the New World, was soon after extended to Louisiana, and to the 
provinces of Yucatan and Campeachy.* 

The propriety of this innovation, which may be considered as the most 
liberal effort of Spanish legislation, has appeared from its eflfects. Prior 
to the edict in favour of the free trade, Spain derived hardly any benefit 
from its neglected colonies in Hispaniola, rorto Rico, Margarita, and Trini- 
dad. Its commerce with Cuba was inconsiderable, and that of Yucatan 
and Campeachy was engrossed almost entii-ely by interlopers. But as soon 
as a general liberty of trade was permitted, the intercourse with those pro- 
vinces revived, and has gone on with a rapidity of progression ot which 
there are few examples in the history of nations. In less than ten years, 
the trade of Cuba has been more than tripled. Even in those settlements 
where, from the languishing state of industry, greater efforts were requisite 
to restore its activity, their commerce has been doubled. It is computed 
that such a number of ships is already employed in the free trade, that the 
tonnage of them far exceeds that of the Galeons and Flota at the most 
flourishing era of their commerce. The benefits of this arrangement are 
not confined to a lew merchants established in a favourite port. They are 
d'ffused through every province of the kingdom ; and, by opening a new 
market for their various productions and manufactures, must encourage 
and add vivacity to the industrj' of the farmer and artificer. Nor does 
the kingdom profit only by what it exports ; it derives advantage likewise 
from what it receives in return, and has the prospect of being soon able to 
supply itself with several commodities of extensive consumption, for which 
it formerly depended on foreigners. The consumption of sugar in Spain 
is perhaps as great, in proportion to the number of its inhabitants, as that 
of any European kingdom. But though possessed of countries in the 
New World whose soil and climate are most proper for rearing the sugar- 
cane ; though the domestic culture of that valuable plant in the kingdom of 
Granada was once considerable ; such has been the fatal tendency of ill 
judged institutions in America, and such the pressure of improper taxes in 
Europe, that Spain has lost almost entirely this branch of industry, which 
has enriched other nations. This commodity, which has now become an 
article of primary necessity in Europe, the Spaniards were obliged to pur- 
chase of foreigners, and had the mortification to see their country drained 
annually of great sums on that account.! But, if that spirit which the per- 
mission of free trade has put in motion shall persevere in its eflforts with the 
same vigour, the cultivation of sugar in Cuba and Porto Rico may increase 
so much, that in a few years it is probable that their growth of sugars may 
be equal to the demand of the kingdom. 

Spain has been induced, by her experience of the beneficial conse- 
quences resulting from having relaxed somewhat of the rigour of her ancient 
laws, with respect to the commerce of the mother country with the colo- 
nies, to permit a more liberal intercourse of one colony with another. By 
one of the jealous maxims of the old system, all the provinces situated on 
the South seas were prohibited, under the most severe penalties, from 
holding any communication with one another. Though each of these yields 
peculiar productions, the reciprocal exchange of which might have added 
to the happiness of their respective inhabitants, or have facilitated their 
progress in industry, so solicitous was the Council of the Indies to prevent 
their receiving any supply of their wants but by the periodical fleets from 
Europe, that, in order to guard against this, it cruelly debarred the Span- 
iards in Peru, in the southern provinces of New Spain, in Guatimala, and 
the new kingdom of Granada, from such a correspondence with their fellow 

* Appnnd. ii. a la Educ. Pop. 37. M. 91. t VilniW., r. 04. 



380 HISTORY OF [Book VIII. 

subjects as tended manifestly to their mutual prosperity. Of all the nume- 
rous restrictions devised by Spain for securing the exclusive trade with her 
American settlements, none perhaps was more illiberal, none seems to 
have been more sensibly felt, or to have produced more hurtful effects. 
This grievance, coeval with the settlements of Spain in the countries situ- 
ated on the Pacific Ocean, is at last redressed. In the year 1774, Charles 
III. published an edict, granting to the four great provinces which I have 
mentioned the privilege of a Iree trade with each other.* [l92] What 
may be the effects of opening this communication between countries des- 
tined by their situation for reciprocal intercourse, cannot yet be determined 
by experience. '1 hey can hardly fail of being beneficial and extensive. 
The motives for granting this permission are manifestly no less laudable 
than the principle on which it is founded is liberal ; and both discover the 
progress of a spirit in Spain, far elevated above the narrow prejudices and 
maxims on which her system for regulating the trade and conducting the 
government of her colonies was originally tounded. 

At the same time that Spain has been intent on introducing regulations, 
suggested by more enlarged views of policy, into her system of American 
commerce, she has not been inattentive to the interior governnient of her 
colonies. Here, too, there was much room for reformation and improve- 
ment ; and Don Joseph Gaivez, who has now the direction of the depart- 
ment of Indian affairs in Spain, has enjoyed the best opportunities, not only 
of observing the defects and corruption in the political frame of the colo- 
nies, but of discovering the sources of those evils. After being employed 
seven years in the New World on an extraordinary mission, and with very 
extensive powers, as inspectoi--general of New Spain ; after visiting in per- 
son the remote provinces of Cinaloa, Sonora, and California, and making 
several important alterations in the state of the police and revenue ; he 
began his ministry with a general reformation of the tribunals of justice in 
America. In consequence of the progress of population and wealth in the 
colonies, the business of the Courts of Audience has increased so much 
that the number of judges of which they were originally composed has 
been found inadequate to the growing labours and duties of the office, and_ 
the salaries settled upon them have been deemed inferior to the dignity of 
the station. As a remedy for both, he obtained a royal edict, establishing 
an additional number of judges in each Court of Audience, with higher 
titles, and more ample appointments.! 

To the same intelligent minister Spain is indebted for a new distribution 
of government in its American provinces. Even since the establishment of 
a third viceroyalty in the new kingdom of Granada, so great is the extent 
of the Spanish dominions in the New World, that several places subject to 
the jurisdiction of each viceroy were at such an enormous distance from 
the capitals in which they resided, that neither their attention nor their 
authority could reach so far. Some provinces subordinate to the viceroy 
of New Spain lay above two thousand miles from Mexico. There were 
countries subject to the viceroy of Peru still further from Lima. The 
people in those remote districts could hardly be said to enjoy the benefit 
of civil government. The oppression and insolence of its interior ministers 
they often feel, and rather submit to these in silence than involve them- 
selves in the expense and trouble of resorting to the distant capital, where 
alone they can find redress. As a remedy for this, a fourth vicerpyalty 
has been erected, [Aug. 1776] to the jurisdiction of which are subjected 
the provinces of Kio de la Plata, Buenos Ayres, Paraguay, Tucuman, 
Potosi, St. Cruz de la Sierra Charcas, and the towns of Mendoza and St. 
Juan. By this well judged arrangement two advantages are gained. All 

* Real Cedula penes me. Pontz Viage de Espagna vi. Prologo, p. 5. t Gazeta de Madrid, 

JPth March, 177 



AMERICA. 381 

the inconveniences occasioned by the remote situation of those provinces, 
which had been long felt, and long- complained of, are in a great measure 
removed. The countries most distant from Lima are separated from the 
viceroyalty of Peru, and united under a superior, whose seat of govern- 
ment at Buenos Ay res will be commodious and accessible. The contraband 
trade with the Portuguese, which was become so extensive as must have 
put a final stop to the exportation of conunodities from Spain to her 
southern colonies, may be checked more thoroughly, and with greater 
facility, when the supreme magistrate, by his vicinity to the places in 
which it is carried on, can view its progress and effects with his own eyes. 
Don Pedro Zevallos, who has been raised to this new dignity, with 
appointments equal to those of the other viceroys, is well acquainted both 
with the state and the interests of the countries over which he is to preside, 
having served in them long, and with distinction. By this dismemberment, 
succeeding that which took place at the erection of the viceroyalty of the 
new kingdom of Granada, almost two-third parts of the territories ori- 
ginally subject to the viceroys of Peru, are now lopped off from their 
jurisdiction. 

The limits of the viceroyalty of New Spain have likewise been conside- 
rably circumscribed, and with no less propriety and discernment. Four of 
its most remote provinces, Sonora, Cinaloa, California, and New Navarre, 
have been formed into a separate government. The Chevalier de Croix, 
who is intrusted with this command, is not dignified with the title of vice- 
roy, nor does he enjoy the appointments belonging to that rank; but his 
jurisdiction is altogether independent on the viceroyalty of New Spain. 
The erection of this last government seems to have been suggested not only 
by the consideration of the remote situation of those provinces trom Mexico, 
but by attention to the late discoveries made there which I have men- 
tioned.* Countries containing the richest mines of gold that have hitherto 
been discovered in the New World, and which probably may rise into 
greater importance, required the immediate inspection of a governor to 
whom they should be specially committed. As every consideration of 
duty, of interest, and of vanity, must concur in pro.npting those new 
governors to encourage such exertion's as tend to diffuse opulence and pros- 
perity through the provinces committed to their charge, the beneficial 
effects of this arrangement may be considerable. Many districts in Ame- 
rica, long depressed by the languor and feebleness natural to provinces 
which compose the extremities of an overgrown empire, may be animated 
with vigour and activity when brought so near the seat of power as to leel 
its invigorating influence. 

Such, since the accession of the princes of the house of Bourbon to the 
throne of Spain, has been the progress of their regulations, and the gradual 
expansion of their views with respect to the conuuerce and government of 
their American colonies. Nor has their attention been so entiiely engrossed 
by what related to the more remote parts of their dominions, as to render 
them neglectful of what was still more important, the relbrmation of domes- 
tic errors and defects in policy. Fully sensible of the causes to which the 
declension of Spain from her former prosperity ought to be imputed, they 
have made it a great object of their policy to revive a spirit of industry 
among their subjects, and to give such extent and perfection to their manu- 
factures as may enable them to supply the demands of America from their 
own stock, andfto exclude foreigners from a branch of commerce which has 
been so fatal to the kingdom. This they have endeavoured to accomplish 
by a variety of edicts issued since the peace of Utrecht. They have 
granted bounties for the encouragement of some branches of industry ; they 
have lowered the taxes on others ; they have either entirely prohibited, or 

• Book vii. 



382 II 1 b T U K i OF [Book Vlll. 

have loaded with additional duties, such foreign manufactures as come in 
competition with their own ; they have instituted societies for the improve- 
ment of trade and agriculture ; they have planted colonies of hushandmen 
in some uncultivated districts of Spain, and divided among them the waste 
fields ; they have had recourse to every expedient devised by commercial 
wisdom or commercial jealousy, for reviving their own industry, and dis- 
countenancing that of other nations. These, however, it is not my pro- 
vince to explain, or to inquire into their propriety and effects. There is 
no effort of legislation more arduous, no experiment in policy more uncer- 
tain than an attempt to revive the spirit of industry where it has declined, 
or to introduce it where it is unknown. Nations, already possessed of 
extensive commerce, enter into competition with such advantages, derived 
from the lai^e capitals and extensive credit of their merchants, the dexterity 
of their manufacturers, and the alertness acquired by habit in every depart- 
ment of business, that the state which aims at rivalling or supplanting them, 
must expect to struggle with many difficulties, and be content to advance 
slowly. If the quat)tity of productive industry, now in Spain, be compared 
Avith that of the kingdom under the last listless moriarchs of the Austrian 
line, its progress must appear considerable, and is sufficient to alarm the 
jealousy, and to call forth the most vigorous efforts of the nations now in 
possession of the lucrative trade which the Spaniards aim at wresting from 
them. One circumstance may render those exertions of Spain an object 
of more serious attention to the other European powers. They are not to 
be ascribed wholly to the influence of the crown and its ministers. The 
sentiments ?.ud spirit of the people seem to second the provident care of 
their monarchs, and to give it greater effect. The nation has adopted more 
liberal ideas, not only with respect to commerce, but domestic policy. In 
all the later Spanish writers, defects in the arrangement of their country 
concerning both are acknowledged, and remedies proposed, which ignorance 
rendered their ancestors incapable of discerning, and pride would not have 
allowed them to confess [l93]. But after all that the Spaniards have 
done, much remains to do. Many pernicious institutions and abuses, deeply 
incorporated with the system of internal policy and taxation, which has 
been long established in Spain, must be abolished before industry and 
manufactures can recover an extensive activity. 

Still, however, the commercial regulations of Spain with respect to her 
colonies are too rigid and systematical to be carried into complete execu- 
tion. The legislature that loads trade with impositions too heavy, or fet- 
ters it by restrictions too severe, defeats its own intention, and is only mul- 
tiplying the inducements to violate its statutes, and proposing a high pre- 
mium to encourage illicit traffic. The Spaniards, both in Europe and 
America, being circumscribed in their mutual intercourse, by the jealousy 
of the crown, or oppressed by its exactions, have their invention continually 
on the stretch how to elude its edicts. The vigilance and ingenuity of 
private interest discover means of effecting this, vvhich public wisdom can- 
not foresee nor public authority prevent. This spirit, counteracting that 
of the laws, pervades the commerce of Spain with America in all its 
branches ; and from the highest departments in government descends to 
the lowest. The very officers appointed to check contraband trade are 
',>ltcn employed as instruments in carrying it on ; and the boards instituted 
to restrain and punish it are the channels through which it flows. The 
King is supposed, by the most intelligent Spanish writers, to be defrauded, 
by various artifices, of more than one half of the revenue which he ought 
to receive from America ;* and as long as it is the interest of so many 
persons to screen those artifices from detection, the knowledge ot them 
will never reach the throne. " How many ordinances," says Corita, " how 

* i=nIoi-z. (Iclnd. .Tnrp, ii. lib. v: 



AMERICA. 3S3 

luaiiy iiibLruclu)ns, how many letters iVoin our sovereign, are sent in order 
to correct abuses ! and how little are they observed, and what small ad- 
vantage is derived from them ! To me the old observation appears just, 
that where there are many physicians and many medicines, there is a want 
of health ; where there are many laws and many judges, there is want 
of justice. We have viceroys, presidents, governors, oydors, corrigidors, 
alcaldes ; and thousands of alguazils abound every where ; but notwith- 
standing all these, public abuses continue to multiply."* Time has in- 
creased the evils which he lamented as early as the reign of Philip II. 
A spirit of corruption has intected all the colonies of Spain in America. 
Men (vT removed from the seat of government ; impatient to acquire wealth, 
that they may return speedily from what they are apt to consider as a state 
of exile in a remote unhealthful country ; allured by opportunities too 
tempting to be resisted, and seduced by the example of'^lhose around them ; 
find their sentiments of honour and of duty gradually relax. In private 
life they give themselves up to a dissolute luxury, while in their public 
conduct they become unmindful of what they owe to their sovereign and 
to their country. 

Before I close this account of the Spanish trade in America there remains 
one detached but important branch of it to be mentioned. Soon after his 
accession to the throne, Philip II. lormed a scheme of planting a colony in 
the Philippine islands which had been neglected since the time of their 
discovery ; and he accomplished it by means of an armament titted out 
Irom New Spaint [1564]. Manila, in the island of Luconia, was the sta- 
tion chosen for the capital of this new establishment. From it an active 
commercial intercourse began with the Chinese, and a considerable num- 
ber of that industrious people, allured by the prospect of gain, settled in 
the Philippine islands under the Spanish protection. They supplied the 
colony so amply with all the valuable productions and manufactures of the 
East as enabled it to open a trade with America, by a course of navigation 
the longest from land to land on our globe. In the infancy of this trade, 
it was carried on with Callao, on the coast of Peru ; but experience having 
discovered the impropriety of fixing upon that as the port of communica- 
tion with Manila, the staple of the commerce between the East and West 
was removed from Callao to Acapulco, on the coast of New Spain. 

After various arrangements it has been brought into a regular form. One 
or two ships depart annually irom Acapulco, which are permitted to carry 
out silver to the amount of five hundred thousand pesos ;| but they have 
hardly any thing else of value on board ; in return for which they bring 
back spices, drugs, china, and japan wares, calicoes, chintz, muslins, silks, 
and every precious article with which the benignity of the climate, or the 
ingenuity of its people has enabled the East to supply the rest of the 
world. For some time the merchants of Peru were admitted to partici- 
pate in this traffic, and might send annually a ship to Acapulco, to wait 
the arrival of the vessels from Manila, and receive a proportional share of 
the commodities which they imported. At length the Peruvians were ex- 
cluded from this trade by most rigorous edicts, and all the commodities 
from the East reserved solely for the consumption of New Spain. 

In consequence of this indulgence, the inhabitants of that country enjoy 
advantages unknown in the other Spanish colonies. The manufactures of 
the East are not only more suited to a warm climate, and more showy 
than those of Europe, but can be sold at a lower price ; while, at the same 
time, the profits upon them are so considerable as to enrich all those who 
are employed either in bringing them from Manila or vending them in 
New Spain. As the interest both of the buyer and seller concurred in 
favouring this branch of commerce, it has continued to extend in spite of 

* MS. ponos me. t Tonincm. i. lit', v. c. 11. * Rocnp. lib. it. r. 4.'). I. fi. 



384 HISTORY OF [Book VIII. 

regulations concerted with the most anxious jealousy to circumscribe it. 
Under cover of what the laws permit to be imported, great quantities ot" 
India goods are poured into the markets of New Spain [194] ; and when 
the Flota arrives at Vera Cruz from Europe, it often finds the wants of the 
peoole already supplied by cheaper and more acceptable commodities. 

There is not, in the commercial aiTangements of Spain, any circum- 
stance more inexplicable than the permission of this trade between New 
Spain and the Philippines, or more repugnant to its fundamental maxim 
of holding the colonies in perpetual dependence on the mother countiy, by 
prohibiting any commercial intercourse that might suggest to then, the idea 
of receiving a supply of their wants from any other quarter. This per- 
mission must appear still more extraordinary, from considering that Spain 
herself carries on no direct trade with her settlements in the Philippines, 
.ind grants a privilege to one of her American colonies which she denies to 
her subjects in Europe. It is probable that the colonists, who originally 
took possession of the Philippines, having been sent out from New Spain, 
began this intercourse with a country which they considered, in some 
measure, as their parent state, before the court of Madrid was aware of 
its consequences, or could establish regulations in order to prevent it. 
Many remonstrances have been presented against this trade, as detrimental 
to Spain, by diverting into another channel a large portion of that trea- 
sure which ought to flow into the kingdom, as tending to give rise to a 
S})irit of independence in the colonies, and to encourage innumerable 
frauds, against which it is impossible to guard, in transactions so far re- 
moved from the inspection of government. But as it requires no slight 
effort of political wisdom and vigour to abolish any practice which num- 
bers are interested in supporting, and to which time has added the sanc- 
tion of its authority, the commerce between New Spain and Manila seems 
to be as considerable as ever, and may be considered as one chief cause 
of the elegance and splendour conspicuous in this part of the Spanish 
dominions. 

But notwithstanding this general corruption in the colonies of Spain, and 
the diminution of the income belonging to the public, occasioned by the 
illicit importations made by foreigners, as well as by the various frauds of 
which the colonists themselves are guilty in their commerce with the parent 
state, the Spanish monarchs receive a very considerable revenue from their 
American dominions. This arises from taxes of various kinds, which may 
be divided into three capital branches. The first contains what is paid 
to the King, as sovereign, or superior lord of the New World : to this class 
belongs the duty on the gold and silver raised from the mines, and the 
tribute exacted from the Pndians ; the former is termed by the Spaniards 
the right of signiory, the latter is the duty of vassalage. The second 
branch comprehends (he numerous duties upon commerce which accom- 
pany and oppress it in every step of its progress, from the greatest transactions 
of the wholesale merchant to the petty traffic of the vender by retail. The 
third includes what accrues to the king, as head of the church, and adminis- 
trator of ecclesiastical funds in the New World. In consequence of this 
he receives the first fruits, annates, spoils, and other spiritual revenues, 
levied by the apostolic chamber in Europe ; and is entitled likewise to the 
profit arising from the sale of the bull of Cruzado. This bull, which is 
published every two years, contains an absolution from past offences by the 
Pope, and, among other immunities, a permission to eat several kinds of 
prohibited food during Lent, and on meagre days. The monks employed 
in dispersing those bulls extol their virtues with all the fervour of interested 
eloquence ; the people, ignorant and credulous, listen with implicit assent ; 
and every person in the Spanish colonies, of European, Creolian, or mixed 
race, purchases a bull, which is deemed essential to his salvation, at the 
rate set upon it by government [195 j. 



AMERICA. 385 

Whal may be the amount of those various funds, it is almost impossible 
to determine with precision. The extent of the Spanish dominions in 
.America, the jealousy of government, which renders them inaccessible to 
foreigners, the mysterious silence which the Spaniards are accustomed 
to observe with respect to the interior state of their colonies, combine in 
covering this subject with a veil which it is not easy to remove. But an 
account, apparently no less accurate than it is curious, has lately been 
published oi the royal revenue in New Spain, from which we may form 
some idea with respect to what is collected in the other provinces. 
According to that account the crown does not receive from all the depart- 
ments of taxation in New Spain above a million of our money, from which 
one half must be deducted as the expense of the provincial establish- 
ment [196]. Peru, it is probable, yields a sum not inferior to this ; and if 
we suppose that all the other regions of America, including the islands, 
furnish a third share of equal value, we shall not perhaps be far wide 
from the truth if we conclude that the net public revenue of Spain, raised 
in America, does not exceed a million and a half sterling. This falls far 
short of the immense sums to which suppositions, founded upon conjecture, 
have raised the Spanish revenue in America [197]. It is remarkable, 
however, upon one account. Spain and Portugal are the only European 
powers who derive a direct revenue from their colonies. All the advan- 
tage that accrues to other nations from their American dominions arises 
from the exclusive enjoyment of their trade : but besides this, Spain has 
brought her colonies towards increasing the power of the state, and, in 
return for protection, to bear a proportional share of the common burden. 

Accordingly, the sum which I have computed to be the amount of the 
Spanish revenue from America arises wholly from the taxes collected 
there, and is far from being the whole of what accrues to the king from 
his dominions in the New World. The heavy duties imposed on the com- 
modities exported from Spain to America [l98], as well as what is paid 
by those which she sends home in return ; the tax upon the Negro slaves 
with which Africa supplies the New World, together with several smaller 
branches of finance, bring large sums into the treasury, the precise extent 
of which 1 cannot pretend to ascertain. 

But if the revenue which Spain draws from America be great, the 
expense ot administration in her colonies beai's proportion to it. In eveiy 
department, even of her dpmestic police and finances, Spain has adopted 
a system more complex, and more encumbered with a variety of tribunals 
and a multitude of officers, than that of any European nation in which the 
sovereign possesses such extensive power. From the jealous spirit with 
which Spain watches over her American settlements, and her endeavours 
(o guard against fraud in provinces so remote from inspection, boards 
and officers have been multiplied there with still more anxious attention. 
In a country where the expense of living is great, the salaries allotted to 
every person in public office must be high, and must load the revenue with 
an immense burden. The parade of government greatly augments the 
weight of it. The viceroys of Mexico, Peru, and the new kingdom of 
Granada, as representatives of the king's person, among people fond of 
ostentation, maintain all the state and dignity of royalty. Their courts 
are formed upon the model of that at Madrid, with horse and foot guards, 
a household regularly established, numerous attendants, and ensigns of 
power, displaying such pomp as hardly retains the appearance of a dele- 
gated authority. All the expense incurred by supporting the external and 
permanent order of government is defrayed by the crown. The viceroys 
have, besides, peculiar appointments suited to their exalted station. The 
salaries fixed by law are indeed extremely moderate ; that of the 
viceroy of Pern is only thirty thousand ducats ; and that of the viceroy 

Vol, I.— 49 



386 HISTORY OF [BooKVIlf. 

of Mexico twenty thousand ducats.* Of late they have been raised to forfv 
thousand. -^ 

These salaries, however, constitute but a small part of the revenue 
enjoyed by the viceroys. The exercise of an absolute authority extendine: 
to eveiy department of eovernment, and the power of disposing of many 
lucrative offices, aflord them many opportunities of accumulating wealth 
Fo these, which may be considered as legal and allowed emoluments! 
large sums are often added by exactions, which, in countries so far removed 
Irom the seat of government, it is not easy to discover, and impossible to 
restrain. By monopolising some branches of commerce, by a lucrative 
concern in others, by conniving at the frauds of merchants, a viceroy may 
raise such an annual revenue as no subject of any European monarch 
enjoys [199]. From the single article of presents made to him on the 
anniversaiy of his Name-day (which is always observed as a high festival) 
I am informed that a vicerojr has been known to receive sixty thousand 
pesos. According to a Spanish saying, the legal revenues of a viceroy are 
unknown, his real profits depend upon his opportunities and his conscience, 
bensible ol this, the kings of Spain, as I have ibrmeily observed, grant a 
commission to their viceroys only for a few years. This circumstance, 
however, renders them often more rapacious, and adds to the ingenuity and 
ardour wherewith they labour to improve every moment of a power which 
they know is hastening fast to a period ; and short as its duration is, it 
usually affords sufficient time tor repairing a shattered fortune, or for 
creating a new one. But even in situations so tiying to human frailty, there 
are instances of virtue that remains unseduced. In the year 1772 the 
Marquis de Croix finished the term of his viceroyalty in New Spain with 
unsuspected integrity ; and, instead of bringing home exorbitant wealth 
returned with the admiration and applause of a grateful people, whom his 
government had rendered happy. 



Recop. lilj. iii, tit. iii. c. 73. 



HISTORY OF AMERICA. 

BOOKS IX. AND X. 



CONTAINING THE 



HISTORY OF VIRGINIA 

TO THE YEAR 1688 ; 

AND THE 

HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND 

TO THE YEAR 1652. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The original plan of my father, the late Dr. Robertson, with respect to 
the history of America, comprehended not only an account of the discovery 
of that country, and of the conquests and colonies of the Spaniards, but 
embraced also the history of the British and Portuguese establishments in 
the New World, and of the settlements made by the several nations of 
Europe in the West India Islands. It was his intention not to have pub- 
lished any part of the Work until the whole was completed. In the 
Preface to his History of America, he has stated the reasons which induced 
him to depart from that resolution, and to publish the two volumes which 
contain an accountof the discoveiy of the New World, and ot the progress 
of the Spanish arms and colonies in that quarter of the globe. He says, 
" he had made some progress in the History ot British America ; and he 
announces his intention to return to that part of his Work as soon as the 
ferment which at that time prevailed in the British colonies in America 
should subside, and regular government be re-estabhshed. Various causes 
concurred in preventing him from fullilling his intention. 

During the course of a tedious illness, winch he early toresaw would 
have a latal termination. Dr. Robertson at different times destroyed many 
of his papers. But after his death, I found that part ot the History ot 
British America which he had wrote many years betore, and v^hich is now 
offered to the Public. It is written with his own hand, as all his Works 
were • it is as carefully corrected as any part of his manuscripts which I 
have ever seen; and he had thought it worthy of being preserved, as it 
escaped the flames to which so many other papers had been committed. 
I read it with the utmost attention ; but, before I came to any resolution 
about the publication, 1 put the MS. into the hands of some of those friends 
whom my father used to consult on such occasions, as it would have been 
rashness and presumption in me to have trusted to my own partial decision. 
It was perused by some other persons also, in whose taste and judgment 
I have the greatest confidence : by all of them I was encouraged to offer it 
to the Public, as a fragment curious and interesting in itseh,and not inlerior 
lo any of my father's works. . 

When 1 d.etermined to follow that advice, it was a circumstance ot great 
Aveight with me, that as I never could think myself at liberty to destroy 
those papers which my father had thought worthy of being preserved, and 
as I could not know into whose hands they might hereafter fall, I con- 
sidered it as certain that they would be published at some future period, 
when they might meet with an editor who, not being actuated by the same 
sacred regard for the reputation of the Author, which I feel, might make 
alterations and additions, and obtrude the whole on the public as a genuine 
and authentic work. The MS. is now published, such as it was left by 
tlie Author ; nor have I presumed to make any addition, alteration, or cov- 
rection whatever. Wm. ROBERTSON. 

Q.UEEN-ST., Edinburgh, April, 17%. 



THE 



HISTORY OF AMERICA. 



BOOK IX. 



The dominions of Great Britain in America are next in extent to those 
of Spain. Its acquisitions there are a recompense due to those enterprising 
talents which prompted the Entijlish to enter early on the career of discovery, 
and to pursue it with perseverina; ardour. England was the second nation 
that ventured to visit the New World. The account of Columbus's suc- 
cessful voyage filled all Europe with astonishment and admiration. But 
in England it did something more ; it excited a vehement desire of emula- 
ting the glory of Spain, and of aiming to obtain some share in those advan- 
tages which were expected in this new field opened to national activity. 
The attention of the English court had been turned towards the discovery 
of unknown countries by its negotiation with Bartholomew Columbus. 
Henry VII. having listened to his propositions with a more favourable ear 
than could have been expected from a cautious, distrustful prince, averse 
by habit as well as by temper to new and hazardous projects, he was more 
easily induced to approve of a voyage for discovery, proposed by some 
of his own subjects soon after the return of Christopher Columbus. 

But though the English had spirit to form the scheme, they had not at 
that period attained to such skill in navigation as qualified them for carry- 
ing it into execution. From the inconsiderate ambition of its monarchs, 
the nation had long wasted its genius and inactivity in pernicious and inef- 
fectual efforts to conquer France. When this ill-directed ardour began to 
abate, the fatal contest between the houses of York and Lancaster turned 
the arms of one half of the kingdom against the other, and exhausted the 
vigour of. both. During the course of two centuries, while industry and 
commerce were making gradual progress, both in the south and north of 
Europe, the English continued so blind to the advantages of Ihek own 
situation that thej hardly began to bend their thoughts towards those 
objects and pursuits to which they are indebted for their present opulence 
and power. While the trading vessels of Italy, Spain, and Portugal, as 
well as those of the Hans Towns, visited the most remote ports in Europe, 
and carried on an active intercourse with its various nations, the English 
did little more than creep along their own coasts, in small barks, which 
conveyed the productions of one country to another. Their commerce 
was almost wholly passive. Their wants were supplied by strangers ; 
and whatever necessary or luxury oC life their owp country did not yield 
was imported in foreign bottoms. The cross of St. Geor^^e was seldoiji 
displayed beyond the precincts of the narrow seas. Hardly any English 



fiyo HIST R V 1' [Book IX. 

ship traded with Spain or Porliigal before the beginning of the fifteenth 
century ; and half a century more ehtpscd before the English marines 
became so adventurous as to enter the Mediterranean. 

In this infancy of navigation, Heniy could not commit the conduct of 
itn armament destined to explore unknown regions to his own subjects. 
He invested Giovanni Gaboto, a Venetian adventurer, who had settled in 
Bristol, with the chief command ; and issued a commission to him and his 
three sons, empowering them to sail, under the banner of England, towards 
the east, nortn, or west, in order to discover countries unoccupied by any 
Christian state; to take possession of them in his name, and to carry on an 
exclusive trade with the inhabitants, under condition of paying a fifth part 
of the free profit on every voyage to the crown. This commission was 
granted on March 5th, 1495, in less than two years after the return of 
Columbus iVom America.* But Cabot (for that is the name he assumed 
in England, and by which he is best known) did not set out on his voyage 
for two years. He, together with his second son Sebastian, embarked at 
Bristol [May, 1497], on board a ship furnished by the king, and was accom- 
panied by four small barks fitted out by the merchants of that city. 

As in that age the most eminent navigators, formed by the instructions of 
Columbus, or animated by his example, were guided by ideas derived 
from his superior knowledge and experience, Cabot had adopted the system 
of that gi-eat man concerning the probability of opening a new and shorter 
passage to the East Indies bj"^ holding a western course. The opinions 
which Columbus had formed with respect to the islands which he had 
discovered, were universally received. They were supposed to lie con- 
tiguous to the great continent of India, and to constitute a part of the vast 
countries comprehended under that general name. Cabot accordingly 
deemed it probable, that, by steering to the north-west, he might reach 
India by a shorter course than that which Columbus had taken, and hoped 
to fall in with the coast of Cathay, or China, of Avhose fertility and opu- 
lence the descriptions of Marco Polo had excited high ideas. Atter sailing 
for some weeks due west, and nearly on the parallel of the port from which 
he took his departure,'he discovered a large island, which he caWed Prima 
Kista, and his sailors J\etc;/b«??f?/o?trf; and in a few days he descried a 
smaller isle, to which he gave the name of St. John. He landed on 
both these [June 24], made some observations on their soil and productions, 
and brought off three of the natives. Continuing his course westward, 
he soon reached the continent of North America, and sailed along it from 
the fifty-sixth to the thirty-eighth degree of latitude, from the coast of 
Labrador to that of Virginia. As his chief object was to discover some 
inlet that iriight open a passage to the west, it does not appear that he 
J.mded any where during this extensive run ; and he returned to England 
Avithout attempting either settlement or conquest in any part of that con- 
tinent.! 

If it had been Henry's purpose to prosecute the object of tlie commis- 
sion given by him to Cabot, and to take possession of the countries which 
he had discovered, the success of this voyage must have answered his most 
sanguine expectations. His subjects were undoubtedly the first Europeans 
who had visited that part of the American continent, and were entitled to 
whatever right of property prior discovery is supposed to confer. Coun- 
tries which stretched in an uninterrupted course through such a large 
])orli(>n of the temperate zone, opened a prospect of settling to aiivantage 
under mild climates, and in a fertile soil. By the time that Cabot returned 
to England, he found both the state of affairs and the king's inclination 
unfavourable to any scheme the execution of which would have required 
tranquillity and leisure. Henry was involved in a war with Scotland, and 

* Uakhiyt^ iii. 1. ♦ Alonwn's Xiival 'I'rarts, in Cliiirdiiirs Collet, iji. 211 



AMERICA. 391 

his kingdom was not yet fully composod after the coiiiuiolioii excited by a 
formidable insurrection of his own subjects in the west. An ambassador 
from Ferdinand of Arragon was then in London ; and as Henry set a high 
value upon the friendship of that monarch, tor whose character he professed 
much admiration, perhaps from its similarity to his own, and was endea- 
vouring to strengthen their union by negotiating the marriage which aiter- 
wards took place between his eldest son and the Princess Catharine, he 
was cautious of giving any offence to a prince jealous to excess of all his 
rights. From the position of the islands and continent which Cabot had 
discovered, it was evident that they lay within the limits of the ample 
donative which the bounty of Alexander VI. had conferred upon Ferdinand 
and Isabelli. Vo person in that age questioned the validity of a j)apal 
grant ; and Ferdinand was not of a temper to relinquish any claim to 
which he had a shadow of title. Submission to the authority of the Pope, 
and deference for an ally whom he courted, seem to have concurred with 
Henry's own situation in determining him to abandon a scheme in which 
he had engaged with some degree of ardour and expectation. No attempt 
towards discovery was made in England during the remainder of his reign ; 
and Sebastian Cabot, finding no encouragement lor his active talents there, 
entered into the service of Spain.* 

This is the most probable account of the sudden cessation of Heniy's 
activity, after such success in his first essay as might have encouraged 
him to persevere. The advantages of commerce, as well as its nature, 
were so little understood in England about this period, that by an act of 
parliament in the year 1488, the taking of interest for the use of money- 
was prohibited under severe penalties.! And by another law, the profit 
arising from dealing in bills of exchange was condemned as savouring of 
usury .J It is not surprising, then, that no great effort should be made to 
extend trade by a nation whose commercial ideas were still so crude and 
illiberal. But it is more difMcult to discover what prevented this scheme 
of Henry VII. from being resumed during the reigns of his son and grand- 
son ; and to give any reason why no attempt was made, either toexj)lore 
the northern continent of America more fully, or tb settle in it. Henry 
V^III. was frequentl)'' at open enmity with Spam : the value of the Spanish 
acquisitions in America had become so well loiown, as might have excited 
his desire to obtain some footing in those opulent regions; and during a 
considerable part of his reign, the prohibitions in a papal bull would not 
have restrained liim from mating encroachment upon the Spanish dominions. 
But the reign of Henry was not favourable to the progress of discovery. 
During one period of it, the active part which he took in the affairs of the 
continent, and the vigour with which he engaged in the contest between 
the two mighty rivals, Charles V. and Francis I., gave full occupation to 
the enterprising spirit both of the king and his nobility. During another 
period of his administration, his famous controversy with the court of 
Rome kept the nation in perpetual agitation and suspense. Engrossed by 
those objects, neither the king nor the nobles had inclination or leisure to 
turn their attention to new pursuits; and without their patronage and aid, 
the commercial part of the nation was too inconsiderable to make any 
effort of consequence. Though England by its total separation from the 
church of Rome soon after the accession of Edward VI., disclaimed that 
authority which, by its presumptuous partition of the globe between two 

* Some schemes of discovery seem to have hcen forriinl in F.iipland towards tlie hesinning of 
•tlie sixtcenlh century. But as there is no other memorial of them than what remains in a patent 
(.'ranted by the King to the advenlurcrs, it is probable tliat they were feeble or abortive project*. 
If any attempt had l)een made in consequence of this patent, it would not have escapHd tho know- 
ledge of a compiler so industrious and in(|nisitive as llaKluyt. In iiis pati,-nt, Henry restricts tin- 
adventurers from enrroachiiii; (m the countries discovered by the kings of Portusril, or any other 
jifince in confederacy wilh Kueland. Rynier's Fiedera, vol. xiii. p, '.IT 

• :?ifcn. vrr <■. .';. : 3 Uen. vii r. r,. 



392 111 S T O R Y F [Book 1 \. 

favourite nations, circumscribed the activity of every other state within 
very narrow limits ; yet a feeble minority, distracted with faction, was not 
a iuncture for forming schemes of doubtful success and remote utility. 
The bigotry of Maiy, and her marriage with Philip, disposed her to pay 
a sacred regard to that grant of the Holy See, which vested in a husband, 
on whom she doted, an exclusive right to every part of the New World. 
Thus, through a singular succession of various causes, sixty-one years 
elapsed from the time that the English discovered North America, during 
which their monarchs gave little attention to that country which was 
destined to be annexed to their crown, and to be a chief source of its 
opulence and power. 

But though the public contributed little towards the progress of disco- 
very, naval skill, knowledge of commerce, and a spirit of enterprise, began 
to spread among the English. During the reign of Henry Vlll. several 
new channels of trade were opened, and private adventurers visited remote 
countries, with which England had formerly no intercourse. Some mer- 
chants of Bristol, having fitted out two ships for the southern regions of 
America, committed the conduct of them to Sebastian Cabot, who had 
quitted the service of Spain, He visited the coasts of Brazil, and touched 
at the islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico ; and though this voyage 
seems not to have been beneficial to the adventurers, it extended the sphere 
of English navigation, and added to the national stock of nautical science.* 
Though disappointed in their expectations of profit in this first essay, the 
merchants were not discouraged. They sent, successively, several vessels 
irom different ports towards the same quarter, and seem to have carried on 
an interloping trade in the Portuguese settlements with success.! Nor 
was it only towards the West, that the activity of the English was directed. 
Other merchants began to extend their commercial views to the East ; and 
by establishing an intercourse with several islands in the Archipelago, and 
with some of the towns on the coast of Syria, they found a new market 
ibr woollen cloths (the only manufacture which the nation had begun to 
cultivate,) and supplied their countrymen with various productions of the 
East, formerly unknown, or received from the Venetians at an exorbitant 
price. J 

But the discovery of a shorter passage to the East Indies, by the north- 
west, was still the favourite project of the nation, which beheld with envy 
the vast wealth that flowed into Portugal from its commerce with those 
regions. The scheme was accordingly twice resumed under the long 
administration of Henry VIIT. [1527 and 1536] ; first, with some slender 
aid from the king, and then by private merchants. Both voyages were 
disastrous and unsuccessful. In the former, one of the ships was lost. In 
the latter, the stock of provisions was so ill proportioned to the number of 
the crew, that, although they were but six months at sea, many perished 
with hunger, and the survivors were constrained to support life oy feeding 
on the bodies of their dead companions. § 

The vigour of a commercial spirit did not relax in the reign of Edward 
VI. The great fishery on the banks of Newfoundland became an object 
of attention ; and from some regulations for the encouragement of that 
branch of trade, it seems to have been prosecuted witli activity and suc- 
cess.lt But the prospect of opening a communication with China and the 
Spice Islands, by some other route than round the Cape of Good Hope, 
still continued to allure the English more than any scheme of adventure. 
Cabot, whose opinion was deservedly of high authority in whatever 
related to naval enterprise, warmly urged the English to make another 
attempt to discover this passage. As it had been thrice searched lor 
in vain, liy steering towards "the north-west, he proposed that a trial 

* Ilakliiyt, iii 408. M'l. iii. 700 i Id. ii. Ofi. itc. (S Fd. i. 013. &c. iii. 120. 130. |l i,| 
til. lyi 



A :J eric .v. 393 

should now be made by the north-east ; and supported this advice by 
such plausible reasons and conjectures as excited sanguine expectations 
of success. Several noblemen and persons of rank, together with some 
principal merchants, having associated for this purpose, were incomorated 
by a charter from the King, under the title of The Company of Merchant 
Adventurers for the Discovery of Regions, Dominions, Islands, and Places 
unknown. Cabot, who was appointed governor of this company, soon 
fitted out two ships and a bark, furnished with instructions in his own 
hand, which discover the great extent both of his naval skill and mercantile 
sagacity. 

Sir Hugh Willoughby, who was intrusted with the command, stood 
dir ctly northwards along the coast of Norway [May 10], and doubled the 
North Cape. But in that tempestuous ocean, his small squadron was sepa- 
rated in a violent storm. Willoughby's ship and bark took refuge in an 
obscure harbour in a desert part of Russian Lapland, where he and all his 
companions were frozen to death. Richard Chancelour, the captain of 
the other vessel, was more fortunate; he entered the White Sea, and win- 
tered in safety at Archangel. Though no vessel of any foreign nation liad 
ever visited that quarter of the globe before, the inhabitants received their 
new visiters with an hospitality which would have done honour to a more 
polished people. The English learned there, that this was a province of 
a vast empire, subject to the Great Duke or Czar of Muscovy, who resided 
in a great city twelve hundred miles from Archangel. Chancelour, with 
a spirit becoming an officer employed in an expedition for discovery, did 
not hesitate a moment about the part which he OJight to take, and set out 
for that distant capital. On his arrival in Moscow, he was admitted to 
audience, and delivered a letter which the captain of each ship had received 
from Edward VI. for the sovereign of whatever country they should dis- 
cover, to John Vasilowitz, who at that time filled the Russian throne. 
John, though he ruled over his subjects with the cruelty and caprice of a 
barbarous despot, was not destitute of political sagacity. He instantly 
perceived the happy consequences that might flow from opening an inter- 
course between his dominions and the western nations of Europe ; and, 
delighted with the fortunate event to which he was indebted for this unex- 
pected benefit, he treated Chancelour with great respect ; and, by a letter 
to the King of England [Feb. 1554], invited his subjects to trade in the 
Russian dominions, with ample promises of protection and favour.* 

Chancelour, on his return, found Mary seated on the English throne. 
The success of this voyage, the discovery of a new course of navigation, 
the establishment of commerce with a vast empire, the name of which 
was then hardly known in the West, and the hope of arriving, in this direc- 
tion, at those regions which had been so long the object of desire, excited 
a wonderful ardour to prosecute the design with greater vigour. Mary, 
implicitly guided by her husband in every act of administration, was not 
unwilling to turn the commercial activity of her suljects towards a quarter 
where it could not excite the jealousy of Spain by encroaching on its pos- 
sessions in the New World. She wrote to John Vasilowitz m the most 
respectful terms, courting his friendship. She confinned the charter of 
Edward VI., empowered Chancelour, and two agents appointed by the 
company, to negotiate with the Czar in her name ; and, according to the 
.spirit of that age, she granted an exclusive right of trade with Russia to 
the Corporation of Merchant Adventurers.! In virtue of this, they not 
only established an active and gainful commerce with Russia, but, in hopes 
of reaching China, they pushed their discoveries eastward to the coast of 
Nova Zembla, the Straits of Waigatz, and towards the mouth of the great 
river Oby. But in those frozen seas, which Nature seems not to nave 

* Ilakluyt i. 226, &c. t W. i. 058. &c. 

Vol. I.— 50 



3S4 HISTORY OF [Book IX. 

destined for navigation, they were exposed to innumerable disasters, and 
met with successive disappointments. 

Nor were their attempts to open a communication with India made only 
in this channel. They appointed some of their factors to accompany the 
Russian caravans which travelled into Persia by the way of Astracan and 
the Caspian Sea, instructing them to penetrate as far as possible towards 
the east, and to endeavour not only to estal)lish a trade with those coun- 
tries, but to acquire every information that might afford any light towards 
the discovery of a passage to China by the north-east.* Notwithstanding 
a variety of dangers to which they were exposed in travelling through so 
many provinces inhabited by fierce and licentious nations, some of these 
factors reached Bokara in the province of Chorassan ; and though prevented 
from advancing further by the civil wars which desolated the country, they 
returned to Europe with some hopes of extending the commerce of the 
Company into Persia, and with much intelligence concerning the state of 
those remote regions of the East.j 

The successful progress of the Merchant Adventurers in discovery 
roused the emulation of their countrymen, and turned their activity into 
new channels. A commercial intercourse, hitherto unattempted by the 
English, having been opened with the coast of Barbaiy, the specimens 
which that afforded of the valuable productions of Africa invited some 
enterprising navigators to visit the more remote provinces of that quarter 
of the globe. They sailed along its western shore, traded in different 
ports on both sides of the Line, and, after acquiring considerable knowledge 
of those countries, returned with a cai^o of gold dust, ivory, and other rich 
commodities little known at that time in England. This commerce with 
Africa seems to have been pursued with vigour, and was at that time no 
less innocent than lucrative ; for, as the English had then no demand lor 
slaves, they carried it on for many years without violating the rights of 
humanity. Thus far did the English advance during a period which may 
be considered as the infant state of their navigation and commerce ; and 
feeble as its steps at that time may appear to us, we trace them with an 
interesting curiosity, and look bacK with satisfaction to the early essays of 
that spirit which we now behold in the full maturity of its strength. Even 
in those first efforts of the English, an intelligent observer will discern pre- 
sages of their future improvement. As soon as the activity of the nation 
was put in motion, it took various directions, and exerted itself in each, 
with that steady, persevering industry which is the soul and guide of com- 
merce. Neither discouraged by the hardships and dangers to which they 
were exposed in those northern seas which they first attempted to explore, 
nor afraid of venturing into the sultry climates of the torrid zone, the Eng- 
lish, during the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VL, and Mary, opened 
some of the most considerable sources of their commercial opulence, and 
gave a beginning to their trade with Turkey, with Africa, with Russia, and 
ivith Newfoundland. 

By the progress which England had already made in navigation and 
commerce, it was now prepared for advancing further ; and on the acces- 
sion of Elizabeth to the throne, a period commenced extremely auspicious 
to this spirit which was rising in the nation.' The domestic tranquillity of 
the kingdom, maintained, almost without interruption, during the course of 
a long and prosperous reign ; the peace with foreign nations, that subsisted 
more than twenty years after Elizabeth was seated on the throne ; the 
Q,ueen's attentive economy, which exempted her subjects from the burden 
of taxes oppressive to trade ; the popularity of her administration ; were 
all favourable to commercial enterprise, and called it forth into vigorous 
exertion. The discerning eye of Elizabeth having early perceived that 

••' Hakltivt i. 301 + Id, 1. 310. .?:r. 



AMERICA. 395 

Uie security ot a kingdom env'ironod by the sea depended on its naval 
force, she began her government with adding to the number and strength of 
the royal navy ; which, during a factious minority, and a reign intent on 
no object but that of suppressing heresy, had been neglected, and suffered 
to decay. She filled her arsenals with naval stores ; she built several 
ships ot great force, according to the ideas of that age, and encouraged 
her subjects to imitate her example, that they might no longer depend on 
tbreigners, from whom the English had hitherto purchased all vessels of 
any considerable burden.* By those efforts the skill of the English artificers 
was improved, the number of sailors increased, and the attention of the 
public turned to the navy, as the most important national object. Instead 
of abandoning any of the new channels ol commerce which had been 
opened in the three preceding reigns, the English frequented them with 
greater assiduity, and the patronage of their sovereign added vigour to all 
their efforts. In order to secure to them the continuance of their exclusive 
trade with Russia, Elizabeth cultivated the connection with John Vasilo- 
witz, which had been formed by her predecessor, and, by successive em- 
bassies gained his confidence so thoroughly, that the English enjoyed that 
lucrative privilege during his long reign. She encouraged the Company 
ot Merchant Adventuiers, whose monopoly of the Russian trade was con- 
firmed by act of parliament,! to resume their design of penetrating into 
Persia by land. Their second attempt, conducted with greater prudence, 
or undertaken at a more favourable juncture than the first, Avas more sue- 
cesstul. Their agents arrived in the Persian court, and obtained such pro- 
tection and immunities from the Shah, that for a course of years they 
canied on a gainful commerce in his kingdom ;| and by frequenting the 
various provinces of Persia, became so well acquainted with the vast riches 
of the East, as strengthened their design of opening a more direct inter- 
course with those fertile regions by sea. 

But as every effort to accomplish this by the north-east had proved 
abortive, a scheme was formed, under the patronage of the Earl of War- 
wick, the hfead of the enterprising family of Dudley, to make a new 
attempt, by holding an opposite course by the north-west. The conduct 
of this enterprise was committed to Martin Frobisher, an officer of ex- 
perience and reputation. In three successive voyages [1576, 1577, and 
1578,] he explored the inhospitable coast of Labrador, and that of Green 
land (to which F^Iizabeth gave the name of Meta lncos;mta), without dis 
covering any probable appearance of that passage to India for which he 
sought. This new disappointment was sensibly felt, and might iiave 
damped the spirit of naval enterprise among the English, if it had not 
resumed fresh vigour, amidst the general exultation of the nation, upon the 
successful expedition of Francis Drake. That bold navigator, emulous of 
the glory which Magellan had acquired by sailing round the globe, tbrmed 
a scheme of attempting a voyage, which all Europe had admired for sixty 
3'ears, without venturing to toUow the Portuguese discoverer in his adven- 
turous course. Drake undertook this with a feeble squadron, in which 
the largest vessel did not exceed a hundred tons, and he accomi»lished it 
with no less credit to himself than honour to his country. Even in this 
voyage, conducted with other views, Drake seems not to have been 
inattentive to the favourite object of his countrymen, the discoveiy of a 
new route to India. Before he quitted the Pacific Ocean, in order to stretch 
towards the Philippine Islands, he ranged along the coast of California, as 
high as the latitude of forty-two degrees north, in hopes of discovering, on 
that side, the communication between the two seas, which had so otten 
been searched for in vain on the other. But this was the only unsuccessful 
attempt of Drake. The excessive cold of the climate, intolerable to men 

" f^amd Annalps. p. 70. odit. IfilS: fol. f Ilnkliiyt. i. rifin. ' fd i. 34J. &c. 



S96 HISTORY OF [Book IX. 

■who had long been accustomed to tropical heat, obliged him to stop short 
in his proj^ress towards the north ; and whether or not there be any passage 
from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean in that quarter is a point still un- 
ascertained.* 

From this period, the English seem .to have confided in their own 
abilities and courage, as equal to any naval enterprise. They had now 
visited every region to which navigation extended in that age, and had 
rivalled the nation of highest repute for naval skill m its most splendid ex- 
ploit. But notwhhstan iuig the knowledge which they had acquired of 
the different quarters of the globe, they had not hitherto attempted any 
settlement out of their own country. Their merchants had not yet ac- 
quired such a degree either of wealth or of political influence, as was 
requisite towards carrying a scheme of colonization into execution. Per- 
sons of noble birth were destitute of the ideas and information which might 
have disposed them to patronise such a design. The growing power of 
Spain, however, and the ascendant over the other nations of Europe to 
which it had attained under Charles V. and his son, naturally turned the 
attention of mankind towards the importance of those settlements in the 
New World, to which they were so much indebted for that pre-eminence. 
The intercourse between Spain and England, during the reign of Philip 
and Mary ; the resort of the Spanish nobility to the English court, while 
Philip resided there ; the study of the Spanish language, which became 
fashionable ; and the translation of several histories of America into Eng- 
lish, diffused gradually through the nation a more distinct knovf ledge of the 
policy of Spain in planting its colonies, and of the advantages which it 
derived from them. \\ hen hosiilities commenced between Elizabeth and 
Philip, the prospect of annoying Spain by sea opened a new career to the 
enterprising spirit of the English nobility. Almost every eminent leader 
of the age aimed at distinguishing himself by naval exploits. That service, 
and the ideas connected with it, the discovery of unknown countries, the 
establishment of distant colonies, and the enriching of commerce by new 
commodities, became familiar to persons of rank. 

In consequence of all those concurring causes, the English began seriously 
to form plans of settling colonies in those parts of America which hitherto 
they had only visited. The projectors and patrons of these plans were 
mostly persons of rank and influence. Among them. Sir Humphry Gilbert, 
of Compton in Devonshire, ought to be mentioned with the distinction due 
to the conductor of the first English colony to America. He had early 
rendered himself conspicuous by his military services both in France and 
Ireland ; and having afterwards turned his attention to naval affairs, he 
published a discourse concerning the probability of a north-west passage, 
"which discovered no inconsiderable portion both of learning and ingenuity, 
mingled with the enthusiasm, the credulity, and the sanguine expectations 
which incite men to new and hazardous undertakings.! With those talents 
he was deemed a proper person to be employed in establishing a new 
colony, and easily obtained from the Queen letters patent [June 11, 1578,] 
vesting in him sufficient powers for this purpose. 

As this is the first charter to a colonj^ granted by the crown of England, 
the articles in it merit particular attention, as they unfold the ideas of that 
.nge with respect to the nature of such settlements. Elizabeth authorizes 
him to discover and take possession of all remote and barbarous lands, un- 
occupied by any Christian prince or people. She vests in him, his heirs 
and assigns for ever, the full right of property in the soil of those countries 
whereof he shall take possession. She permits such of her subjects as 
were willing to accompany Gilbert in his voyage, to ^o and settle in the 
countries which he shall plant. She empowers him, his heirs and assigns, 

« Hakluyt. iii.440. Camd. Annal. 301. &c t Hakluyt. iii. 11., 



AMERICA. 397 

to dispose of whatever portion of those lands he sliall judge meet, to per- 
sons settled there, in fee simple, according to the laws oi England. She 
ordains, that all the lands granted to Gilbert shall hold of the crown of 
England by homage, on payment of the fifth part of the gold or silver ore 
found there. She confers upon him, his heirs and assigns, the complete 
jurisdictions and royalties, as well marine as other, within the said lands 
and seas thereunto adjoining ; and as their common safety and interest 
would render good government necessary in their new settlements, she 
gave Gilbert, his heirs and assigns, full power to convict, punish, pardon, 
govern, and rule, by their good discretion and policy, as well in causes 
capital or criminal as civil, both marine and other, all persons who shall, 
from time to time, settle within the said countries, according to such 
statutes, laws, and ordinances, as shall be by him, his heirs and assigns, 
devised and established for their better government. She declared, that 
all who settled there should have and enjoy all the privileges of free denizens 
and natives of England, any law, custom, or usage to the contrary not- 
withstanding. And finally, she prohibited all persons from attempting to 
settle within two Imndred leagues of iiny place which Sir Humphr_y Gil- 
bert, or his associates, shall have occupied during the space of six years.* 

With those extraordinary powers, suited to the high notions of authority 
and prerogative prevalent in England during the sixteenth century, but 
very repugnant to more recent ideas with respect to the rights of free men, 
who voluntarily unite to form a colony, Gilbert began to collect associates, 
and to prepare (or embarkation. His own character, and the zealous 
eflforts of his half brother Walter Ralegh, who even in his early youth dis- 
played those splendid talents, and that undaunted spirit, which create 
admiration and confidence, soon procured him a sufficient number of fol- 
lowers. But his success was not suited either to the sanguine hopes of his 
countrymen, or to the expense of his preparations. Two expeditions, both 
of which he conducted in person, ended disastrously [l58'j]. in the last 
he hinaself perished, without having effected his intended settlement on the 
continent ot America, or performing any thing more worthy of notice, than 
the empty formality of taking possession of the Island of Newfoundland in 
the name of his sovereign. The dissensions among his officers ; the licen- 
tious and ungovernable spirit of some of his crew ; his total ignorance of 
the countries which he purposed to occupy ; his misfortune in approaching 
the continent too far towards the north, where the inhospitable coast of 
Cape Breton did not invite them to settle ; the shipwreck of his largest 
vessel ; and, above all, the scanty provision which the funds of a private 
man could make of what was requisite for establishing a new colony, were 
the true causes to which the failure of the enterprise must be imputed, not 
to any deficiency of abilities or resolution in its leader.j 

But the miscarriage of a scheme, in which Gilbert had wasted his fortune, 
did not discourage Ralegh. He adopted all his brother's ideas ; and 
applying to the Queen, in whose favour he stood high at that time, he pro- 
cured a patent [>Iarch 26, 1584J, with jurisdiction and prerogatives as 
ample as had been granted unto Gilbert.^ ' Kalegh, no less eager to execute 
than lO undertake the scheme, instantly despatched two small vessels 
[April 27], under the command of Amadas and Barlow, two officers of 
trust, to visit the countries which he intended to settle, and to acquire some 
previous knowledge of their coasts, their soil, and productions. In order 
to avoid Gilbert's error, in holding too far north, they look their course by 
the Canaries and the West India islands, and approached the North 
American continent by the Gulf of Florida. Unfortunately, their chief 
researches were made in that part of the country now known by the name 
of North Carolina, that province in America most destitute of commodiou* 

* Hakliiyt. iii. IS."), * Ibid. iii. 2W. ^r. ;■ Jbii^. iii. On, 



^3« HISTORY OF [BooKlA. 

harbours. They touched first at an island, which they call Wokocon 
(probably Ocakoke,) situated on the inl(>t into Pamplicoe sound, and then 
at Roanoke, near the mouth of Albemiarle sound. In both they had some 
intercourse with the natives, whom they found to be savages with all the 
characteristic qualities of uncivilized lite, bravery, aversion to labour, hos- 
pitality, a propensity to admire, and a willingness to exchange their rude 
productions for English commodities, especially for iron, or any of the 
usetul metals ot which they were destitute. Alter spending a few weeks 
in this traffic, and in visiting some parts of the adjacent continent, Amadas 
and Barlow returned to England [Sept. 15], with two of the natives, and 
gave such splendid descriptions of the beauty of the country, the fertility 
of the soil, and the mildness of the climate, that Elizabeth, delighted with 
the idea of occupying a territory superior, so far, to the barren regions 
towards the north hitherto visited by her subjects, bestowed on it the name 
of Virginia ; as a memorial that this happy discovery had been made under 
a virgin queen.* 

■ Their report encouraged Ralegh to hasten his preparations for taking 
possession of such an inviting property. He fitted out a squadron of seven 
small ships, under the command ot Sir Richard Greenville, a man of honour- 
able birth, and of courage so undaunted as to be conspicuous even in that 
gallant age. But the spirit of that predatory war which the English carried 
on against Spain, mingled with this scheme of settlement ; and on this 
account, as well as from unacquaintance with a more direct and shorter 
course to North America, Greenville sailed by the West India islands. 
He spent some time in cruising among these, and in taking prizes ; so that 
it was towards the close of June before he arrived on the coast of North 
America. He touched at both the islands where Amadas and Barlow had 
landed, and made some excursions into dilTerent parts of the continent 
round Pamplicoe and Albermarle sounds. But as, untbrtunately, he did not 
advance far enough towards the north, to discover the noble bay of Chesa- 
peak, he established the colony [Aug. 25], which he left on the island of 
Roanoke, an incommodious station, without any safe harbour, and almost 
uninhabited.! 

This colony consisted only of one hundred and eighty persons, under the 
comniand of Captain Lane, assisted by some men of note, the most dis- 
tinguished of whom was Hariot, an eminent mathematician. Their chief 
employment, during a residence of nine months, was to obtain a more exten- 
sive knowledge of the country ; and their researches were carried on with 
greater spirit, and reached further than could have been expected from a 
colony so feeble, and in a station so disadvantageous. But tiom the same 
impatience of indigent adventurers to acquire sudden wealth which gave 
a wrong direction to the industry of the Spaniards in their settlements, the 
greater part of the English seem to have considered nothing as worthy of 
attention but mines of gold and silver. These they sought for wherever 
they came : these they inquired after with unwearied eagerness. The 
t-avages soon discovered the favourite olyects which allured them, and art- 
lully amused them with so many tales concerning pearl fisheries, and rich 
mines of various metals, that Lane and his companions wasted their timf; 
rind activity in the chimerical pursuit of these, instead of labouring to raise 
provisions lor their own subsistence. On discovering the deceit of the 
Indians, they were so much exasperated, that from expostulations and 
reproaches they proceeded to open hostility [1586]. The supplies of pro- 
vision which they had been accustomed to receive from the natives were 
of course withdrawn. Through their own negligence no other precaution 
had been taken for their support. Ralegh, having engaged in a scheme 
loo expensive for his narrow funds, had not been able to send them that 

* liakliivt, iii. '2U). t Id. Hi. ill 



AMERICA. o'j9 

recruit of stores with which Greenville had promised to iarniah them early 
in the spring. The colony, reduced to the utmost distress, and on the 
point of perishing with famine, was preparing to disperse into different 
districts of the country in quest of food, when Sir Francis Drake appeared 
with his fleet [June 1], returning from a successful expedition against the 
Spaniards in the West Indies. A scheme which he formed, of furnishing 
Lane and his associates with such supplies as might enable them to remain 
with comfort in their station, was disappointed by a sudden storm, in 
which a small vessel that he destined for their service was dashed to pieces ; 
and as he could not supply them with another, at their joint request, as they 
were worn out with fatigue and famine, he carried them home to England* 
[June 19]. 

Such was the inauspicious beginning of the English settlements in the 
New World ; and, after exciting high expectations, this first attempt pro- 
duced no effect but that of affording a more complete knowledge of the 
country; as it'enaljied Hariot, a man of science and observation, to 
describe its soil, climate, productions, and the manners of its inhabitants, 
with a degree of accuracy which merits no inconsiderable praise, when 
compared with the childish and marvellous tales published by several 
of the early visitants of the New World. There is another consequence 
of this abortive colony important enough to entitle it to a place in his- 
tory. Lane and his associates, by their constant intercourse with the 
Indians, had acquired a relish for their favourite enjoyment of smoking 
tobacco ; to the use of which, the credulity of that people not only ascribed 
a thousand imaginary virtues, but their superstition considered the plant 
itself as a gracious gift of the gods, for the solace of human kind, and the 
niost acceptable offering which man can present to heaven. t They brought 
with them a specimen of this new commodity to England, and taught their 
countrymen the method of using it ; which Ralegh and some young men of 
fashion fondly adopted. From imitation of them, from love of novelty, and 
from the favourable opinion of its salutary qualities entertained by several 
physicians, the practice spread among the English. The Spaniards and 
Portuguese had, previous to this, introduced it into other parts of Europe. 
This habit of taking tobacco gradually extended from the extremities of 
the north to those of the south, and in one form or other seems to be equall}' 
grateful to the inhabitants of eveiy climate ; and by a singular caprice of 
the human species, no less inexplicable than unexampled (so bewitching 
is the acquired taste for a weed of no manifest utility, and at first not only 
unpleasant but nauseous), that it has become almost as universal as the 
demands of those appetites originally implanted in our nature. Smoking 
was the first mode of taking tobacco in England ; and we learn from the 
comic writers towards the close of the sixteenth century and the beginning 
of the seventeenth, that this was deemed one of the accomplishments of ;i 
man of fashion and spirit. 

A few days after Drake departed from Roanoke, a small bark, despatched 
by Ralegh with a supply of stores for the colony, landed at the place 
where the English had settled ; but on finding it deserted by their coun- 
trymen they returned to England. The bark was hardly, gone, when Sir 
Richard Greenville appeared with three ships. After searching in vain 
for the colony which he had planted, without being able to learn what 
had befallen it, he left fifteen of his crew to keep possession of the island. 
This handful of men was soon overpowered and cut in pieces by the 
savages. I 

Though all Ralegh's efTorts to establish a colony in Virginia had hitherto 
proved abortive, and had been defeated by a succession of disasters and 

* riakluyi, ii. '255. Camd. Anna!. 3P7. + H;iriot p.p. Haklir.l, iii, 271. De Brv. America, pars i. 
i Ilaklujt, iit, 2tJ5. 2S!3. 



400 HISTORY OF [BooKlX. 

disappoinUnenU, neither his hopes nor resources were exhausted. Early 
in the following year [1587], he fitted out three ships, under the command 
ot" Captain John White, who carried thither a colony more numerous than 
that which had been settled under Lane. On their arrival in Virginia, 
after viewing the face of the country covered with one continued forest, 
which to them appeared an uninhabited wild, as it was occupied only by 
a few scattered tribes of savages, they discovered that they were destitute 
of many things which they deemed essentially necessary towards their 
subsistence in such an uncomfortable situation ; and with one voice, requested 
White, their commander, to return to England, as the person among them 
most likely to solicit, with efficacy, the supply on which depended the 
existence of the colony. White landed in his native country at a most 
unfavourable season tor the negotiation which he had undertaken. He 
found the nation in universal alarm at the formidable preparations of 
Philip II. to invade England, and collecting all its force to oppose the 
fleet to which he had arrogantly given the name of the Invincible Armada. 
Ralegh, Greenville, and all the most zealous patrons of the new settlement, 
were called to act a distinguished part in the operations of a year [1588], 
equally interesting and glorious to England. Amidst danger so imminent, 
and during a contest for the honour of their sovereign and the independence 
of their country, it was impossible to attend to a less important and remote 
object. The unfortunate colony in Roanoke received no supply, and 
perished miserably by famine, or by the unrelenting cruelty of those bar- 
barians by whom they were surrounded. 

During the remainder of Elizabeth's reign, the scheme of establishing a 
colony in Vii^inia was not resumed. Ralegh, with a most aspiring mind 
and extraordinary talents, enlightened by knowledge no less uncommon, 
had the spirit and tlie defects of a projector. Allured by new objects, 
and always giving the preference to such as were most splendid and 
arduous, he was apt to engage in undertakings so vast and so various as 
to be far beyond his power of accomplishing. He was now intent on 
peopling and improving a large district of country in Ireland, of which he 
had obtained a grant from the Queen. He was a deep adventurer in the 
scheme of fitting out a powerl'ul armament against Spain, in order to 
establish Don Antonio on the throne of Portugal. He had begun to form 
his favourite but visionary plan, of penetrating into the province of Guiana, 
where he fondly dreamed of takmg possession of inexhaustible wealth 
flowing from the richest mines in the New World. Amidst this multi- 
plicity of projects, of such promising appearance, and recommended by 
novelty, he naturally became cold towards his ancient and hitherto unpro- 
fitable scheme of settling a colony in Virginia, and was easily induced to 
assign his right of property in that country, which he had never visited, 
together with all the privileges contained in his patent, to Sir Thomas Smith 
and a company of merchants in London [March, 1596]. This company, 
satisfied with a paltry traffic carried on by a few small barks, made no 
attempt to take possession of the country. Thus, after a period of a 
hundred and six years from the time that Cabot discovered North America 
in the name of Heniy VII., and of twenty years from the time that Ralegh 
planted the first colony, there was not a single Englishman settled there at 
the demise of Qjueen Elizabeth, in the year one tliousand six hundred and 
three 

I have already explained the cause of this during the period previous to 
the accession of Elizabeth. Other causes produced the same effect under 
her administration. Though for one half of her reign England was engaged 
in no foreign war, and commerce enjoyed that perfect security which is 
friendly to its progress ; though the glory of her later years gave the 
highest tone of elevation and vigour to the national spirit ; the Queen her- 
self, from her extreme parsimony, and her aversion to demand extraordinaiy 



AMERICA. 401 

supplies ol' her bubjects, m as more apt to restrain than to second the ardent 
i^cnius of her people. Several of the most splendid enterprises in her 
rei2:n were concerted and executed by private adventurei-s. All the 
pchemcs for colonization were carried on by the funds of individuals, 
\vithout any public aid. Even the felicity of her government was averse 
to the establishment of remote colonies. So powertui is the attraction of 
our native soil, and such our fortunate partiality to the laws and manners of 
our own country, that men seldom choose to abandon it, unless they be driven 
away by oppression, or allured h^ vast pros{)ects of sudden wealth. But 
the provinces of America, in which the English attempted to settle, did 
not, like those occupied by Spain, invite them thither by any appearance 
of silver or gold mineSi All their hopes of gain were distant ; and they 
^^a\v that nothing ccjuld be earned but by persevering exertions of industry. 
The maxims of Elizabeth's administration were, in their general tenor, 
so popular, as did not force her subjects to emigrate in order to escape 
from the heavy or vexatioiis liand of power. It seems to have been with 
difliculty that these slender bands ot planters were collected, on which 
the wiTOfs of that age bestow the n;ane of the first and second Virginian 
colonies. '4%e fulness of time for English colonization was not yet 
arrived. 

But the succession of the Scottish line to the ciovvn of England [1603] 
hastened its approach. James was hardly seated on the throne before he 
discovered his pacific intentions, and he soon terminated the long war 
".vhich had been carried on between Spain and Eng'land, by an amicable 
treaty. From that period, uninternipted tranquillity continued duiiiig his 
reign. Many persons of hij^h rank, and of ardent ambition, to whom the 
war with Spain had afforded constant employment, and presented alluring 
prospects not only of fame but of wealth, soon became so impatient of 
languishing at home Avithout occupation or object, that their invention was 
on the stretch to find some exercise for their activity and talents. To 
both these North America seemed to open a new field, and schemes of 
carrying colonies thither became more general and more popular, 

A voyage undertaken by Bartholomew (Josnold, in the last yeaf of (he 
Queen, facilitated as well as encouraged the execution of these schemes. 
He sailed from Falmouth in a small l)ark with thirty-two men. Instead 
of following former navigators in their unnecessaiy circuit by the West 
India isles and the Gulf of Flofida, Gosnold steered due west as nearly as 
the winds would permit, and was the first English commander who reached 
America by this shorter and more direct course. That part of the conti- 
nent which he first descried was a jiromontory in tlie province now called 
Massachusets Bay, to which he gave the name of Cape Cod. Holding 
along the coast as it stretched towards the south-west, he touched at two 
islands, one of which he called Martha's Vineyard, the other Elizabeth's 
Island ; and visited the adjoining continent, and traded with its inhabitants. 
He and his companions were so much delighted every where with the 
inviting aspect of the country, that notwithstanding the smallness of their 
number, a part of them consented to remain there. But when they had 
leisure to reflect upon the fate of former settlers in America, they retracted 
a resolution formed in the first warmth of their admiration ; and Gosnold 
leturned to England in less than four months from the time of his 
departure.* 

This voyage however inconsiderable it may appear, had important 
effects. The English now discovered the aspect of the American continent 
to be extremely inviting far to the north of llie place where they had 
formerly attempted to settle. The coast of a vast country, stretching through 
the most desirable climates, lay before them. The richness of its virgin 

* r.ircllRs, iv. p. ir.'t* 
Vol. 1.— -•)( 



-iu z li I S T O 11 Y O h' [Book LV. 

soil promised a certain recompense to their industry. In its interior pro- 
vinces unexpected sources of wealth might open, and unknown objects of 
commerce might be found. Its distance from England was diminished 
almost a third part by the new course which Gosnold had pointed out. 
Plans for establishing colonies began to be formed in different parts of the 
kingdom ; and before these were ripe for execution, one small vessel was 
sent out by the merchants of Bristol, another by the Earl of .Southampton 
and Lord Arundel of Wardour, in order to learn whether Gosnold's account 
of the country was to be considered as a just representation of its state, 
or as the exaggerated description of a fond discoverer. Both returned 
with a full confirmation of his veracity, and with the addition of so many 
new circumstances in favour of the country, acquired by a more extensive 
view of it, as greatly increased the desire of planting it. 

The most active and efficacious promoter of this was Richard Hakluyt, 
prebendary of yVestminster, to whom England is more indebted for its 
American possessions than to any man of that age. Formed under a kins- 
man of the samn name, eminent for naval and commercial knowledge, he 
imbibed a similar taste, and applied early to the study of geography and 
navigation. These favoui ite sciences engrossed his attentioi^and to diflfuse 
a relish for them was the great object of his life. In order to excite his 
countrymen to naval enterprise, by flattering their national vanity, he 
published, in the year 'one thousand five hundred and eighty-nine, his 
valuable collection of \'r)yages and discoveries made by Englishmen. In 
order to supply theni^^vilh what information might be derived from the 
experience of the mo>t successful foreign navigators, he translated some of 
the best accounts^of the progress of the Spaniards and Portuguese in their 
voyages both to the East and West Indies, into the English tongue. He was 
consulted with respect to many of the attempts towards discovery or colo- 
nization during the latter part of Elizabeth's reign. He corresponded with 
the officers who conducted them, directed their researches to proper objects, 
and published the history of their exploits. By the zealous endeavours of 
a person equally respected by men of rank and men of business, many of 
both orders formed an association to establish colonies in America, and 
petitioned the king for the sanction of his authority to warrant the execution 
of their plans., 

James, who prided himself on his profound skill in the science of govern- 
ment, and who had turned his attention to consider the advantages which 
might be derived from colonies, at a time when he patronized his scheme 
for planting them in some of the ruder provinces of^ his ancient kingdom, 
with a view of introducing industry and civilization there,* was now no 
less fond of directing the active genius of his English subjects tovvards 
occupations not repugnarit to his own pacific maxims, and listened with a 
favourable ear to their application. But as the extent as well as value of 
the American continent began now to be better known, a grant of the 
whole of such a vast region to any one body of men, however respectable, 
appeared to him an act of impolitic and profuse liberality. For this rea- 
son he divided that portion ot North America, which stretches from the 
thirty-fourth to the fifty-fifth degree of latitude, into two districts nearJy 
equal ; the one called the first or south colony of Virginia, the other, the 
second or north colony [April 10, 1616]. He authorized Sir Thomas 
Gates, Sir George Summers, Richard Hakluyt, and their associates, mostly 
resident in London, to settle any part of the former which they should 
choose, and vested in them a right of property to the land extending along 
the coast fifty miles on each side of the place of their first habitation, and 
reaching into the interior country a hundred miles. The latter district he 
allotted, as the place of settlement to sundry knights, gentlemen, and reer- 

* Hist, of Scotland, vol. ii. 



AMERICA. 4U3 

fchaiils 01 Bristol, Plymouth, and other parts in the Avos't ol' England, with 
a similar grant of territory. Neitlier the monarch who issued this charter, 
nor his subjects who received it, had any conception that they were pro- 
ceedina^ to lay the foundation of mighty and opulent states. What James 
granted was nothing more than a simple charter of corporation to a trading 
company, empowering the members of it to have a common seal, and to 
act as a body politic. But as the object tor which they associated was 
new, the plan established tor the administration of their affairs was uncom- 
mon. Instead of the power usually granted to corporations, of electing 
oilicers and framing by-laws for the conduct of their own operations, the 
supreme government of the colonies to be settled was vested in a council 
resident in England^ to be named by the king, according to such laws and 
ordinances as should be given under his sign manual ; and tlie subordinate 
jurisdiction was committed to a council resident in America, which was 
likewise to be nominated by the king, and to act conformably to his 
instructions. To this important clause, which regulated the form of their 
constitution, was added the concession of several immunities to encourage 
persons to settle in the intended colonies. Some of tliose were the same 
which had been granted to Gilbert and Ralegh ; such as the securing to 
the emigrants and their descendants all the rights of denizens, in the same 
manner as if they had remained or had been born in England ; and grant- 
ing them the privilege of holding their lands in America by the freest and 
least burdensome tenure. Others were more favourable than those granted 
by Elizabeth. He permitted whatever was necessaiy for the sustenance 
or commerce of the new colonies to be exported from England, during the 
space of seven years, without paying any duty; and, as a further incite- 
ment to industry, he granted them liberty of trade with other nations, and 
appropriated the duty to be levied on foreign commodities, for twenty -one 
years, as a fund for the benefit of the colony.* 

In this singular charter, the contents of which have been little attended 
to by the historians of America, some articles are as untavourable to the 
rights of the colonists as others are to the interest of the parent state. By 
placing the legislative and executive powers in a council nominated by the 
crown, and guided by its instructions, every person settling in America 
seems to be bereaved of the noblest privilege of a free man; by the 
unlimited permission of trade with foreigners, the parent state is deprived 
of that exclusive commerce which has been deemed the chief advantage 
resulting from the establishment of colonies. But in the infaticy of colo- 
nization, and without the guidance of observation or experience, the ideas 
of men, with respect to the mode of forming new settlements, were not 
fully unfolded or properly arranged. At a period when they could not 
foresee the future grandeur and importance of the communities which they 
were about to call into existence, they were ill qualified to concert the best 
plan for governing them. Besides, the English of that age, accustomed to 
the high prerogative and arbitrary rule of their monarchs, were not ani- 
jnated with such liberal sentiments, either concerning their own personal or 
political rights, as have become familiar in the more mature and improved 
state of their constitution. 

Without hesitation or reluctance the proprietors of both colonies prepared 
to execute their respective plans ; and under the authority of a charter, 
which would now be rejected with disdain as a violent mvasion of the 
sacred and inalienable rights of liberty, the first permanent settlements of 
the English in America were established. Erom this period, the progress 
of the two i)rovinces of Virginia and New England forms a regular and 
connected stoiy. The former in the south, and the latter in the north, may 
I)e considered as the original and parent colonies ; in imitation of whicli. 

*SlitIuIIirit, of Vircinia,]). 35. Ain>end i>. 1. Piiir)i:is. \ . H!>^^ 



404 HISTORY OF [Book IX. 

and under whose shelter, all the others have been successively planted and 
reared. 

The first attempts to occupy Vii^inia and New England were made by 
very feeble bodies of emigrants. As these settled under great disadvan- 
tages, among tribes of savages, and in an uncultivated desert ; as they 
attained gradually, after long struggles and many disasters, to that maturity 
of strength, and order of policy, which entitle them to be considered as 
respectable states, the history of their persevering efiforts merits particular 
attention. It will exhibit a spectacle no less striking than instructive, and 
presents an opportunity which rarely occurs, of contemplating a society in 
the first moment of its political existence, and of observing how its spirit 
forms in its infant state, how its principles begin to unfold as it advances, 
and how those characteristic qualities which distinguish its maturer age 
are successively acquired. The account of the establishment of the other 
English colonies, undertaken at periods when the importance of such pos- 
sessions was better understood, and effected by more direct and vigorous 
exertions of the parent state, is less interesting. I shall therefore relate 
the history of the two original colonies in detail. With respect to the sub- 
sequent settlements, some more general observations concerning the time, 
the motives, and circumstances of their establishment will be sufficient. 
I begin with the history of Virginia, the most ancient and most valuable of 
the British colonies in North America. 

Though many persons of distinction became proprietors in the company 
which undertook to plant a colony in Virginia, its funds seem not to have 
been considerable, and its first effort was certainly extremely feeble. A 
small vessel of a hundred tons, and two barks, under the command of 
Captain Newport, sailed [Dec. 19] with a hundred and five men destined 
to remain in the country. Some of these were of respectal)le families, 
particularly a brother of the Earl of Northumberland, and several officers 
who had served witli reputation in the reign of Elizabeth. Newport, I 
know not for what reason, followed the ancient course by the West Indies, 
and did not reach the coast of North America for four months [April 26, 
1607]. But he approached it with better fortune than any former navi- 
gator ; for, having been driven, by the violence of a storm, to the north- 
ward of Roanoke, the place of his destination, the first land he discovered 
was a promontory which he called Cape Henry, the southern boundary of 
the Bay of Chesapeak. The English stood directly into that spacious inlet, 
which seemed to invite them to enter ; and as they advanced, contem- 
plated, with a mixture of delight and adnjiraiion, that grand reservoir, 
fnto which are poured the waters of all the vast rivers, which not only 
diffuse fertility through that district of America, but open the interior parts 
of the country to navigation, and render a commercial intercourse more 
extensive and commodious than in any other region of the globe. New- 
port, keeping along the southern shore, sailed up a river which the natives 
called Powhatan, and to which he gave the name of James River. After 
viewing its banks, during a run of above forty miles from its mouth, they 
all concluded that a country, where safe and convenient harbours seemed 
to be numerous, would be a more suitable station lor a trading colony than 
the shoaly and dangerous coast to the south, on which their countrymen 
had formerly settled. Here then they determined to abide ; and having 
chosen a proper spot for their residence, they gave this infant settlement 
the name of James Town, which it still retains ; and though it has never 
become either populous or opulent, it can boast of being the most ancient 
habitation of the English in the New World. But however well chosen 
the situation might be, the members of the colony were far from availing 
themselves of its advantages. Violent animosities had broke out among 
some of their leaders, during their voyage to Virginia. Tiiese did not sub- 
side on their arrival there. The first deed of the council, which assumed 



A M ERIC A. 405 

the government in virtue of a commission brought from England under the 
seal of the company, and opened on the day after they landed, was an 
act of injustice. Captain Smith, who had been appointed a member of 
the council, was excluded from his seat at the board, by the mean jealousy 
of his colleagues, and not only reduced to the condition of a private man, 
but of one suspected and watched by his superiors. This diminution of 
his influence, and restraint on his activity, was an essential injury to the 
colony, which at that juncture stood in need of the aid of both. For soon 
after they began to settle, the English were involved in a war with the 
natives, partly by their own indiscretion, and partly by the suspicion and 
ferocity of those barbarians. And although the Indians, scattered over the 
countries adjacent to James River, were divided into independent tribes, 
so extremely teeble that hardly one of them could muster above two hun- 
dred warriors,* they teased and annoyed an intent colony by their inces- 
sant hostilities. To this was added a calamity still more dreadful ; the 
stock of provisions left lor their subsistence, on the departure of their ships 
fur England [June 15], was so scanty and of such bad quality, that a 
scarcity, approaching ahnost to absolute famine, soon followed. Such poor 
unwholesome fare brought on diseases, the violence of which was so much 
increased by the sultry heat of the climate, and the moisture of a country 
covered with wood, that before the beginning of September one half of 
their number died, and most of the survivors were sickly and dejected- 
In such trying extremities, the comparative powers of every individual are 
discovered and called forth, and each naturally takes that station, and 
assumes that ascendant, to which he is entitled by his talents and force of 
mind. Every eye was now turned towards Smith, and all willingly 
devolved on him that authority of which they had formerly deprived him. 
His undaunted temper, deeply tinctured with the wild romantic spirit cha- 
racteristic of military adventurers in that age, was peculiarly suited to such 
a situation. The vigour of his constitution continued fortunately still unim- 
paired by disease, and his mind was never appalled by danger. He instantly 
adopted the only plan that could save them from destruction. He began 
by surrounding James Town with such rude fortifications as were a suffi- 
cient defence against the assaults of savages. He then marched, at the 
head of a small detachment, in quest of their enemies. Some tribes he 
gained by caresses and presents, and procured from them a supply of 
provisions. Others he attacked with open force ; and defeating them on 
every occasion, whatever their superiority in numbers might be, compelled 
them to impart to him some portion of their winter stores. As the recom- 
pense of all his toils and dangers, he saw abundance and contentment 
re-established in the colony, and hoped that he should be able to maintain 
them in that happy state, until the arrival of ships from England in the 
spring ; but in one of his excursions he was surprised by a numerous body 
of Indians, and in making his escape from them, after a gallant defence, he 
sunk to the neck in a swamp, and was obliged to surrender. I'hough he 
knew well what a dreadful fate awaits the prisoners of savages, his pre- 
sence of mind did not forsake him. He showed those who had taken 
him captive a mariner's compass, and amused them with so many wonder- 
ful accounts of its virtues as filled them with astonishment and veneration, 
which began to operate very powerfully in his favour. They led him, 
however, in triumph through various parts of the country, and conducted 
him at last to Powhatan, the most considerable Sacliim in that part of 
Virginia. There the doom of death being pronounced, he was led to the 
place of execution, and his head already bowed down to receive the fatal 
l-low, when that fond attachment of the American women to their Euro- 

' riirclias, vol. iv. Ifi02 Hiiilth's Travels, p. i;). 



406 HISTORY OF [Book IX. 

pean invaders, (he beneficial effects of which the Spaniards often expo-- 
rienced, interposed in his behalf. The iavouiite dauejhter of Powhatan 
rushed in between him and the executioner, and by lier entreaties and 
tears prevailed on her father to spare his life. 'J he beneficence of his 
deliverer, whom the early English writers dignify with the title of the 
Princess Pocahuntas, did not terminate here ; she soon after procured his 
liberty, and sent from time to time seasonable presents of provisions.* 

Snnth, on his return to James Town, found the colony reduced to thirty- 
eight persons, who, in despair were preparing to abandon a countiy which 
did not seem destined to be the habitation of Englishmen. He employed 
caresses, threats, and even violence, in order to prevent them from executing 
this fatal resolution. With difficulty he prevailed on them to defer it so 
long, that the succour anxiously expected from England arrived. Plenty 
was instantly restored ; a hundred new planters were added to their 
number ; and an ample stock of whatever was requisite for clearing and 
sowing the ground was delivered to them. But an unlucky incident turned 
their attention from that species of industry which alone could render their 
situation comfortable. In a small stream of water that issued from a bank 
of sand near James Town, a sediment of some shining mineral substance, 
which had some resemblance of gold, was discovered. At a time when 
the precious metals were conceived to be the peculiar and only valuable 
productions of the New World, when every mountain was supposed to 
contain a treasure, and every rivulet was searched lor its golden sands, 
this appearance was tbndly considered as an infallible indication of a mine. 
Every hand was eager to dig ; large quantities of this glittering dust were 
amassed. From some assay of its nature, made by an artist as unskiltul 
as his companions were credulous, it was pronounced to be extremely rich. 
'• There was now," says Smith, " no talk, no hope, no work, but dig gold, 
wash gold, refine gold."t With this imaginary wealth the first vessel 
returning to England was loaded, while the culture of the land and every 
useful occupation were totally neglected. 

The effects of this fatal delusion were soon felt. Notwithstanding all 
the provident activity of Smith, in procuring corn from the natives by traffic 
or by force, the colony began to suffer as much as formerly from scarcity 
of food, and was wasted by the same distempers. In hopes of obtaining 
some relief, Smith proposed, as they had not hitherto extended their 
researches beyond the countries contiguous to James River, to open an 
intercourse with the more remote tribes, and to examine into the state of 
culture and population among them. The execution of this arduous design 
he undertook himself, in a small open boat, with a feeble crew, and a very 
scanty stock of provisions. He began his survey at Cape Charles, and in 
two different excursions, which continued above four months, he advanced 
as far as the river Susquehannah, which flows into the bottom of the bay. 
He visited all the countries both on the east and west shores ; he entered 
most of the considerable creeks ; he sailed up many of the great rivers as 
far as their falls. He traded with some tribes ; he fought with others ; he 
observed the nature of the territory which they occupied, their mode of 
subsistence, the peculiarities in their manners ; and left among all a won- 
derful admiration either of the beneficence or valour of the English. After 
sailing above three thousand miles in a paltry vessel, ill fitted for such an 
extensive navigation, during which the hardships to which he was exposed, 
as well as the patience with which he endured, and the fortitude with 
which he surmounted them, equal whatever is related of the celebrated 
S])anish discoverers in their most daring enterprises, he returned to James 
Town ; he brouglit with him an account of that lai-ge portion of the 

* Smitirg Trareh. p. 44. &r. Purchas. iv. 1704. Stilti. p. 4.1. &r. * Fmilh's Travels. ').. '53 



AMERICA. 407 

American continent now comprehended in the two provinces of Virginia 
and Maryland,* so full and exact, that after the progress of information and 
research for a century and a half, his map exhibits no inaccurate view of 
both countries, and is the original upon which all subsequent delineations 
and descriptions have been formed.t 

But whatever pleasing prospect of future benefit might open upon this 
complete discovery of a country formed by nature to be the seat of an 
exclusive commerce, if afforded but little relief for their present wants. 
The colon)^ still depended tor subsistence chiefly on supplies from the 
natives ; as, alter all the efforts of their own industry, hardly thirty acres 
of ground were yet cleared so as to be capable of culture. | By Smith's 
attention, however, the stores of the English were so regularly tilled that 
for some time they felt no considerable distress ; and at this juncture a 
change was made in the constitution of the company, which seemed to 
promise an increase of their seciuity and happiness. That supreme di- 
rection of all the company's operations, which the King by his charter had 
reserved to himself, discouraged persons of rank or property from becoming 
members of a society so dependent on the arbitrary will of the crown. 
Upon a representation of this to James, he granted them a new charter 
[May 23, 1609], with more ample privileges. He enlarged the boundaries 
of the colonjr ; he rendered the powers of the company, as a corporation, 
more explicit and complete ; he abolished the jurisdiction of the council 
resident in Virginia ; he vested the government entirely in a council re- 
siding in London ; he granted to the proprietors of the company the right 
of electing the persons who were to compose this council, by a majority 
of voices ; he authorized this "',ouncil to establish such laws, orders, and 
forms of government and magistracy, for the colony and plantation, as they 
in their discretion should think U- be fittest for the good of the adventurers 
and inhabitants there ; he empowered them to nominate a governor to have 
the administration of affairs in the colony ; and to carry their orders into 
execution. 6 In consequence of these concessions, the company having 
acquired the power of regulating all its own transactions, the number of 
proprietors increased, ^nd among them we find the most respectable names 
in the nation. 

The first deed of the new council was to appoint Lord Delaware go- 
vernor and captain-general of their colony in Virginia. To a person of 
his rank those high sounding titles could be no allurement ; and by his 
thorough acquaintance with the progress and state of the settlement, he 
knew enough of the labour and difficulty with which an infant colony is 
reared, to expect any thing but anxiety and care in discharging the duties 
of that delicate office. But, from zeal to promote an establishment which 
he expected to prove so highly beneficial to his countiy, he was willina; to 
relinquish all the comforts of an honourable station, to undertake a long 
voyage to settle in an uncultivated region, destitute of every accommoda- 
tion to which he had been accustomed, and where he foresaw that toil, 
and trouble, and danger awaited him. But as he could not immediately 
leave England, the council despatched Sir Thomas Gates and Sir Geoig^e 
Summers, the former of whom had been appointed lieutenant-general and 
the latter admiral, with nine ships and five hundred planters. They 
carried with them commissions by which they were empowered to super- 
sede the jurisdiction of the former council, to proclaim Lord Delaware 
governor, and until he should arrive, to take the administration of affairs 
into their own hands. A violent hurricane separated the vessel in which 
Gates and Summers had embarked from the rest of the fleet, and stranded 
it on the coast of Bermmlas [Aug. ll]. The other ships arrived safely 
at James Town. But the late of their commanders was unknown. Their 

* Pmilli's Travels, p. fir), kr. * Stith. p. PI i IHd. p >J7. ^ Ibid. Appr-nd. 8, 



408 HISTORY OF [Book IX. 

commission for new modelling the government, and all other public papers, 
were supposed to be lost tdgether with them. The present form of 
government, however, was held to be abolished. No legal warrant could 
be produced for establishing any other. Smith was not in a condition at 
this juncture to assert his own rights, or to act with his wonted vigour. 
By an accidental explosion of gunpo.wder, he had been so miserably 
scorched and mangled that he was incapable of moving, and under the 
necessity of committing himself to the guidance of his friends, who 
carried him aboard one of the ships returning to England, in hopes that 
he might recover by more skilful treatment than he could meet with in 
Virginia.* 

After his departure, every thing tended fast to the wildest anarchy. 
Faction and discontent had often risen so high among the old settlers that 
they could hardly be kept within bounds. The spirit of the new comers 
was too ungovernable to bear any restraint. Several among them of better 
rank were such dissipated hopeless young men, as their friends were glad 
to send out in quest of whatever fortune might betide them in a foreign 
land. Of the lower order many were so profligate, or desperate, that their 
country was happy to throw them out as nuisances in society. Such per- 
sons were little capable of the regular subordination, the strict economy, 
and persevering industry, which their situation required. The Indians 
observing their misconduct, and that eveiy precaution for sustenance or 
safety was neglected, not only withheld the supplies of provisions which 
they were accustomed to furnish, but harassed them with continual hos- 
tilities. All their subsistence was derived from the stores which they had 
brought from England ; these were soon consumed ; then the domestic 
animals sent out to breed in the country were devoured ; and by this in- 
considerate waste, they were reduced to such extremity of famine, as not 
only to eat the most nauseous and unwholesome roots and berries, but to 
feed on the bodies of the Indians whom they slew, and even on those of 
their companions who sunk under the oppression of such complicated dis- 
tress. In less than six months, of five hundred persons whom Smith left in 
Virginia, only sixty remained ; and these so feeble and dejected that they 
could not have survived for ten days, if succour had not arrived from a 
quarter whence they did not expect it.j 

When Gates and Summers Avere thrown ashore on Bermudas, fortunately 
not a single person on board their ship perished. A considerable part of 
their provisions and stores too, was saved, and in that delightful spot, 
Nature, with spontaneous bounty, presented to them such a variety of her 
productions, that a hundred and tifty people subsisted in affluence for ten 
months on an uninhabited island. Impatient, however, to escape from a 
place where they were cut off trom all intercourse with mankind, they set 
about building two barks with such tools and materials as they had, and 
by amazing efforts of perseverance and ingenuity they finished them. In 
these they embarked, and steered directly towards Virginia, in hopes of 
finding an ample consolation for all their toils and dangers in the embraces 
of their companions, and amidst the comforts of a flourishing colony. After 
a more prosperous navigation than they could have expected in their ill 
constructed vessels, they landed at .Tames Town [May 23]. But instead 
of that joyful interview for which they fondly looked, a spectacle pre- 
sented itself which struck them with horror. They beheld the miserable 
remainder of their countrymen emaciated with famine and sickness, sunk 
in despair, and in their figure and looks rather resembling spectres than 
himian beings. As Gates and Summers, in full confidence oT finding plenty 
of provisions ip Virginia, had brought with them no larger stock than was 

* >'iirch.is, iv. irjl, &.C. Smith's Travels. ;i. 89. f»iith, p. 109, &c. ► r=ii;!i. p. 11(>. 

Furclin-j. iv. 17-1.**. 



AMERICA. 409 

deemed necessary for their own support during the voyage, their inability 
to afford relief to their countrymen added to the anguish with which they 
viewed this unexpected scene of distress. Nothing now remained but in- 
stantly to abandon a country where it was impossible to subsist any longer ; 
and though all that could be found in the stores of the colony when added 
to what remained of the stock brought from Bermudas, did not amount to 
more than what was sufficient to support them for sixteen days, at the most 
scanty allowance, they set sail, in hopes of being able to reach Newfound- 
land, where they expected to be relieved by their countrymen employed 
at that season in the fishery there.* 

But it was not the will of Heaven that all the labour of the English, in 
planting this colony, as well as all their hopes of benefit from its future 
prosperity, should be for ever lost. Before Gates and the melancholy 
companions of his voyage had reached the mouth of James River, they 
were met by Lord Delaware with three ships, that brought a large recruit 
of provisions, a considerable number of new settlers, and every thing re- 
quisite for defence or cultivation. Bj' persuasion and authority he prevailed 
on them to return to James Town, where they found their fort, their ma- 
gazines, and houses entire, which Sir Thomas Gates, by some happy 
chance, had preserved from being set on tire at the time of their departure. 
A society so feeble and disordered in its frame required a tender and 
skilful hand to cherish it, and restore its vigour. This it found in Lord 
Delaware : he searched into the causes of tneir misfortunes, as far as he 
could discover them, amidst the violence of their mutual accusations ; but 
instead of exerting his power in punishing crimes that were past, he em- 
ployed his prudence in healing their dissensions, and in guarding against a 
repetition of the same fatal errors. By unwearied assiduities, by the 
respect due to an amiable and beneficent character, by knowing how to 
mingle severity with indulgence, and when to assume the dignity of his 
office, as well as when to display the gentleness natural to his own temper, 
he gradually reconciled men corrupted by anarchy to subordination and 
discipline, he turned the attention of the idle and profligate to industry, 
and taught the Indians again to reverence and dread the English name. 
Under such an administration, the colony began once more to assume a 
promising appearance ; when unhappily for it, a complication of diseases 
brought on by the climate obliged Lord Delaware to quit the countryt 
[March 28, 1611]; the government of which he comniitted to Mr. Percy. 

He was soon superseded by the arrival [May 10] of Sir Thomas Dale ; 
in whom the company had vested more absolute authority than in any of 
his predecessors, empowering him to rule by martial law ; a short code of 
which, founded on the practice of the armies in the Low Countries, the 
most rigid military school at that time in Europe, they sent out with him. 
This system of government is so violent and arbitrary, that even the Spa- 
niards themselves had not ventured to introduce it into their settlements ; 
for among them, as soon as a plantation began, and the arts of peace suc- 
ceeded to the operations of war, the jurisdiction of the civil magistrate 
was uniformly established. But however unconstitutional or oppressive 
this may appear, it was adopted by the advice of Sir Francis B^con, the 
most enlightened philosopher, and one of the most eminent lawyers of the 
age.J The company, well acquainted with the inefficacy of every method 
which they had hitherto employed for restraining the unruly mutinous 
spirits which they had to govern, eagerly adopted a plan that had the 
sanction of such nigh authority to recommend it. Happily for the colony. 
Sir Thomas Dale, who was intrusted with this dangerous power, exercised 

* A minute and curious account of the shipwreck of Gates and Summers, and of their adven- 
tures in Bcrmuriaf , was composed !>>' .Strachy, a gentleman who accompanied them, and was pub- 
lished hy PMiTl)aii, iv. 1734. t Slith, p. 117. Piirchaa, iv. lT(i4, i Bacon, Essay on 
PlaDiaiions. p. 3. 

Vor., I.— r,xr N 



410 H I S T O R Y O F [Book IX. 

it with prudence and moderation. By the vigour which the summary 
mode of military punishment gave to his administration, he introduced into 
the colony more periect order than had ever been established there ; and 
at the sau)e time he tempered his vigour with so much discretion, that no 
alarm seems to have been given by this formidable innovation.* 

The regular form which the colony now began to assume induced the 
king lo issue a new charter for the encouragement of the adventurers [March 
12, 1612], by which he not only confirmed all their former privileges, and 
prolonged the term of exemption from payment of duties on the commodi- 
ties exported by them, but granted them more extensive property, as well 
as more ample jurisdiction. All the islands lyi!:g within three hundred 
leagues of the coast were annexed to the province of Virginia. In con- 
sequence of this, the company took possession of Bermudas and the other 
small islands discovered by Gates and Summers, and at the same time 
prepared to send out a considerable reinforcement to the colony at James 
Town. The expense of those extraordinary efforts was defrayed by the 
profits of a lottery, which amounted nearly to thirty thousand pounds. 
This expedient they were authorized to employ Ity their new charter;! 
and it is remarkable, as the first instance in the Englisli history of any public 
countenance given to this pernicious seducing mode of levying money. 
But the House of Commons, which towards the close of this reign began 
to observe every measure of government with jealous attention, having 
remonstrated against the institution, as unconstitutional and impolitic, James 
recalled the license under the sanction of which it had been established.^ 

By the severe discipline of martial law, the activity of the colonists was 
forced into a proper direction, and exerted itself in useful industry. This, 
aided by a fertile soil and favourable climate, soon enabled them to raise 
such a large stock of provisions, that they were no longer obliged to trust 
for subsistence to the precarious supplies which they obtained or extorted 
from the Indians. In proportion as the English became more independent, 
the natives courted their (riendship upon more equal terms. The happy 
effects of this were quickly felt. Sir Thomas Dale concluded a treaty 
with one of their most powerful and warlike tribes, situated on the river 
Chickahominy, in which thej consented to acknowledge themselves sub- 
jects to the King of Great Britain, to assume henceforth the name of Eng- 
lishmen, to send a body of their warriors to the assistance of the English 
as often as they took the field against any enemy, and to deposite annually 
a stipulated quantity of Indian corn in the storehouses of the colony. § 
An event, which the early historians of Virginia relate with peculiar satis- 
faction, prepared the way for this union. Pocahuntas. the favourite 
daughter of the great Chief Powhatan, to whose intercession Captain 
Smith was indebted for his life, persevered in her partial attachment to 
the English ; and as she frequently visited their settlements, where she 
was always received with respectful hospitality, her admiration of their 
arts and manners continued to increase. During this intercourse, her 
beauty, which is represented as far superior to that of her countiywomen, 
made such impression on the heart of Mr. Rolfe, a young man of rank in 
the colony, that he warmly solicited her to accept of him as a husband. 
Where manners are simple, courtship is not tedious. Neither artifice pre- 
vents, nor ceremony forbids, the heart from declaring its sentiments. 
Pocahuntas readily gave her consent ; Dale encouraged the alliance, and 
Powhatan did not disapprove it. The marriage was celebrated with ex- 
traordinary pomp ; and from that period a friendly correspondence sub- 
sisted between the colony and all the tribes subject to Powhatan, or that 
stood in awe of his power. Rolfe and his princess (for by that name the 

*Stith, p. 112. tIbp-191. Appendix, 23, &c. J CJialmerB' AnnnK i. 32. 

* TlniniT SoIirt!\ Nnriatio. np. dR Bry. pars x. p. 33 f?lifh, p. 130. 



AMERICA. 411 

writers of the last age always distinguish her,) set out for England, where 
she was received try James and his Qjueen with the respect suited to her 
birth. Being carefully instructed in the principles of the Christian faith, 
she was publicly baptized, but died a few years after, on her return to 
America, leaving one son, from whom are sprung some of the most re- 
spectable families in Virginia, who boast of their descent from the race of 
the ancient rulers of their country.* But notwithstanding the visible good 
eflfects of that alliance, none of Rolte's countrymen seem to have imitated 
the example which he set them, of intermarrying with the natives. Ol all 
the Europeans who have settled in America, the English have availed 
themselves the least of this obvious method of conciliating the affection ot 
its original inhabitants ; and, either from the shyness conspicuous in their 
national character, or from the want of that pliant facility of manners which 
accommodates itself to eveiy situation, they have been more averse than 
the French and Portuguese, or even the Spaniards, from incorporating with 
the native Americans. The Indians, courting such a union, offered their 
daughters in marriage to their new guests : and when they did not accept 
of the proffered alliance, they naturally imputed it to pride, and to their 
contempt of them as an inferior order of beings.t 

During the interval of tranquillity procured by the alliance with Pow- 
hatan, an important change was made in the state of the colony. Hitherto 
no right of private property in land had been established. Tne fields that 
were cleared had been cultivated by tlie joint labour of the colonists; their 
product was carried to the common storehouses, and distributed weekly 
to every family, according to its number and exigencies. A society, des- 
titute of the first advantages resulting from social union, was not formed to 
prosper. Industry, when not excited by the idea of property in what was 
acquired by its own efforts, made no vigorous exertion. The head had no 
inducement to contrive, nor the hand to labour. The idle and improvident 
trusted entirely to what was issued from the common store ; the assiduity 
even of the sober and attentive relaxed, when they perceived that others 
were to reap the fruit of their toil ; and it was computed, that the united 
industry of the colony did not accomplish as much work in a week as 
might nave been performed in a day, if each individual had laboured on 
his own account. In order to remedy this, Sir Thomas Dale divided a 
considerable portion of the land into small lots, and granted one of these to 
each individual in full property. From the moment that industry had the 
certain prospect of a recompense, it advanced with rapid progress. The 
articles of primary necessity were cultivated with so much attention as 
secured the means of subsistence; and such schemes of improvement were 
formed as prepared the way for the introduction of opulence into the colony.]; 

The industrious spirit which began to rise among the planters was soon 
directed towards a new object ; and they applied to it tor some tin.e with 
such inconsiderate ardour as was productive of fatal consequences. The 
culture of tobacco, which has since become the staple of Virginia, and the 
source of its prosperity, was introduced about this time [ifilh], into the 
colony. As the taste for that weed continued to increase in England, not- 
withstanding the zealous declamations of Jan)es against it, the tobacco 
imported from Virginia came to a ready market ; and though it was so 
much inferior in quality or in estimation to that raised by the Spaniards in 
the West Indian islands, that a pound of the latter sold lijr eighteen shillings, 
and of the former for no more than three sliillings, it yielded a considerable 
profit. Allured by the prospect of such a certain and quick return, every 
other species of industry was neglected. The land which ought to have 
been reserved for raising provisions, and even the streets of James Town, 

* Hamer Solida Narralio, ap. de Bry, pars x. p. 23. Siith. p. 129. 146. Srniiirs Travels, p. H3 
}?l. t Bcv.'riev's HiRt. of Viri;. p. 25. J Snulli's 'I'ravels, p. 114. Stilh, p. 131. 



412 HISTORY OF [Book IX. 

were planted wilh tobacco. Various regulations were framed to restrain 
this ill directed activity. But, from eagerness for present gain, the plant- 
ers disregarded every admonition. The means of subsistence became so 
scanty, as forced them to renew their demands upon the Indians, who 
seeing no end of those exactions, their antipathy to the English name 
revived with additional rancour, and they began to (brm schemes of ven- 
geance, with a secrecy and silence peculiar to Americans.* 

Meanwhile the colony, notwithstanding this error in its operations, and 
the cloud that was gathering over its head, continued to wear an aspect of 
prosperity. Its numbers increased by successive migrations ; the quantity 
of tobacco exported became every year more considerable, and several 
of the planters were not only in an easy situation, but advancing fast to 
opulence ;t and by two events, which happened nearly at the same time, 
both population and industry were greatly promoted. As few women had 
hitherto ventured to encounter the hardships which were unavoidable in an 
unknown and uncultivated country, most of the colonists, constrained to 
live single, considered themselves as no more than sojourners in a land to 
which they were not attached by the tender ties of a family and children. 
In order to induce them to settle there, the company took advantage of the 
apparent tranquillity in the country, to send out a considerable number of 
young women of humble birth indeed, but of unexceptionable character, 
and encouraged the planters, by premiums and iinmunities, to marry them.|. 
These new companions were received with such fondness, and many of 
them so comtbrtably established, as invited others to follow their example ; 
and by degrees thoughtless adventurers, assuming the sentiments of vir- 
tuous citizens and of provident fathers of families, became solicitous about 
the prosperity of a country which they now considered as their own. As 
the colonists began to form more extensive plans of industry, they were 
unexpectedly furnished with means of executing them with greater facility. 
A Dutch ship from the coast of Guinea, having sailed up James River, 
sold a part of her cargo of Negroes to the planters ;§ and as that hardy 
race was found more capable of enduring fatigue under a sultry climate 
than Europeans, their number has been increased by continual importation ; 
their aid seems now to be essential to the existence of the colony, and the 
greater part of field labour in Virginia is performed bj^ servile hands. 

But as the condition of the colony improved, the spirits of its members 
became more independent. To Englishmen the summary and severe 
decisions of martial law, however tempered by the mildness of their 
governors, appeared intolerably oppressive ; and they longed to recover 
the privileges to which they had been accustomed under the liberal (orm 
of governrnent in their native country. In compliance with this spirit. Sir 
George Yeardly, in the year 1619 [June], called the first general assembly 
that was ever held in Virginia ; and the numbers of the people were now 
so increased, and their settlements so dispersed, that eleven corporations 
appeared by their representatives in this convention, where they were 
permitted to assume legislative power, and to exercise the noblest functions 
of free men. The laws enacted in it seem neither to have been many nor 
of great importance ; but the meeting was highly acceptable to the people, 
as they now beheld among themselves an image of the English constitution, 
which they reverenced as the most perfect model of free government. In 
order to render this resemblance more complete, and the rights of the 
planters more certain, the company issued a charter of ordinance [July 24], 
which gave a legal and permanent form to the government of the cdony. 
The supreme legislative authority in Virginia, in imitation of that in Great 
Britain, was divided and lodged partly in the governor, who held the 

* SUth, p. 140. 117. 164. IGfl. Smith, p. 130. Turchas, iv. ITST. "^ Sinitli. p. ino. 

t Rtith. p. 166. 197. ^ Rpvprley, p. .37. 



AMERICA. 413 

place of the sovereign ; partly in a council of state named by the company, 
which possessed some of the distinctions, and exercised some of the func- 
tions belonging to the peerage ; partly in a general council or assembly 
composed of the representatives of the people, in which were vested 
powers and privileges similar to those of the House of Commons. In both 
these councils all questions were to be determined by the majority of 
voices, and a negative was reserved to the governor ; but no law or ordi- 
nance, though approved of by all the three meuibers of the legislature, 
was to be of force until it was ratified in England by a general court of the 
company, and returned under its seal.* Thus the constitution of the colony 
was fixed, and the members of it are henceforth to be considered, not 
merely as servants of a commercial company dependent on the will and 
orders of their superior, but as free men and citizens. 

The natural eflfectof that happy change in their condition was an increase 
of their industry. The product of tobacco in Virginia was now equal, 
not only to the consumption of it in Great Britain,! but could furnish some 

?[uantiiy lor a tbreign market. The company opened a trade for it with 
lolland, and established warehouses for it in Middelburg and Flushing. 
James and his privy council, alarmed at seeing the commerce of a com- 
modity, for which the demand was daily increasing, turned into a channel 
that tended to the diminution of the revenue, by depriving it of a consider- 
able duty imposed on the importation of tobacco, interposed with vigour to 
check this innovation. Some expedient was fjund, by which the matter 
was adjusted tor the present ; but it is remarkable as the first instance of 
a difference in sentiment between the parent state and the colony, concern- 
ing their respective rights. The former concluded, that the trade of the 
colony should be confined to England, and all its productions be landed 
there. The latter claimed, not only the general privilege of Englishmen 
to carry their commodities to the best market, but pleaded the particular 
concessions in their charter, by which an unlimited freedom of commerce 
seemed to be granted to them, j Tne time for a more full discussion of this 
important question was not yet arrived. 

But while the colony continued to increase so fast that settlements were 
scattered, not only along the banks of James and York rivers, but began 
to extend to the Rapahannock, and even to the Potowmack, the English^ 
relying on their own numbers, and deceived by tlii-; appearance of pros- 
perity, lived in full security. They neither attended to the movements of 
the Indians, nor suspected their machinations ; and though surrounded by 
a people whom they might have known from experience to be both artful 
and vindictive, they neglected eveiy precaution for their own safety that 
was requisite in such a situation. Like the peaceful inhabitants of a 
society completely established, they were no longer soldiers but citizens^ 
and were so intent on what was subservient to the comfort or embellishment 
of civil life that every martial exercise began to be laid aside as unne- 
cessary. The Indians, whom they commonly employed as hunters, were 
furnished with fire arms, and taught to use them with dexterity. They 
were permitted to frequent the hcUjitations of the English at all hours, and 
received as innocent visitants whom there was no reason to dread. This 
inconsiderate security enabled the Indians to prepare for the execution of 

'" Stith, Appendix, p. ^, &c. 

t It is a matter of some curiosity to trace the progress of the consumption of this unnecessary 
commodity. The use of tobacccj seems to liave been first introduced into England about the year 
1586. Possibly a fewscafarin;.' persons may have acquired a relish for it by their inlercourse with 
the Spaniards previous to that period ; but tlie use of it cannot be denominated a national habit 
sooner than the time I have mentioned. U|)on an average of the seven years immediately prece- 
ding the year 1G22, the whole import of tobacco into England amounted to a hundred and forty-two 
thousand and eighty-five jmunds weight. Stith, p. 246. From this it appears, that the ta^te hod 
spread with a rapidity which is remarkable. But how inconsiderable is that quantity to what is 
now consumed in Ureat Britain '. 

t Stitli, p. 200, &c. 



414 HISTORY OF [Book L\. 

that plan of vengeance, which they meditated with all the deliberate fore- 
tliouffht which is agreeable to their temper. Nor did they want a leader 
capable of conducting their schemes with address. On the death of 
Powhatan, in the year 1618, Opechancanough succeeded him, not only as 
wirowanee, or chief of his own tribe, but in that extensive influence over 
all the Indian nations of Virginia, which induced the Eno:lish writers to 
distinguish him by the name of Emperor. According to the Indian tradi- 
tion, he was not a native of Virginia, but came from a distant country to 
the south-west, possibly from some province of the Mexican empire.* 
But as he was conspicuous for all the qualities of highest estimation among 
savages, a fearless courage, great strength and agility of body, and crafty 
policy, he quickly rose to eminence and power. — Soon after his elevation 
to the supreme command, a general massacre of the English seems to have 
been resolved upon ; and during four years, the means of perpetrating it 
with the greatest facility and success were concerted with amazing secrecy. 
All the tribes contiguous to the English settlements were successively gahied, 
except those on the eastern shore, from whom, on account of their peculiar 
attachment to their new neighbours, eveiy circumstance that might discover 
^vhat they intended was carefully concealed. To each tribe its station 
was allotted, and the part it was to act prescribed. On the morning of 
the day consecrated to vengeance [March 22], each was at the place of 
rendezvous appointed, while the English were so little aware of the 
impending destruction that they received with unsuspicious hospitality 
several persons sent by Opechancanough, under pretext of delivering 
presents of venison and fruits, but in reality to observe their motions. 
r inding them perfectly secure, at midday, the moment that was previously 
fixed for this deed of horror, the Indians rushed at once upon them in all 
their different settlements, and murdered men, women, and children, v/ith 
undistinguishing rage, and that rancorous cruelty with which savages treat 
their enemies. In one hour nearly a fourth part of the whole colony was 
cut off, almost without knowing by whose hands they fell. The slaughter 
would have been universal, if compassion, or a sense of duty, had not 
moved a converted Indian, to whom the secret was communicated the 
night before the massacre, to reveal it to his master in such time as to save 
James Town and some adjacent settlements ; and if the English in other 
districts had not run to their arms with resolution prompted by despair, 
and defended themselves so bravely as to repulse their assailants, who, 
in the execution of their plan, did not discover courage equal to the sagacity 
and art with which they had concerted it.j 

But though the blow was thus prevented from descending with its full 
effect, it proved very grievous to an infant colony. In some settlements 
not a single Englishman escaped. Many persons of prime note in the 
colony, and among these several members of the council, were slain. 
The survivors, overwhelmed with grief, astonishment, and terror, aban- 
doned all their remote settlements, and, crowding together for safety to 
James Town, did not occupy a territoiy of greater extent than had been 
planted soon after the arrival of their countrymen in Virginia. Confined 
within those narrow boundaries, they were less intent on schemes of industry 
than on thoughts of revenge. Everj^ man took arms. A bloody war 
against the Indians commenced ; and, bent on exterminating the whole 
race, neither old nor young were spared. The conduct of the Spaniards 
in the southern regions of America was openly proposed as the most proper 
model to imitate ;J and regardless, like them, of those principles of faith, 
honour, and humanity, which regulate hostility among civilized nations 
and set bounds to its rage, the English deemed every thing allowable that 
tended to accomplish their design. They hunted the Indians like wild 

"• Beverley, p. 51. f Siith. p. OOS. &c. Purchas. iv, 1788. Sec. i Siith. p. 23:! 



AMERICA. 415 

beasts rather than enemies ; and as the pursuit of them to their places of 
retreat in the woods, which covered their couiitrj', was both difficult and 
danp:erous, they endeavoured to allure them from their inaccessible fastness 
by offer^) of peace and promises of oblivion, made with such an artful 
appearance of sincerity as deceived their crafty leader, and induced theni 
to return to their former settlements, and resume their usual peaceful oc- 
cupatioas [1623]. The behaviour of the two people seemed now to be 
perlectly reversed. The Indians, like men acquainted with the principles 
of integrity and good taith, on which the intercourse between nations is 
founded, confided in the reconciliation, and lived in absolute security with- 
out suspicion of danger ; while the English, with pertidinus craft, were 
preparing to imitate savages in their revenge and cruelty. On the approach 
of harvest, when they knew a hostile attack would be most formidable 
and fatal, they fell suddenly upon all the Indian plantations, murdered 
every person on whom they could lay hold, and drove the rest to the 
woods, where so many perished with hunger, that some of the tribes 
nearest to the English were totally extirpated. This atrocious deed, 
which the perpetrators laboured to represent as a necessaiy act of retalia- 
tion, was followed by some happy effects. It deliveredi the colony so 
entirely from any dread of the Indians, that its settlements began again to 
extend, and its industry to revive. 

But unfortunately at this juncture the state of the company in England, 
in which the property of Virginia and the government of the colony 
settled there were vested, prevented it from seconding the efforts of the 
planters, by such a reinforcement of men, and such a supply of necessa- 
ries, as were requisite to replace what they had lost. The company was 
originally composed of many adventurers, and increased so fast by the 
junction of new members, allured by the prospect of gain, or the desire of 
promoting a scheme of public utility, that its general courts formed a 
numerous assembly.* The operation of every political principle and 
passion, that spread through the kingdom, was felt in those popular meet- 
ings, and influenced their decisions. As towards the close of James's 
reign more just and enlarged sentiments with respect to constitutional 
liberty were diffused among the people, they came to understand their 
rights better and to assert them with greater boldness ; a distinction formerly 
little known, but now familiar in English policj^ began to be established 
between the court and country parties, and the leaders of each endea- 
voured to derive power and consequence from every quarter. Both 
exerted themselves with emulation, in order to obtain the direction of a 
body so numerous and respectable as the company of Virginian adven- 
turers. In consequence of this, business had been conducted in every 
general court for some years, not with the temperate spirit of merchanfs 
deliberating concerning their mutual interest, but with the animosity and 
violence natural to numerous assemblies, by which rival flictions contend 
for superiority.! 

As the king did not often assemble the great council of the nation in 
parliament, the general courts of the company became a theatre on which 
popular orators displayed their talents ; the proclamations of the crown, 
and acts of the privy council, with respect to the commerce and police of 
the colony, were canvassed there with freedom, and censured with seve- 
rity, ill suited to the lofty ideas which James entertained of his own 
wisdom, and the extent of his prerogative. In order to check this growing 
spirit of discussion, the ministers employed all their address and influence 
to gain as many members of the company as might give them the direc- 
tion of their deliberations. But so unsuccessful were they in this attempt, 
that every measure proposed by them was reprobated by a vast majority, 

• Stith, p. 272. 27«. t Ihid. p. SK), tc. Chalmers, p. 50 



41ti HISTOKVUF [Book IX. 

and sometimes without any reason but because they were the proposers 
of it. James, little favourable to the power of any popular assembly, 
and weary of contending with otie over which he had laboured in vain to 
obtain an ascendant, began to entertain thoughts of dissolving the com- 
pany, and new modelling its constitution. Pretexts, neither unplausible 
nor destitute of some fonndation, seemed to justity this measure. The 
slow progress of the colony, the lai^e sums of money expended, and great 
number of men who had perished in attempting to plant it, the late massacre 
by the Indians, and every disaster that had befallen the English from their 
first migration to America, were imputed solely to the inability of a nume- 
rous company to conduct an enterprise so complex and arduous. The 
nation felt sensibly its disappointment in a scheme in which it had engaged 
with sanguine expectations of advantage, and wished impatiently for such 
an impartial scrutiny into former proceedings as might suggest more 
salutary measures in the future administration of the colony. The pre- 
sent state of its affairs, as well as the wishes of the people, seemed to call 
for the interposition of the crown ; and James, eager to display the supe- 
riority of his royal wisdom, in correcting those errors into which the 
company had been betrayed by inexperience in the arts of government, 
boldly undertook the work of reformation [May 9, 1623 J. Without 
regarding the rights conveyed to the company by their charter, and without 
the formality of any judicial proceeding for annulling it, he, by virtue of 
his prerogative, issued a commission, empowering some of the judges, and 
other persons of note, to examine into all the transactions of the company 
from its first establishment, and to lay the result of their inquiries, together 
with their opinion concerning the most effectual means of rendering the 
colony more prosperous,* before the privy council. At the same time, by 
a strain of authority still higher, he ordered all the records and papers of 
the company to be seized, and two of its principal officers to be arrested. 
V^iolent and arbitrary as these acts of authority may now appear, the com- 
missioners carried on their inquiry without any obstruction, but what arose 
from some feeble and ineffectual remonstrances of the company. The 
commissioners, though they conducted their scrutiny with much activity 
and vigour,! did not communicate any of their proceedings to the com- 
pany ; but their report, with respect to its operations, seems to have been 
very unfavourable, as the king, in consequence of it, signified to the com- 
pany [Oct. 8], his intention of^ vesting the supreme government of the 
company in a governor and twelve assistants, to be resident in England, 
ajni the executive power in a council of twelve, which should reside in 
Virginia, The governor and assistants were to be originally appointed by 
the king. Future vacancies were to be supplied by the governor and his 
assistants, but their nomination Avas not to take effect until it should be 
ratified by the privy council. The twelve counsellors in Virginia were to 
be chosen by the governor and assistants ; and this choice was likewise 
subjected to the review of the privy council. With an intention to quiet 
the minds of the colonists, it was declared that private property should 
be deemed sacred ; and for the more effectual security of it, all grants of 
lands from the foiiner company were to be confirmed by the new one. 
In order to facilitate the execution of this plan, the king required the com- 
pany instantly to surrender its charter into his hands.J 

But here James and his ministers encountered a spirit of which they 
seem not to have been aware. They found the members of the company 
unwilling tamely to relinquish rights of franchises, conveyed to them witii 
such legal formality, that upon f^iith in their validity they had expended 
considerable sums ;§ and still more averse to the abolition of a popular 
form of government, in which every proprietor had a voice, in order to 

♦ Siith, p. 289. + Smith's Travels, p. 1^5, &C. 1 Stith, p 593, kc. ^ Chnlmer?, p. 61. 



AiMEKlCA. 417 

subject a colony, in which they were deeply interested, to the dominion 
of a small junto absolutely dependent on the crown. Neither promises 
nor threats could induce them to depart iVom these sentiments ; and in a 
general court [Oct. 20], the king's proposal was almost unanimously 
rejected, and a resolution taken to defend to the utmost their chartered 
rights, if these should be called in question in any court of justice. James, 
highly ofifended at their presumption in daring to oppose his will, directed 
[Nov. 10] a writ of quo warranto to be issued against the company, that 
the validity of its charter might be tried in the Court of King s Bench ; 
and in order to aggravate the charge, by collecting additional proofs oi 
mal-administration, he appointed some persons in whom he could contide, 
lo repair to Virginia to inspect the state of the colony, and inquire into the 
conduct of the company, and of its officers there. 

The lawsuit in the King's Bench did not hang long^ in suspense. It 
terminated, as was usual in that reign, in a decision perfectly consonant to 
the wishes of the monarch. The charter was forfeited, the company was 
dissolved [June, 1624], and all the riglits and privileges conferred upon it 
returned to the King, from Avhom they dowed.* 

Some writers, particularly Stith, the most intelligent and best informed 
historian of Virginia, mention the dissolution of the company as a most 
disastrous event to the colony. Animated with liberal sentiments, imbibed 
in an age when the principles of liberty were more fully unfolded than 
under the reign of James, they viewed his violent and arbitrary proceed- 
ings on this occasion with such indignation that their abhorrence of the 
means which he employed to accomplish his designs, seems to have ren- 
dered them incapable of contemplating its effects with discernment and 
candour. There is not perhaps any mode of governing an infant colony 
less friendly to its liberty than the dominion of an exclusive corporation 
possessed of all the powers which James had conferred upon the company 
of adventurers in Virginia. During several years the colonists can hardly be 
considered in any other light than as servants to the company, nourished 
out of its stores, bound implicitly to obey its orders, and subjected to the 
most rigorous of all forms of government, that of martial law. Even after 
the native spirit of Englishmen began to rouse under oppression, and had 
extorted from their superiors the right of enacting laws for the government 
of that community of which they were members, as no act, though 
approved of by all the branches of the provincial legislature, was held to 
be of legal force until it was ratified by a general court in England, the 
company still retained the paramount authority in its own hands. Nor 
■was the power of the company more favourable to the prosperity of the 
colony than to its freedom. A numerous body of merchants, as long as its 
operations are purely commercial, may carry them on Avith discernment 
and success. But the mercantile spirit seems ill adapted to conduct an 
enlarged and liberal plan of civil policy, and colonies have seldom grown 
up to maturity and vigour under its narrow nnd interested regulations. 
To the unavoidable effects in administration which this occasioned, were 
added errors arising from inexperience. The English merchants of that 
age had not those extensive views which a general commerce opens to such as 
have the direction of it. When they first began to venture out of the beaten 
track, they groped their way with timidity and hesitation. Unacquainted 
■with the climate and soil of America, and ignorant of the productions best 
suited to them, they seem to have had no settled plan of improvement, and 
their schemes were continually vaiying. Their system of government 
was equally fluctuating. In the course of eighteen years ten different 
persons presided over the province as chief governors. No wonder thai, 
under such administration, all the efforts to give vigour and stability to the 

* Jivmer. vol- xvii. p. OIP. &!■. Chrilm'T^. o. r« 
VoT.,. I.— 'c.-^ 



418 HISTORY OF [Book IX. 

colony should prove aljortive, or produce only slender effects. These 
eflforts, however, when estimattid according to the ideas of that age, either 
with respect to commerce or to policy, were very considerable, and con- 
ducted with astonishing perseverance. 

Above a hundred and fifty thousand pounds were expended in this first 
attempt to plant an English colony in America ;* and more than nine 
thousand persons were sent out from the mother country to people this new 
settlement. At the dissolution of the company, the nation, in return for 
this waste of treasure and of people, did not receive from Virginia an 
annual importation of commodities exceeding twenty thousand pounds in 
value ; and the colony was so far from having added strength to the state 
by an increase of population, that in the year one thousand six hundred 
and twenty-four, scarcely two thousand persons survived ;t a wretched 
remnant ot the numerous emigrants who had flocked thither with sanguine 
expectations of a very difl'erent fate. 

The company, like all unprosperous societies, fell unpitied. The violent 
hand with which prerogative had invaded its rights was forgotten, and new 
prospects of success opened, under a form of government exempt from all 
the defects to which past disasters were imputed. The King and the 
nation concurred with equal ardour in resolving to encourage the colony. 
Soon after the final judgment in the Court of King's Bench against the 
company, James appointed a council of twelve persons [Aug. 26], to take 
the temporary direction of affairs in Virginia that he might have leisure to 
frame with deliberate consideration proper regulations for the permanent 
government of the colony .| Pleased with such an opportunity of exercising 
his talents as a legislator, he began to turn his attention towards the 
subject ; but death prevented him from completing his plan. 

Charles 1., on his accession to the throne [March 27, 1625], adopted all 
his father's maxims with respect to the colony in Vii^inia. He declared 
it to be a part of the empire annexed to the crown, and immediately 
subordinate to its jurisdiction : he conferred the title of Governor on Sir 
George Yardely, and appointed him, in conjunction with a council of 
twelve, and a secretary', to exercise supreme authority there, and enjoined 
them to conform, in every point, to such instructions as from time to time 
they might receive from him.§ From the tenor of the king's connnission, 
as well as from the known spirit of his policy, it is apparent that he intended 
to invest every power of government, both legislative and executive, in 
the governor and council, without recourse to the representatives of the 
people, as possessing a right to enact laws for the community, or to impose 
taxes upon it. — Yardely and his council, who seem to have been fit instiu- 
ments for carrying this system of arbitraiy rule into execution, did not fail 
to put such a construction on the words of their commission as was most 
favourable to their own jurisdiction. During a great part of Charles's 
reign, Virginia knew no other law than the will of the Sovereign. Statutes 
were published and taxes imposed, without once calling the representatives 
of the people to authorize them by their sanction. At the same time that 
the colonists were bereaved of their political rights, which they deemed 
essential tofreemen and citizens, theirprivate property was violently invaded. 
A proclamation was issued, by which, under pretexts equally absurd and 
frivolous, they were prohibited from selling tobacco to any pei"son but 
certain commissioners appointed by the king to purchase it on his account ;H 
and they had the cruel mortification to behold the sovereign, who should 
have aflbrded them protection, engross all the profits of their industry, by 
seizing the only valuable coimnodity which they had to vend, and retain- 
ing the monopoly of it in liis o^vn hands. While the staple of the colony 

* Sinitli's Travels, p. 42. IfiT. t Clialiners" Antuils, p. 09. t Rymor, xvii r.l3, Sec. 

§ Ibirl. xviii. ~-i. 311. I' Jliid. vviii. 1<.I. 



AMEBIC A. 419 

in V irginia sunk in value under the oppression and restraints ot' a monopoly-, 
property in land was rendered insecure by various grants of it, which 
Charles inconsiderately bestowed upon his favourites. These were not 
only of such exorbitant extent as to be unfavourable to the progress of 
cultivation, but from inattention, or imperfect acquaintance with the 
geography of the country, their boundaries were so inaccurately defined, 
that larg-e tracts already occupied and planted were often included in 
them. 

The murmurs and complaints which such a system of administration 
excited, were augmented by the rigour with vvhich Sir John Harvey, who 
succeeded Yardcly in the government of the colony,* enforced everj'^ act 
of power [1627]. Rapacious, unfeeling, and haughty, he added insolence 
to oppression, and neither regarded the sentiments nor listened to the 
remonstrances of the people under his command. The colonists, far from 
the seat of government, and overawed by authority derived from a royal 
commission, submitted long to his tyranny and exactions. Their patience 
Avas at last exhausted ; and in a transport of popular rage and indignation, 
they seized their governor, and sent him a prisoner to England, accompa- 
nied by two of their number, whom they deputed to preler their accusa- 
tions against him to the king. But this attempt to redress their own 
wrongs, by a proceeding so summary and violent as is hardly consistent 
with any idea of regular government, and can be justified only in cases of 
such urgent necessity as rarely occur in civil society, was altogether repug- 
nant to eveiy notion which Charles entertained with respect to the obe- 
dience due by subjects to their sovereign. To him the conduct of the 
colonists appeared to be not only a usurpation of his right tojudge and to 
jiunish one of his own officers, by an open and audacious act of rebellion 
against his authority. Without deigning to admit their deputies into his 
presence, or to hear one article of their charge against Harvey, the king 
instantly sent him back to his former station, with an ample renewal of all 
the powers belonging to it. But though Charles deemed this vigorous 
step necessary in order to assert his own authority, and to testify his dis- 
pleasure with those who had presumed to offer such an insult to it, he 
seems to have been so sensible of the grievances under which the colonists 
groaned, and of the chief source from which they flowed, that soon after 
[1639] he not only removed a governor so justly odious to them, but named 
as a successor Sir William Berkeley, a person far superior to Harvey in 
rank and abilities, and still more distinguished, by possessing all the popu- 
lar virtues to which the other was a stranger.! 

Under his government the colony in Virginia remained, with some short 
intervals of interruption, almost forty years ; and to his mild and prudent 
administration its increase and prosperity are in a great measure to be 
ascribed. It was indebted, however, to the king himself for such a reform 
of its constitution and policy, as gave a different aspect to the colony, and 
animated all its operations with new spirit. Though the tenor of Sir Wil- 
liam Berkeley's commission was the same with that of his predecessor, he 
received instructions under the great seal, by which he was empowered to 
declare, that in all its concerns, civil as well as ecclesiastical, tlie colony 
was to be governed according to the laws of England : he was directed to 
issue writs for electing representatives of the people, who, in conjunction 
Avith the governor and council, were to form a general assembly, and to 
possess supreme legislative authority in the community : he was ordered 
to establish courts of justice, in which all questions, whether civil or crimi- 
nal, were to be decided agreeably to the forms of judicial procedure in the 
mother country. It is not easy to discover what were the motives which 
induced a monarch, tenacious in adhering to any opinion or system Avhidi 

* Fymer, xvUi. 98U< j Beverley's Hist, of Virg. p. 50. C'halnif-rs'd Annals, p. 118. ica. 



420 HISTORY O F t^^ooK IX. 

he had once adopted, jealous to excess ol" his own rip^hts, and adverse on 
every occasion to any extension of the privileges claimed by his people, 
to relinquish his original plan of administration in the colony, and to grant 
such immunities to his subjects settled there. From the historians of Vir- 
ginia, no less superficial than ill informed, no light can be derived with 
respect to this point. It is most probable, the dread of the spirit then 
rising in Great Britain, extorted from Charles concessions so favourable to 
Virginia. After an intermission of almost twelve years, the state of his 
affairs compelled him to have recourse to the great council of the nation. 
There his subjects would find a jurisdiction independent of the crown, 
and able to control its authority. There they hoped for legal redress of 
all their grievances. As the colonists in Virginia had applied for relief to 
a former parliament, it might be expected with certainty that they would 
lay their case before the first meeting of an assembly in which they were 
secure of a favourable audience. Charles knew that, if the spirit of his 
administration in Virginia were to be tried by the maxims of the English 
constitution, it must be severely reprehended. He was aware that many 
measures of greater moment in his government would be brought under a 
strict review in parliament ; and, unwilling to give malecontents the advan- 
tage of adding a charge of oppression in the remote parts of his dominions 
to a catalogue of domestic grievances, he artfully endeavoured to take the 
merit of having granted voluntarily to his people in Virginia such privi- 
leges as he foresaw would be extorted from him. 

But though Charles established the internal government of Virginia on 
a model similar to that of the English constitution, and conferred on his 
subjects there all the rights of freemen and citizens, he was extremely 
solicitous to maintain its connexion with the parent state. With this view 
be instructed Sir William Berkeley strictly to prohibit any commerce of 
the colony with foreign nations ; and in order more certainly to secure 
exclusive possession of all the advantages arising from the sale of its pro- 
ductions, he was required to take a bond from the master of each vessel 
that sailed from Virginia, to land his cargo in some part of the King's 
dominions in Europe.* Even under this restraint, such is the kindly innu- 
ence of free government on society, the colony advanced so rapidly in 
industry and population that at the beginning of the civil war the English 
settled in it exceeded twenty thousand.! 

Gratitude towards a monarch from whose hands they had received 
immunities which they had long wished but hardly expected to enjoy, the 
influence and exampfe of a popular governor passionately devoteu to the 
interests of his master, concurred in preserving inviolatea loyalty among 
the colonists. Even after monarchy was abolished, after one King had 
been beheaded, and another driven into exile, the authority of the crown 
continued to be acknowledged and revered in Virginia [l650]. Irritated 
at this open defiance of its power, the parliament issued an ordinance, 
declaring, that as the settlement in Virginia had been made at the cost and 
by the people of England, it ought to be subordinate to and dependent upon 
the English commonwealth, and subject to such laws and regulations as are 
or shall be made in parliament ; that, instead of this dutiful submission, the 
colonists had disclaimed the authority of the state, and audaciously rebel- 
led against it ; that on this account they were denounced notorious traitors, 
and not only all vessels belonging to natives of England, but those of 
loreign nations, were prohibited to enter their ports, or carry on any com- 
merce with them. 

It was not the mode of that age to wage a war of words alone. The 
efforts of a high spirited government in asserting its own dignity were 
prompt and vigorous. A powerful squadron, with a considerable body ot 

■" Chalmers's Annals. \i. 219. i.l-J. * Ibid. p. l"-'.";. 



AMERICA. 4n 

land forces, was despatched to reduce the Vii'ginians to obedience. After 
compelling the colonies in Barbadoes and the other islands to submit to the 
commonwealth, the squadron entered the Bay of Chesapeak [1651]. 
Berkeley, with more courage than prudence, took arms to oppose this 
formidable armament ; but he could not long maintain such an unequal 
contest. His gallant resistance, however, procured favourable terms to the 
people under his government. A general indemnity for all past offences 
was granted ; they acknowledged the authority of the commonwealth, 
and were admitted to a participation of all the rights enjoyed by citizens.* 
Berkeley, lirm to his principles of loyalty, disdained to make any stipula- 
tion for himself ; and, choosing to pass his days far removed from the seat 
of a government which he detested, continued to reside in Virginia as a 
private man, beloved and respected by all over whom he had formerly 
presided. 

Not satisfied with taking measures to subject the colonies, the common- 
wealth turned its attention toAvards the most effectual mode of retaining 
them in dependence on the parent state, and of securing to it the benefit 
of their increasing commerce. With this view the parliament framed two 
laws, one of which expressly prohibited all mercantile intercourse between 
the colonies and foreign states, and the other ordained that no production 
of Asia, Africa, or America, should be imported into the dominions of the 
commonwealth but in vessels belonging to English owners, or to the people 
of the colonies settled there, and navigated by an English commander,! 
and by crews of which the greater part must be Englishmen. But while 
the wisdom of the commonwealth prescribed the channel in which the 
trade of the colonies was to be carried on, it was solicitous to encourage 
the cultivation of the staple commodity of Virginia, by an act of parlia- 
ment [1652], which gave legal force to all the injunctions of James and 
Charles against planting tobacco in England.^ 

Under governors appointed by the commonwealth, or by Cromwell when 
he usurped the supreme power, Virginia remained almost nine years in 
perfect tranquillity. During that period, many adherents to the royal 
party, and among these some gentlemen of good families, in order to avoid 
danger and oppression, to which they were exposed in England, or in hopes 
of repairing their ruined fortunes, resorted thither. Warmly attached to 
the cause for which they had fought and suffered, and animated with all 
the passions natural to men recently engaged in a fierce and long pro- 
tracted civil war, they, by their intercourse with the colonists, confirmed 
them in principles of loyalty, and added to their impatience and indignation 
under the restraints imposed on their commerce by their new masters. 
On the death of Matthews, the last governor named by Cromwell, the 
sentiments and inclination of the people, no longer under the control of 
authority, burst out with violence. They forced Sir William Berkeley to 
quit his retirement ; they unanimously elected him governor of the colony : 
and as he refused to act under a usurped authority, they boldly erected 
the royal standard, and acknowledging Charles II. to be their lawful sove- 
reign, proclaimed him with all his titles ; and the Virginians long boasted, 
that as they were the last of the king's subjects who renounced their alle- 
giance, they were the first who returned to their duty.§ 

Happily for the people of Virginia, a revolution in England, no less 
sudden than unexpected, seated Charles on the throne of his ancestors, and 
saved them from the severe chastisement to which their premature de- 
claration in his favour must have exposed them. On receiving the first 
account of this event, the joy and exultation of the colony were universal 
and unbounded. These, however, were not of long continuance. Gracious 

* Thurlow'8 State Papers, i. 197. Chalmers' Annals, p. 122. Beverley's Hist. p. 53. f Sco- 

•"■I's Aoli«. p. 135. »67. ! Ih. p. 117. vS Bfverley. p. 55. Clialmere. p. 124. 



422 ^ HISTORY OF [UookIX. 

but unproductive prol'essions of esteem and good will were the only return 
made Ly Charles to loyalty and services which in their own estimation 
were so distinguished that no recompense was beyond what they might 
claim. If the king's neglect and ingratitude disappointed all the sanguine 
hopes which their vanity had founded on the merit of their past conduct, 
the spirit which influenced parliament in its commercial deliberations 
opened a prospect, that alarmed them with respect to their future situation. 
In framing regulations for the encouragement of trade, which, during the 
convulsions of civil war, and amidst continual fluctuations in government, 
had met with such obstruction that it declined in every quarter ; the House 
of Commons, instead of granting the colonies that relief which they ex- 
pected from the restraints in their commerce imposed by the common- 
wealth and Croinwell, not only adopted all their ideas concerning this 
branch of legislation, but extended them further. This produced the act 
of navigation, the most important and memorable of any in the statute-book 
with respect to the history of English commerce. By it, besides several 
momentous articles foreign to the sulyect of this work, it was enacted, 
that no commodities should be imported into any settlement in Asia, Atrica, 
or America, or exported from them, but in vessels of English or plantation 
built, whereof the master and three-fourths of the mariners shall be English 
subjects, under pain of forfeiting ship and goods ; that none but natural 
born subjects, or such as have been naturalized, shall exercise the occupa- 
tion of merchant or factor in any English settlement, under pain of for- 
feiting their goods and chattels ; that no sugar, tobacco, cotton, wool, 
indigo, ginger, or woods used in dyeing, of the growth or manufacture of 
th colonies, shall be shipped from them to any other country but England ; 
and in order to secure the performance of this, a sufficient bond, with one 
surety, shall be given before sailing by the owners, for a specific sum pro- 
portional to the rate of the \essel employed by them.* The productions 
subjected to this restriction are distinguished, in the language of commerce 
ana finance, by the name of enumerated coiamodities ; and as industry in 
its progress furnished new articles of value, these have been successively 
added to the roll, and subjected to the same restraint. Soon after [1663], 
the act of navigation was extended, and additional restraints were imposed, 
by a new law, which prohibited the importation of any European com- 
modity into the colonies, but what was laden in England in vessels navi- 
gated and manned as the act of navigation required. More effectual pro- 
vision was made by this law for exacting the penalties to which the 
transgressors of the act of navigation were subjected ; and the principles 
of policy, on which the various regulations contained in both statutes are 
founded, were openly avowed in a declaration, that as the plantations 
beyond seas are inhabited and peopled by subjects of England, they may 
be kept in a firmer dependence upon it, and rendered yet more beneficial 
and advantageous unto it, in the further employment and increase of Eng- 
lish shipping and seamen, as well as in the vent of English woollen and 
other manufactures and commodities ; and in making England a staple, not 
pnly of the commodities of those plantations, but also of the commodities 
of other countries and places, for the supplying of them ; and it being the 
usage of other nations to keep the trade of their plantations to themselvcs.t 
In prosecution of those favourite maxims, the English legislature pro- 
ceeded a step further. As the act of navigation had left the people of the 
colonies at liberty to export the enumerated commodities from one planta- 
tion to another without paying any duty [1672], it subjected them to a tax 
equivalent to what was paid by the consumers of these commodities in 
England.! 
By these successive regulations, the plan of securing to England a mo» 

f Car. II. c. 1?. t 15 Car. IF. c. 7. J ?5 C.ir. II. c. 7 



AMERICA. 423 

nopoly of the commerce with its colonies, and of shutting up every other 
channel into which it mijjht be diverted, was perfected, and reduced into 
complete system. On one side of the Atlantic these regulations have been 
extolled as an extraordinary effort of political sagacity, and have been 
considered as the great charter of national commerce, to which the parent 
state is indebted for all its opulence and power. On the other, they have 
been execrated as a code of oppression, more suited to the illiberality of 
mercantile ideas than to extensive views of legislative wisdom. Which of 
these opinions is best founded, I shall examine at large in another part of 
this work. But in writing the history of the English settlements in 
America, it was necessary to trace the progress of those restraining laws 
with accuracy, as in every subsequent transaction we may observe a per- 
petual exertion, on the part of the mother country, to enforce and extend 
them ; and on the part of the colonies, endeavours no less unremitting to 
elude or to obstruct their operation. 

Hardly was the act of navigation known in Viiginia, and its effects begun 
to be felt, when the colony remonstrated against it as a grievance, and 
petitioned earnestly for relief. But the commercial ideas of Charles and 
his ministers coincided so perfectly with those of parliament, that, instead 
of listening with a favourable ear to their applications, they laboured 
assiduously to carry the act into strict execution. For this purpose, in- 
structions were issued to the governor, forts were built on the banks of the 
principal rivers, and small vessels appointed to cruise on the coast. The 
Virginians, seeing no prospect of obtaining exemption from the act, set 
themselves to evade it ; and found means, notwithstanding the vigilance 
with which they were watched, of carrying on a considerable clandestine 
trade with foreigners, particularly with the Dutch settled on Hudson's 
River. Emboldened by observing disaffection spread through the colony, 
some veteran soldiers who had served under Cromwell, and had been 
banished to Virginia, formed a design of rendering themselves masters of 
the country, and of asserting its independence on England. This rash 
project was discovered by one of their associates, and disconcerted by 
the vigorous exertions of Sir William Berkeley. But the spirit of dis- 
content, though repressed, was not extinguished. Every day something 
occurred to revive and to nourish it. As it is with extreme difficulty that 
commerce can be turned into a new channel, tobacco, the staple of the 
colony, sunk prodigiously in value when they were compelled to send it all 
to one market. It was some time before England could furnish them re- 
gularly full assortments of those necessary articles, without which the 
industry of the colony could not be carried on, or its prosperity secured. 
Encouraged by the symptoms of general languor and despondency which 
this declining state of the colony occasioned, the Indians seated towards 
the heads of the rivers ventured first to attack the remote settlements, and 
then to make incursions into the interior parts of the country. Unexpected 
as these hostilities were, from a people who during a long period had lived 
in friendship with the English, a measure taken by the king seems to have 
excit«jd still greater terror among the most opulent people of the colony. 
Charles had imprudently imitated the example of his father, by granting 
such large tracts of lands in Virginia to several of his courtiers, as tended 
to unsettle the distribution of property in the country, and to rerider the 
title of the most ancient planters to their estates precarious and questionable. 
From those various causes, which in a greater or less degree aflfected 
every individual in the colony, the indignation of the people became 
general, and was worked up to such a pitch, that nothing was wanting to 
precipitate them into the most desperate acts but some leader qualified to 
unite and to direct their operations.* 

• riialmers'p Annaln, r)i. 10. H. 14. pa?Bim, Bevcrloy's Hist, of Virg. p. 58, tc. 



424 HISTORY O I' [Book IX. 

Such a leader they found in Nathaniel Bacon, a colonel of militia, who, 
though he had been settled in Virginia only three yeais, had acquired, by 
popular manners, an insinuating address, and the consideration derived 
iVom having been regularly trained in England to the profession of law, 
such general esteem that he had been admitted into the council, and was 
regarded as one of the most respectable persons in the colony. Bacon 
was ambitious, eloquent, daring, and, prompted either by h >nest zeal to 
redress the public wrongs, or allured by hopes of raising himself to dis- 
tinction and power, he mingled with the malecontents ; and by his bold 
harangues and confident promises of removing all their grievances, he 
inflamed them almost to madness. As the devastations committed by the 
Indians was the calamity most sensibly felt by the people, he accused the 
governor of having neglected the proper measures for repelling the inva- 
sions of the savages, and exhorted them to take arms in their own defence, 
and to exterminate that odious race. Great numbers assembled, and chose 
Bacon to be their general. He applied to the governor for a con uiission, 
confirming this election of the people, and offering to march instantly against 
the common enemy. Berkeley, accustomed by long possession of supreme 
command to high ideas of the respect due to his station, considered this 
tumultuary armament as an open insult to his authority, and suspected ll at, 
under specious appearances. Bacon concealed most dangerous designs. 
Unwilling, however, to give farther provocation to an incensed multitude 
by a direct refusal of what they demanded, he thought it prudent to nego- 
tiate in order to gain time ; and it was not until he found all endeavours 
to soothe them inefifectual, that he issued a proclamation, requiring them in 
the king's name, under the pain of being denounced rebels, vo disperse. 

But Bacon, sensible that he had now advanced so far as rendered it 
impossible to recede with honour or safety, instantly took the only resolu- 
tion that remained in his situation. At the head of a chosen body of his 
followers, he marched rapidly to James Town, and surrounding the house 
where the governor and council were assembled, demanded the commission 
for which he had formerly applied. Berkeley, with the proud indignant 
??pirit of a cavalier, disdaining the requisitions of a rebel, peremptorily 
refused to comply, and calmly presented his naked breast to the weapons 
which were pointed against it. The council, however, foreseeing the fatal 
consequences of driving an enraged multitude, in whose power they were, 
to the last extremities of violence, prepared a commission constituting 
Bacon general of all the forces in Virginia, and by their entreaties prevailed 
on the governor to sign it. Bacon with his troops retired in triumph. 
Hardly was the council delivered by his departure from the dread of 
present danger, when, by a transition not unusual in feeble minds, pre- 
.'•umptuous boldness succeeded to excessive fear. The commission granted 
to Bacon was declared to be null, having been extorted by force ; he was 
proclaimed a rebel, his followers were required to abandon his standard, 
and the militia ordered to arm, and to join the governor. 

Enraged at conduct which he branded with the name of base and treache^ 
rous. Bacon, instead of continuing his march towards the Indian country, 
instantly wheeled about, and advanced with all his forces to James Town. 
The governor, unable to resist such a numerous body, made his escape, 
and fled across the bay to Acomack on the eastern shore. Some of the 
counsellors accompanied him thither, others retired to their own plantations. 
Upon the flight of^Sir William Berkeley, and dispersion of the council, the 
iranie of civil government in the colony seemed to be dissolved, and Bacon 
became possessed of supreme and uncontrolled power. But as he was 
sensible that his countiymen would not long submit with patience to 
authority acquired and held merely by force of arms, he endeavoured to 
found it on a more constitutional basis, by obtaining the sanction of the 
people's approbation. With this view he called t^ether the most con- 



AMERICA. 426 

sideiable gentlemen in the colony, and having prevailed on them to bind 
themselves by oath to maintain his authority, and to resist every enemy 
that should oppose it, he from that time considered his jurisdiction as legally 
established. 

Berkeley, meanwhile, having collected some forces, made inroads into 
different parts of the colony where Bacon's authority was recognised. 
Several sharp conflicts happened with various success. James Town was 
reduced to ashes, and the best cultivated districts in the province were laid 
waste, sometimes by one party and sometimes by the other. But it was 
not by his own exertions that the governor hoped to terminate the contest. 
He had early transmitted an account of the transactions in Virginia to the 
king, and demanded such a body of soldiers as would enable him to quell 
the insurgents whom he represented as so exasperated by the restraint 
imposed on their trade, that they were impatient to sbakeoffall dependence 
on the parent state. Charles, alarmed at a commotion no less dangerous 
than unexpected, and solicitous to maintain his authority over a colony the 
value of which was daily increasing and more tully understood, speedily 
despatched a small squadron with such a number of regular troops as 
Berkeley had required. Bacon and his followers received information of 
this armament, but were not intimidated at its approach. They boldly 
determined to oppose it with open force, and declared it to be consistent 
with their duty and allegiance, to treat all who should aid Sir William 
Berkeley as enemies, until they should have an opportunity of laying their 
grievances before their sovereign.* 

But while both parties prepared, with equal animosity, to involve their 
country in the horrors of civil war [1677 j, an event happened, which quieted 
the commotion almost as suddenly as it had been excited. Bacon, when 
ready to take the field, sickened and died. None of his followers pos- 
sessed such talents, or were so much objects of the people's confidence, as 
entitled them to aspire to the supreme command. Destitute of a leader to 
conduct and animate them, their sanguine hopes of success subsided ; 
mutual distrust accompanied this universal despondency ; all began to wish 
for an accommodation ; and after a short negotiation with Sir William 
Berkeley, they laid down their arms, and submitted to his government, on 
obtaining a promise of general pardon. 

Thus terminated an insurrection, which, in the annals of Virginia, is dis- 
tinguished by the name of Bacon's rebellion. During seven months this 
daring leader was master of the colony, while the royal governor was shut 
up in a remote and ill-peopled corner of it. What were the real motives 
that prompted him to take arms, and to what length he intended to carry 
his plans of reformation, either in commerce or government, it is not easy 
to discover, in the scanty materials from which we derive our information 
Avith respect to this transaction. It is probahle, that his conduct, like that 
of other adventurers in faction, would have been regulated chiefly by 
events ; and accordingly as these proved favourable or adverse, his views 
and requisitions would have been extended or circumscribed. 

Sir William Berkeley, as soon as he was reinstated in his office, called 
together the representatives of the people, that by their advice and autho- 
rity public tranquillity and order might be perfectly established. Though 
this assembly met a few weeks after the death of Bacon, while the memory 
of reciprocal injuries was still recent, and when the passions excited by 
such a fierce contest had but little time to subside, its proceedings were 
conducted with a moderation seldom exercised by the successful party in 
a civil war. No man suffered capitally ; a small number were subjected 
to fines; others were declared incapable of holding any office of trust; 
and with those exceptions the promise of general idemnity was confirmed 

♦ Br'vorl''v's Tlist. p. 7!), 7R. 

Vol. 1.-54 



426 HISTORY OV [BookX. 

by law. Soon after Berkeley was recalled, and Colonel Jeffreys was 
appointed his successor. 

From thai period to the Revolution in 1688, there is scarcely any memo- 
rable occurrence in the history of Virginia. A peace was concluded with 
the Indians. Under several successive governors, administration was carried 
on in the colony with the same arbitrary spirit that distinguished the latter 
years of Charles II. and the precipitate councils of James II. The Virgin- 
ians, with a constitution which in form resembled that of England, enjoyed 
hardly any portion of the liberty which that admirable system of policy is 
framed to secure. They were deprived even of the last consolation of 
the oppressed, the power of complaining, by a law which, under severe 
penalties, prohibited them from speaking disrespectfully of the governor, 
or defaming, either by words or writing, the administration of the colony.* 
Still, however, the laws restraining their commerce were felt as an intole- 
rable grievance, and they nourished in secret a spirit of discontent, which, 
from tne necessity of concealing it, acquired a greater degree of acrimony. 
But notwithstanding those unfavourable circumstances, the colony continued 
to increase. The use of tobacco was now become general in Europe ; 
and though it had fallen considerably in price, the extent of demand com- 
pensated that diaiinution, and by giving constant employment to the industry 
of the planters diffused wealth among them. At the Revolution the number 
of inhabitants in the colony exceeded sixty thousand,! and in the course 
of twenty-eight years its population had been more than doubled.^ 



BOOK X. 



When James I., in the year one thousand six hundred and six, made 
that magnificent partition, which has been mentioned, of a vast region in 
North America, extending from the thirty-tburth to the forty-fifth degree 
of latitude, between two trading companies of his subjects, he established 
the residence of the one in London, and of the other in Plymouth. The 
former was authorized to settle in the southern, and the latter in the 
northern part of this territory, then distinguished by the general name of 
Virginia. This arrangement seems to have heen formed upon the idea of 
some speculative refiner, who aimed at diffusing the spirit of industry, by 
fixing the seat of one branch of the trade that was now to be opened, on 
the east coast of the island, and the other on the west. But London pos- 
sesses such advantages of situation, that the commercial wealth and activity 
of England have always centered in the capital. At the beginning of the 
last century, the superiority of the metropolis in both these respects was so 
great, that though the powers and privileges conferred by the king on the 
two trading companies were precisely the same, the adventurers settled in 
Plymouth tell far short of those in London in the vigour and success of their 
cTOrts towards accomplishing the purpose of their institution. Though the 
operations of the Plymouth company were animated by the public-spirited 
zeal of Sir John Popham, chief justice of England, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, 
and some other gentlemen of the west, all its exertions were feeble and 
unfortunate. 

The first vessel fitted out by the company was taken by the Spaniards 
[lf.06]. In the year one thousand six hundred and seven, a feeble settle- 
iripnt was made at Sagahadoc ; but, on account of the rigour of the climate, 

♦ Bevcrtoy. p. 81. Phalnirrs. p. 3t1. i Chalmors's Annals, p. 35G. t Ibid. p. 1'25. 



AMERICA. 427 

was soon relinquished, and for some time nothina^ further was attempted 
than a few tishing voyages to Cape Cod, or a pitiful traffic with the natives 
for skins md oil. One of the vessels equipped for this purpose [1614] 
was commanded by Captain Smith, whose name has been so often 
mentioned with distinction in the History of Virginia. The adventure was 
prosperous and lucrative. But his ardent enterprising mind could not 
confine its attention to objects so unequal to it as the petty details of a 
trading voyage. He employed a part of his time in exploring the coast, 
and in dehneating its bays and harbours. On his return, he laid a map of 
it before Prince Charles, atid, with the usual exaggeration of discoverers, 
painted the beauty and excellence of the country in such glowing colours, 
that the young prince, in the warmth of admiration, declared, that it should 
be called New England ;* a name which effaced that of Virginia, and by 
which it is still distinguished. 

The favourable accounts of the country hy Smith, as well as the success 
of his voyage, seem to have encouraged private adventurers to prosecute 
the trade on the coast of New England \vith greater briskness ; but did 
not inspire the languishing company of Plymouth with such vigour as to 
make any new attemj)t towards establishing a permanent colony there. 
Something more than the prospect of distant gain to themselves, or of 
future advantages to their country, was requisite in order to induce men to 
abandon the place of their nativity, to migrate to another quartef of the 
globe, and endure innumerable hardships under an untried climate, and 
in an uncultivated land, covered with woods, or occupied by fierce and 
hostile . tribes of savages. But what mere attention to private emolu- 
ment or to national utility could not effect, was accomplished by the 
operation of a higher principle. Religion had gradually excited among a 
great body of the people a spirit that fitted them remarkably for encoun- 
tering the dangers, and surmounting the obstacles, which had hitherto 
rendered abortive the schemes of colonization in that part of America 
allotted to the company of Plymouth. As the various settlements in New 
England are indebted for their origin to this spirit, as in the course of our 
narrative we shall discern its influence mingling in all their transactions, 
and giving a peculiar tincture to the character of the people, as well as 
to their institutions both civil and ecclesiastical, it becomes necessary to 
trace its rise and progress with attention and accuracy. 

When the superstitions and corruptions of the Romish church prompted 
different nations of Europe to throw off its yoke, and to withdraw from 
its communion, the mode as well as degree of their separation was various. 
Wherever reformation was sudden, and carried on by the people without 
authority from their rulers, or in opposition to it, the rupture was violent 
and total. Every part of the ancient fabric was overturned, and a different 
system, not only with respect to doctrine, but to church government, and 
the external rites of worship, was established. Calvin, who, by his abili- 
ties, learning, and austerity of manners, had acquired high reputation and 
authority in the Protestant churches, was a zealous advocate for this plan of 
thorough reformation. He exhibited a model of that pure form of eccle- 
siastical policy which he approved in the constitution of the church of 
Geneva. The simplicity of its institutions, and still more their repugnancy 
to those of the Popish church, were so much admired by all the stricter 
refonners, that it was copied, with some small variations, in Scotland, in 
the republic of the United Provinces, in the dominions of the House of 
Brandenburgh, in those of the Elector Palatine, and in the churches of the 
Hugonots in France. 

But in those countries where the steps of departure from the church of 
Rome were taken with greater deliberation, and regulated by the wisdom 

• Pmith's Trav. book vi. p. 203, *c. Piirchas, iv. p. 1837. , 



428 HISTORY OF [Book X. 

or policy of the supreme magistrate, the separation was not so wide. Of 
all the reformed churches, that of England has deviated least from the 
ancient institutions. The violent but capricious spirit of Henry VIII., who, 
though he disclaimed the supremacy, revered the tenets of the Papal see, 
checked innovations in doctrine or worship during his reign. When his 
son ascended the throne, and the Protestant religion was established by 
law, the cautious prudence of Archbishop Cranmer moderated the zeal of 
those who had espoused the new opinions. Though the articles to be 
recognised as the system of national faith were framed conformably to the 
doctrines of Calvin, his notions with respect to church government and the 
mode of worship were not adopted. As the hierarchy in England was 
incorporated with the civil policy of the kingdom, and constituted a 
member of the legislature, archbishops, and bishops, with all the subor- 
dinate ranks of ecclesiastics subject to them, were continued according to 
ancient form, and with the same dignity and jurisdiction. The peculiar 
vestments in which the clergy performed their sacred functions, bowing 
at the name of Jesus, kneeling at receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper, the sign of the Cross in baptism, the use of the Ring in marriage, 
with several other rights to which long usage had accustomed the people, 
and which time had rendered venerable, were still retained. But though 
Parliament enjoined the observance of these ceremonies under very severe 
penalties,* several of the more zealous clergy entertained scruples with 
respect to the lawfulness of complying with this injunction : and the vigi- 
lance and authority of Cranmer and Ridley, with difficulty saved their 
infant church from the disgrace of a schism on this account. 

On the accession of Mary, the lurious zeal with which she persecuted 
all who had adopted the tenets of the relbrmers forced many eminent 
protestants, laymen as well as ecclesiastics, to seek an asylum on the 
continent. Francfort, Geneva, Basil, and Strasburgh received them with 
affiectionate hospitality as sufferers in the cause of truth, and the magistrates 
permitted them to assemble by themselves for religious worship. The 
exiles who took up their residence in the two former cities, modelled their 
little congregations according to the ideas of Calvin, and with a spirit 
natural to men in their situation, eagerly adopted institutions which appeared 
to be further removed from the superstitions of Popery than those of their 
own church. They returned to England as soon as Elizabeth re-established 
the protestant religion, not only with more violent antipathy to the opinions 
and practice* ot' that church by which they had been oppressed, but with 
a strong attachment to that mode of worship to which they had been for 
some years accustomed. As they were received by their countrymen with 
the veneration due to confessors, they exerted all the influence derived from 
that opinion in order to obtain such a reformation in the English ritual as 
might bring it nearer to the standard of purity in foreign churches. Some 
of the Qjueen's most confidential ministers were warmly disposed to 
co-operate with them in this measure. But Elizabeth paid little regard to 
the inclinations of the one or the sentiments of the other. Fond ol pomp 
and ceremony, accustomed, according to the mode of that age, to study 
religious controversy, and possessing, like her father, such confidence in her 
own understanding, that she never doubted her capacity to judge and 
decide with respect to every point in dispute between contending sects,t 

♦ 2 and 3 Edw. VI. c. 1. 

t Of the high idea which Elizabeth entertained with respect to her own superior skill in theology, 
as well as the haughty tone in which she dictated to her subiects what they ought to believe, we 
have a striking picture in her speech at tile close of the parliament, A. D. 1585. — " One thing I may 
not overskip — Religion, the ground on which all other matters ought to take root ; and, being cor- 
rupted, may mar all the tree. And that there be some fault-finders with the order of the clerg}-, 
which so may make a slander to myself, and to the church, whose overruler God hatlr made me, 
whose negligence cannot be excused, if any schisms or errors heretical were suffered. Thus nmcU 
I must say, that some faults and negligences must grow and be, as in all other great charg(;s it hap- 
p'-ncth ; and what vocation without f All which, if you, my lords of the clercj*. do not nniend, 



AMERICA. 429 

she chose to act according to her own ideas, which led her ratiier to approach 
nearer to the church of Rome, in the parade of external worship, than to 
widen the breach by abolishing any rite already established.* An act of 
parliament, in the first year of her reign, not only required an exact con- 
formity to the mode of worship prescribed in the service book, under 
most rigorous penalties, but empowered the Queen to enjoin the observance 
of such additional ceremonies as might tend, in her opinion, to render the 
public exercises of devotion more decent and edifying. t 

The advocates for a further reformation, notwithstanding this cruel 
disappointment of the sanguine hopes with which they returned to their 
native country, did not relinquish their design. They disseminated their 
opinions with great industry among the people. They extolled the purity 
of foreign churches, and inveighed against the superstitious practices witn 
which religion was defiled in their o^vn church. In vain did the defenders 
of the established system represent that these forms and ceremonies were 
in themselves things perfectly indiflerent, which, from long usage, were 
viewed with reverence ; and by their impression upon the senses and 
imagination, tended not only to fix the attention, but to affect the heart, 
and to warm it with devout and worthy sentiments. The Puritans (for 
by that name such as scrupled to comply with what was enjoined by the 
Act of Uniformity were distinguished) maintained that the rites in question 
were inventions of men, superadded to the simple and reasonable services 
required in the word of God ; that from the excessive solicitude with 
which conformity to them was exacted, the multitude must conceive such 
a high opinion of their value and importance as might induce them to rest 
satisfied with the mere form and shadow of religion, and to imagine that 
external observances may compensate for the want of inward sanctity ; 
that ceremonies which had been long employed by a society manifestly 
corrupt, to veil its own defects, and to seduce and fascinate mankind, ought 
now to be rejected as relics of superstition unworthy of a place in a church 
which gloried in the name of Reformed. 

The people, to whom in every religious controversy the final appeal is 
made, listened to the arguments of the contending parties ; and it is 
obvious to which of them, men who had lately beheld the superstitious 
spirit of popery, and felt its persecuting ra^e, would lend the most favour- 
able ear. The desire of a further separation from the church of Rome 
spread wide through the nation. The preachers who contended for this, 
and who refused to wear the surplice, and other vestments peculiar to their 
order, or to observe the ceremonies enjoined by law, were followed and 
admired, while the ministry of the zealous advocates for conformity was 
deserted, and their persons often exposed to insult. For some time the 
nonconformists were connived at ; but as their number and boldness 
increased, the interposition both of spiritual and civil authority was deemed 
necessary in order to check their progress. To the disgrace of Christians, 
the sacred rights of conscience and private judgment, as well as the charity 
and mutual forbearance suitable to the mild spirit of the religion which 
they professed, were in that age little understood. Not only the idea of 
toleration, but even the word itself in the sense now affixed to it, was then 
unknown. Every church claimed a right to em])loy the hand of power 
for the protection of truth and the extirpation of error. The laws of her 

I mean to depose you. Look yc, therefore, well to your charpea. Thia may he amcndnl without 
needless or open exclamations. I am supposo4 to have many studios, but most philosophical. 
I must yield this to be true, that I suppose few (that bo not professors) have read more. 
And I need not tell you, that I .ira not so simple that 1 understand not, nor so forftetful that 
I remember not ; and yet amidst my many volumes, I hope God's book hath not been my seldomest 
lectures, in which we find that by wliicli reaaon ;ill ought to believe. I see many over-bold with 
God .\lmighiy, makini; tiK) many subtle scaniiinfis of his blessed will. The pres"uipiion is so (^ca* 
that I miv not suffer it," &,€. D'Ewes's Journal, p. 328. 

* Neal'B Hist, of the I'uril.liis, i. 138. 176 • 1 Eliz. r.2. 



430 HISTORY OF tliooK X, 

kingdom armed Elizabeth with ample authority for this purpose, and she 
was abundantly disposed to exercise it with full vigour. Many of the 
most eminent among the puritan clergy were deprived of their benefices, 
others were imprisoned, several were fined, and some put to death. But 
persecution, as usually happens, instead of extinguishing, inflamed their 
zeal to such a height, that the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts of law 
was deemed insuiiicient to suppress it, and a new tribunal was established 
under the title of the HigJi Comndssion for Ecclesiastical Affairs, whose 
powers and mode of procedure were hardly less odious or less hostile to 
the principles of justice than those of the Spanish Inquisition. Several 
attempts were made in the House of Commons to check these arbitrary 
proceedings, and to moderate the rage of persecution ; but the Queen 
always imposed silence upon those who presumed to deliver any opinion 
with respect to a matter appertaining solely to her preiogative, in a tone as 
imperious and arrogant as was ever used by Henry V^lll. in addressing his 
parliaments ; and so tamely obsequious were the guardians of the people's 
rights that they not only obeyed those unconstitutional commands, but con- 
sented to an act, by which every person who should absent himself from 
church during a month was subjected to punishment by fine and imprison- 
ment ; and it after conviction he did not within three months renounce his 
erroneous opinions and conform to the laws, he was then obliged to abjure 
the realm ; but if he either refused to comply with this condition, or returned 
from banishment, he should be put to death as a felon without benefit of 
clergy.* 

By this iniquitous statute, equally repugnant to ideas of civil and of reli- 
gious liberty, the puritans were cut off from any hope of obtaining either 
reformation in the church or indulgence to themselves. Exasperated by 
this rigorous treatment, their antipathy to the established religion increased, 
and with the progress natural to violent passions, carried them far beyond 
what was their original aim. The first puritans did not entertain any scru- 
ples with respect to the lawfulness of episcopal government, and seem to 
nave been very unwilling to withdraw from communion with the church 
of which they were members. But when they were thrown out of her 
bosom, and constrained to hold separate assemblies for the worship of 
God, their followers no longer viewed a society by which tbey were 
oppressed, with reverence or aifection. Her government, her discipline, 
her ritual, were examined with minute attention. Eveiy error was pointed 
out, and every defect magnified. The more boldly any preacher inveighed 
against the corruptions of the church, he was listened to with greater ap- 
probation ; and the further he urged his disciples to depart from such an 
impure community, the more eagerly did they follow him. By degrees, 
ideas of ecclesiastical policy, altogether repugnant to those of the estab- 
lished churclv gained footing in the nation. The more sober and learned 
puritans inclined to that form which is known by the name of Presbyterian. 
Such as were more thoroughly possessed with the spirit of innovation, 
however much the}' might approve the equality of pastors which that sys- 
tem establishes, reprobated the authority which it vests in various judica- 
tories, descending from one to another in regular subordination, as incon- 
sistent with Christian liberty. 

These wild notions floated for some time in the minds of the people, and 
amused them with many ideal schemes of ecclesiastial policy. At length 
Robert Brown [1580], a popular declaimer in high estimation, reduced 
them to a system, on which he modelled his own congregation. He taught 
that the church of England was corrupt and antichristian, its ministers not 
lawfully ordained, its ordinances and sacraments invalid ; and therefore 
he prohibited liis people to hold communion with it in any religious func- 

* x>r.y\7.. c. !, 



AMtlRICA. 431 

tion. He maintained, that a society of Christians, uniting together to wor- 
ship God, constituted a church possessed of complete jurisdiction in the 
conduct of its own affairs, independent of any other society, and unaccount- 
able to any superior ; that the priesthood was neither a distinct order in 
the church, nor conferred an indelible character ; but that every man quali- 
fied to teach might be set apart for that office by the election of the breth- 
ren, and by imposition of their hands ; in like manner, by their authority, 
he might be discharged from that function, and reduced to the rank of a 
private Christian ; that every person when admitted a member of a church, 
ought to make a public confession of his faith, and give evidence of his 
bemg in a state of favour with God ; and that all the aflfairs of a church 
were to be regulated by the decision of the majority of its members. 

This democratical form of government, which abolished all distinction 
of ranks in the church, and conferred an equal portion of power on every 
individual, accorded so perfectly with the levelling genius of fanaticism, 
that it was fondly adopted by many as a complete model of Christian 
policy. From their founder they were denominated Brownists ; and as 
their tenets were more hostile to the established religion than those of other 
separatists, the fiercest storm of persecution fell upon their heads. Many 
of them were lined or imprisoned, and some put to death ; and though 
Brown, with a levity of which there are few examples among enthusiasts 
whose vanity hns been soothed by being recognised as heads of a party, 
abandoned his disciples, conformed to the established religion, and accepted 
of a benefice in the church, the sect not only subsisted, but continued to 
spread, especially among persons in the middle and lower ranks of life. 
But as all their motions were carefully watched, both by the ecclesiastical 
and civil courts, which, as often as they were detected, punished them 
with the utmost rigour, a body of them, weary of living in a state of con- 
tinual danger and alarm, Qed to Holland, and settled in Leyden, under the 
care of Mr. John Robinson their pastor. There they resided for several 
years unmolested and obscure. But many of their aged members dying, 
and some of the younger marrying into Dutch families, while their church 
received no increase, either by recruits from England or by proselytes 
gained in the country, they began to be afraid that all their high attain- 
ments in spiritual knowledge would be lost, and that perfect fabric of 
policy which they had erected would be dissolved, and consigned to obli- 
vion, if they remained longer in a strange land. 

Deeply affected with the prospect of an event which to them appeared 
fatal to the interests of truth, they thought themsehes called, in order to 
prevent it, to remove to some other place, where they might profess and 
propagate their opinions with greater success. America, in which their 
countrymen were at that time intent on planting colonies, presented itself 
to their thoughts. They flattered themselves with hopes of being per- 
mitted, in that remote region, to follow their own ideas in religion without 
disturbance. The dangers and hardships to which all former emigrants to 
America had been exposed did not deter them. " They were well weaned 
(according to their own description,) from the delicate milk of their mother 
country, and inured to the ditliculties of a strange land. They were knit 
together in a strict and sacred band, by virtue of which they held them- 
selves obliged to take care of the good of each other, and of the whole. 
It was not with them, as with other men, whom small things could discou- 
rage, or small discontents cause to wish themselves at home again."* The 
first object of their solicitude was to secure the free exercise of their reli- 
gion. For this purpose they applied to the king ; and, though James 
refused to give them any explicit assurance of toleration, they seem to have 
obtained from him some promise of his connivance, as long as they con- 

* Iliitcbiiison's His*, of Mawnrh. p. 4. 



432 11 IS TORY OF Look X. 

tinued to demean themselves quietly. So eager were they to accomplish 
their favourite scheme, that, relying on this precarious security, they began 
to negotiate with the V^ii^inian company for a tract of land Aviihin the 
limits of their patent. This they easily procured from a society desirous 
of encouraging migration to a vast country, of which they had hitherto 
occupied only a few spots. 

After the utmost efforts, their preparations fell far short of what was 
requisite for beginning the settlement of a new colony. A hundred and 
twenty persons sailed from England [Sept. 6, 1620], in a single ship on 
this arduous undertaking. The place of their destination was Hudson's 
River, where they intended to settle ; but their captain having been 
bribed, as is said, by the Dutch, who had then formed a scheme, which 
they afterwards accomplished, of planting a colony there, carried them 
so far towards the north, that the first land in America which they made 
[Nov. 11], was Cape Cod. They were now not only beyond the pre- 
cincts of the territory which had been granted to them, but beyond those 
of the company from which they derived their right. The season, how- 
ever, was so far advanced, and sickness raged so violently among men 
unaccustomed to the hardships of a long voyage, that it became necessary 
to take up their abode there. After exploring the coast, they chose for 
their situation a place now belonging to the province of Massachusetts Bay, 
to which thty gave the name of New Plymouth, probably out of respect 
to that company within whose jurisdiction they now found themselves 
situated.* 

No season could be more unfavourable to settlement than that in which 
the colony landed. The winter, which, from the predominance of cold 
in America, is rigorous to a degree unknown in parallel latitudes of our 
hemisphere, was already set in ; and they %vere slenderly provided with 
what was requisite for comfortable subsistence, under a climate consider- 
ably more severe than that for which they had made preparation. Above 
one half of them was cut off before the return of spring, by diseases, or by 
famine : the survivors, instead of havinoj leisure to attend to the supply of 
their own wants, were compelled to take arms against the savages in tneir 
neighbourhood. Happily for the English, a pestilence which raged in 
America the year betore they landed, had swept off so great a number 
of the natives that they were quickly repulsed and humbled. The privi- 
lege of professing their own opinions, and of bein^ governed by laws of 
their own framing, afforded consolation to the colonists amidst all their 
dangers and hardships. The constitution of their church was the same 
with that vvhich they had established in Holland. Their system of civil 
government was founded on those ideas of the natural equality among 
men, to which their ecclesiastical policy had accustomed them. Every 
free man, who was a member of the church, was admitted into the supreme 
legislative body. The laws of England were adopted as the basis of their 
jurisprudence, though with some diversity in the punishments inflicted 
upon crimes, borrowed from the Mosaic institutions. The executive power 
was vested in a governor and some assistants, who were elected annually 
by the members of the legislative assembly.! So far their institutions 
appear to be founded on the ordinary maxims of human prudence. But 
it was a favourite opinion with all the enthusiasts of that age, that the 
Scriptures contained a complete system not only of spiritual instruction, 
but of civil wisdom and polity ; and without attending to the peculiar 
circumstances or situation of the people whose history is there recorded, 
they often deduced general rules for their own conduct from what happened 
among men in a very different state. Under the influence of this wild 

* Hubarde Pros. State, p. 3. Cotton's Magrralia, p. T. HutchinsoiiFHist.p. 3 ke 
■* Chalmers's Anoab. p. .'-'T. 



A3iEUif.\. 433 

iioiion, liie cotouisls ol New Plymoudi. in iiiiitalion oi tlie primitive Chris- 
tians, threw all their property into a common stock, and, like members of 
one family, carried on every work ot indu*tr\- l)y their joint labour tor 
public behoot.* But, however this resolution might evidence the jincerity 
Ol" their faith, it retarded the progress of their colony. The same fatal 
effects flowed from this community of goods, and of labour, which had 
formerly been experienced in Virginia ; and it soon became necessarj' to 
relinquish what \vas too refined to be capable of being accommodated to 
the aSairs of men. But though they built a small town, and surrounded 
it with such a lence as afforded sutficient security against the assaults of 
Indians, the soil around it was so poor, their religious principles were so 
unsocial, and the supply sent them by their tViends so scanty, that at the 
end of ten yeai-s the number of people belonging to the settlement did 
not exceed three hundred.! During some years they appear not to ha\ c 
acquired right by any legal conveyance to the territory which they had 
occupied. At length [1630], they obtained a grant of property from the 
council of the New Plymouth Company, but were never incorporated as 
a body politic by royal charter.! Unlike all the other settlements in 
America, this colony must be considered merely as a voluntary association, 
held too;ether by the tacit consent of its members to recognise the autho- 
rity of Taws, and submit to the jurisdiction of magistrates, tVamed and 
chosen by themselves. In tliis state it remained an independent but feeble 
community, until it was united to its more powerlul neighbour, the colony 
of Massachusetts Bay, the origin and progress of which I now proceed to 
relate. 

The original company of Plymouth having done nothing effectual to- 
wards establishing any permanent settlement in America, James I., in the 
year one thousand sLx hundred and twenty, issued a new charter to the 
Duke of Lenox, the Marquis of Buckingham, and several other persons 
of distinction in his court, by which he conveyed to them a right to a ter- 
ritory in America, still more extensive than what had been granted to the 
former patentees, incorporating them as a body politic, in order to plant 
colonies there, with powei-s and jurisdictions similar to those contained in 
his charters to the companies of South and North Virginia. This society 
was distinguished by the name of the Grand Council of Plymouth for 
planting and governing New England. What considerations of public 
utility could induce the king to commit such an undertaking to persons 
apparently so ill qualified tor conducting it, or what prospect of private 
advantage prompted them to engaere in it, the inlbrmation we receive from 
contemporary writers does not enable us to detemiine. Certain it is, that 
the expectations of both were disappointed ; and after many schemes and 
arrangements, all the attempts of the new associates towards colonization 
proved unsuccessi'ul. 

New England must have remained unoccupied, if the same causes 
which occasioned the emigration of the Brownists had not continued to 
operate. Notwithstanding the violent persecution to which puritans of 
every denomination 'were still exposed, their number and zeal daily in- 
creased. As they now despaired of obtaining in their o\vn countr)* any 
relaxation of the penal statutes enacted against their sect, many began to 
turn their eyes towards some other place of retreat, where they might pro- 
fess their own opinions with impunity. From the tranquillity which their 
brethren had hitherto enjoyed in New Plymouth, they hoped to find this 
desired asylum in New England ; and by the acti\ity ot Mr. White, a 
nonconformist minister at Dorchester, an association was lonned by several 
gentlemen who had imbibed puritanical notions, in order to conduct a 

♦ Chaliii'Ts's Aiuials, p. ^. IXiu«!ai>'j Siimuiaii-. i ". 3T'» ' Cliulfn'.-rs's Annals, p PT 

Ihid p. IC. 107. 



4J4 lilSTOKV OF [BookX. 

colony thither. They purchased from the council of Plymouth [March 
19, 1627], all the territory, extending in ler^th from three miles north of 
the river Merrimack, to three miles southof Charles River, and in breadth, 
from the Atlantic to the Southern Orean. Zealous as these proprietors 
were to accomplish their flivourite purpose, they quickly perceived their 
own inability to attempt the population of such an immense region, and 
deemed it necessary to call in the aid of more opulent copartners.* 

Of these they found without diflicuity, a sufficient number, chiefly in the 
capital, and among persons in the commercial and other industrious walks 
of life, who had openly joined the sect of the puritans, or secretly favoured 
their opinions. These new adventurers, with the caution natural to men 
conversant in business, entertained doubts concerning the propriety of 
founding a colony on the basis of a grant from a private company of pa- 
tentees, who might convey a right of property in the soil, but could not 
confer jurisdiction, or the privilege of governing that society which they 
had in contemplation to establish. As it was only from royal authority that 
such powers could be derived, they applied for these ; and Charles granted 
their request, with a facility which appears astonishing, when we consider 
the principles and views of the men who were suitors tor the favour. 

Time has been considered as the parent of political wisdom, but its 
instructions are communicated slowly. Although the experience of above 
twenty years might have taught the English the impropriety of committing 
the government of settlements in America to exclusive corporations resident 
in Europe, neither the king nor his subjects had profited so much by what 
passed before their eyes as to have extended their ideas beyond those 
adopted by James in his first attempts towards colonization. The charter 
of Charles I. to the adventurers associated for planting the province of 
Massachusetts Bay, was perfectly similar to those granted by his father to 
the two Virginian companies and to the council ot Plymouth. The new 
adventurers were incorporated as a body politic, and their right to the 
territory, which they had purchased from the council at Plymouth, being 
confirmed by the king, they were empowered to dispose of lands, and to 
govern the people who should settle upon them. The first governor of 
the company and his assistants were named by the crown ; the right of 
electing their successors was vested in the members of the corporation. 
The executive power was committed to the governor and assistants ; that 
of legislation to the body of proprietors, who might make statutes and 
orders for the good of the community, not inconsistent with the laws of 
England, and enforce the observance of them, according to the course of 
other corporations within the realm. Their lands were to be held by the 
same liberal tenure with those granted to the Virginian company. They 
obtained the same temporary exemption from internal taxes, and from 
duties on goods exported or imported ; and notwithstanding their migra- 
tion fo America, they and their descendants were declared to be entitled to 
all the lights of natural born subjects.! 

The manifest object of this charter was to confer on the adventurers who 
undertook to people the territory on Massachusetts Bay, all the corporate 
rights possessed by the council of Plymouth, from which they had pur- 
cliased it, and to form them into a public body, resembling other great 
trading companies, which the spirit of monarchy had at that time multiplied 
in the kingdom. The king seems not to have foreseen, or to have sus- 
^^ected the secret intentions of those who projected the measure ; for so 
far was he from alluring emigrants, by any hopes of indulgence with re- 
spect to their religious scruples, or from promising any relaxation from tho 
rigour of the penal statutes against nonconformists, that he expressly pro- 

* NeaPs Hi-It. of i\ew EiisIiiiiJ, i. p. 1-2'/. t Hutrliinson's C'oliorf. of Original P^perii, 

p. (, *c. ' f 



AMERICA, 436 

vides lor having the oath of supremacy adtuinislcred to every person \vho 
shall pass to the colony, or inhabit thnrc* 

But whatever were the intentions of the kiiifj, the adventurers kept their 
own object steadily in view. Soon after their powers to establish a colony 
were rendered complete by the royal charter [1629], they fitted out five 
ships for New England ; on board of which enaljarked upwards of three 
hundred passengers, with a view of settling there. These were most 
zealous puritans, whose chief inducement to relinquish their native land 
•was the hope of enjoying religious liberty in a country far removed from 
the seat of government and the oppression of ecclesiastical couits. Some 
eminent nonconformist ministers accompanied them as their spiritual iii- 
structers. On their arrival in New England, they found the wretched re- 
mainder of a small body of emigrants, who had left England [June 29], 
the preceding year, under the conduct of Endicott, a deep enthusiast, 
■whom, prior to their incorporation by the royal charter, the associates had 
appointed deputy governor. They were settled at a place called by the 
Indians Naunekeag, and to which Endicott, with the fond affectation of 
fanatics of that age to employ the language and appellations of Scripture 
in the affairs of common life, had given the name of Salem. 

The emigrants under Endicott, and such as now joined them, coincided 
perfectly in religious principles. They were puritans of the strictest 
form ; and to men of this character the institution of a church was naturally 
of such interesting concern as to take place of every other object. In this 
first transaction, they displayed at once the extent of the reformation at 
which they aimed. Without regard to the sentiments of tnat monarch 
under the sanction of whose authority they settled in America, and from 
whom they derived right to act as a body politic, and in contempt of the 
laws of England, with which the charter required that none of their acts 
or ordinances should be inconsistent, they adopted in their infant church 
that form of policy which has since been distuiguished by the name of 
Independent. They united together in religious society [Aug. 6], by a 
solemn covenant with God and with one another, and in strict conformity, 
as they imagined, to the rules of Scripture. They elected a pastor, a 
teacher, and an elder, whom they set apart for their respective offices, by 
imposition of the hands of the brethren. All who were that day admitted 
members of the church signified their assent to a confession of faith drawn 
up by their teacher, and gave an account of the foundation of their own 
hopes as Christians ; and it was declared that no person should hereafter 
be received into communion until he gave satisfaction to the church with 
respect to his faith and sanctity. The form of public worship which the}"- 
instituted was without a liturgy, disencumbered of every superfluous cere- 
mony, and reduced to the lowest standard of Calvinistic simplicity.! 

It was with the utmost complacence that men passionately attached to 
their own notions, and who had long been restrained from avowing them, 
employed themselves in framing this model of a pure church. But in the 
first moment that they began to taste of Christian liberty themselves, they 
forgot that other men haci an equal title to enjoy it. Some of their num- 
ber, retaining a high veneration for the ritual of the English church, were 
so much offended at the total abolition of it, that they withdrew from com- 

* Hutchinson's Collect, of Orig. Papers, p. IB.— It is surprising lliat Mr. Neal, an inUiiatrious and 
ppncrally well informed writer, should aftirm, tliat " fine liherly of conscience waa cranted by this 
charter to all who should settle in those parts, to worship God in their own way." Hist, of New 
Engl. i. lat. This he repeals in his History of the Puritans, ii.210; and suhsequent historians have 
copied him implicitly. No permission of this kind, however, is contained in the charter ; and such 
an indulgence would have been mconsistent with all the ina:fim9 of Charlp.a and his ministers during 
the course of his reijzn. At the time when Charles issund the charter, the influence of Laud over 
his counsels was at il.s hciglil, the puritans were prosecuted with tlie greatest severity, and the 
kin!»dom was ruled entirely by prerogative. This is not an era in which one can expect to meet 
with coiieessions in favour of nonronformists, from a prince of Chartefi's character and principlee. 

: Math. Manual, p. 18. Aeal's Hist, of .\. I'ngl. i. 120. < ■lialiners. p. UZ. 



436 HISTORY OF [iiooKX. 

munion with the newiy instituted church, and assemhlcd separately for the 
worship of God. With an inconsistency of which there are such flagrant 
instances among Christians of every denomination that it cannot be im- 
puted as a reproach peculiar to any sect, the very men who had themselves 
fled from persecution became persecutors ; and had recourse, in order to 
enforce their own opinions, to the same unhallowed weapons, against the 
employnient of which they had lately remonstrated with so much violence. 
Endicott called the two chief malecontents before him ; and though they 
were men of note, and among the number of original patentees, he expelled 
them from the society, and sent them home in the ships which were re- 
turning to England.* The colonists were now united in sentiments ; but, 
on the approach of winter, they suffered so much from diseases, which 
carried oflr almost one half of their number, that they made little progress 
in occupying the country. 

Meanwhile the directors of the company in England exerted their 
utmost endeavours in order to reinforce the colony with a numerous body 
of new settlers ; and as the intolerant spirit of Laud exacted conformity to 
all the injunctions of the church with greater rigour than ever, the condition 
of such as had any scruples with respect to this became so intolerable that 
many accepted of their invitation to a secure retreat in New England. 
Several of these were persons of greater opulence and of better condition 
than any who had hitherto migrated to that countiy. But as they intended 
tb employ their fortunes, as well as to hazard their persons in establishing 
a permanent colony there, and foresaw many inconveniences from their 
subjection to laws made without their own consent, and framed hy a 
societj which inust always be imperfectly acquainted with their situation, 
they msisted that the corporate powers of the company should be trans- 
ferred from England to America, and the government of the colony be 
vested entirely m those who, by settling in the latter country, became 
members of it.j The company had already expended considerable sums 
in prosecuting the design of their institution, without having received 
almost any return, and had no prospect of gain, or even of reimbursement, 
but what was too remote and uncertain to be suitable to the ideas of mer- 
chants, the most numerous class of its members. They hesitated, however, 
with respect to the legality of granting the demand of the intended emi- 
grants. But such was their eagerness to be disengaged from an unpro- 
mising adventure, that, " by general consent it was determined, that the 
charter should be transferred, and the government be settled in New 
England."! ^^ ^^^^ members of the corporation who chose to remain at 
home was reserved a share in the trading stock and profits of the company 
during seven years. 

In this singular transaction, to which there is nothing similar in the history 
of English colonization, two circumstances merit particular attention : one 
is the power of the company to make this transference ; the other is the 
silent acquiescence with which the king permitted it to take place. If the 
validity of this determination of the company be tried by the charter 
which constituted it a body politic, and conveyed to it all the corporate 
powers with which it was invested, it is evident that it could neither ex- 
ercise those powers in any mode different from whaf the charter prescribed, 
nor alienate them in such a manner as to convert the jurisdiction of a 
trading corporation in England into a provincial government in America. 
But from the first institution of the company of ftlassachusetts Bay, its 
members seem to have been animated with a spirit of innovation in civil 
policy, as well as in religion; and by the habit of rejecting established 
usages in the one, they were prepared for deviating from them in the other. 

• Mather, p. 19. Neal, p. 129. f Hutcliiruon's Coll. of Papers, p. 25. % Mnther, 

p. 20. Hutchinson's Hidt. p. Vi. Clialmerg, p. 150. 



A M E K I C A. 437 

They had applied for a royal charter, in order to gjive legal effect to their 
operations in England, as acts of a body politic ; but the persons whom 
they sent out to America, as soon as they landed (here, considered them- 
selves as individuals united together by voluntary association, possessing 
the natural right of men who foriri a society, to adopt what mode of govern- 
ment, and to enact what laws they deemed most conducive to general 
felicity. Upon this principle of being entitled to judge and to decide for 
themselves, they established their church in Salem, without regard to the 
institutions of the church of England, of which the charter supposed them 
to be members, and bound of consequence to conformity with its ritual. 
Suitable to the same ideas, we shall observe them framing all their futurn 
plans of civil and ecclesiastical policy. The king, though abundantly 
vigilant in observ ing and checking slighter encroachments on his prerogative, 
was either so much occupied at that time with other cares, occasioned by 
his fatal breach with his parliament, that he could not attend to the pro- 
ceedings of the company ; or he was so much pleased with the prospect 
of removing a body of turbulent subjects to a distant country, where they 
might be useful, and could not prove dangerous, that he was disposed to 
connive at the irregularity of a measure vvhich facilitated their departure. 
Without interruption from the crown, the adventurers proceeded to carry 
their scheme into execution. In a general court, John Winthrop was 
appointed governor, and Thomas Dudley deputy governor, and eighteen 
assistants were chosen ; in whom, together with the body of freemen who 
should settle in New England, were vested all the corporate rights of the 
company. With such zeal and activity did they prepare for emigration, 
that in the course of the ensuing year seventeen ships sailed for Nev/ 
England, and aboard these above fifteen hundred persons, among whom 
were several of respectable families, and in easy circumstances. On their 
arrival in New England, many were so ill satisfied with the situation of 
Salem, that they explored the country in quest of some better station ; and 
settling in different places around the Bay, according to their various 
fancies, laid the foundations of Boston, Charles Town, Dorchester, Rox- 
borough, and other towns, which have since become considerable in the 
province. In each of these a church was established on the same model 
with that of Salem. This, together with the care of making provision for 
their subsistence during winter, occupied them entirely during some months. 
But in the first general court [Oct. 19], their disposition to consider them- 
selves as members of an independent society, unconfined by the regulations 
of their charter, began to appear. The election of the governor and 
deputy governor, the appointment of all other officers, and even the power 
of making l.iws, all which were granted by the charter to the freemen, 
were taken from them, and vested in the council of assistants. But the 
aristocratical spirit of this resolution did not accord with the ideas of equality 
prevalent among the people, who had been surprised into an approbation 
of it. Next year [1631] the freemen, whose numbers had been greatly 
augmented by the admission of new members, resumed their former rights. 
But, at the same time, they ventured to deviate from the charter in a 
matter of greater moment, which deeply affected all the future operations 
of the colony, and contributed greatly to form that peculiar character by 
which the people of New England have been distinguished. A law was 
passed, declaring that none shall hereafter be admitted freemen, or be 
entitled to any share in the government, or be capable of being chosen 
magistrates, or even of serving as jurymen, but such as have been received 
into the church as members.* By this resolution, every person who did 
not hold the favourite opinions concc^rning the doctrines of religion, the 
discipline of the church, or the rites of worship, was at once cast out of the 

* Ifiitchinstn. p. 96. rhakncrs, p. ]j! 



430 HISTORY OF [BookX. 

society, and stripped of ail tho pri\ ilesres of a citizen. An uncontrolled 
power of approvitit^ or rejectina: the claims of those who applied for 
admission ir)to comnnmion with the church being vested in the ministers 
and leading men of each congregation, the most valuable of all civil rights 
v/as made to depend on their decision with respect to qualifications purely 
ecclesiastical. As in examining into these they proceeded not by any 
known or established rules, but exercised a discretionary judgment, the 
clergy rose gradually to a degree of intiupnce and authority, iiom which 
the levelling spirit of the independent church policy was calculated to 
exclude them. As by their determination the political condition of every 
citizen was fixed, all paid court to men possessed of such an important 
power, by assuming those austere and sanctimonious manners which were 
known to be the most certain recommendations to their favour. In con- 
sequence of this ascendant, which was acquired chiefly by the wildest 
enthusiasts among the clergy, their notions became a standard to which all 
studied to conform, and the singularities characteristic of the puritans in 
that age increased, of which many remakable instances will occur in the 
course of our narrative. 

Though a considerable number of planters was cut off" by the diseases 
prevalent in a country so imperfectly cultivated by its original inhabitants 
as to be still almost one continued forest, and several, discouraged by the 
hardships to which they were exposed, returned to England, recruits suffi- 
cient to replace them arrived. At the same time the small-pox, a dis- 
temper fatal to the people of the New World, swept away such multi- 
tudes of the natives, that some whole tribes disappeared ; and Heaven, by 
thus evacuating a country in which the English might settle without 
molestation, was supposed to declare its intention that they should 
occupy it. 

As several of the vacant Indian stations were well chosen, such was the 
eagerness of the English to take possession of them, that their settlements 
became more numerous and more widely dispersed than suited the con- 
dition of an infant colony. This led to an innovation which totally altered 
the nature and constitution of the government. When a general court was 
to he held in the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-four, the free- 
men instead of attending it in person, as the charter prescribed, elected 
representatives in their different districts, authorizing them to appear in 
their name, with full power to deliberate and decide concerning every 
point that fell under the cognizance of the general court. Whether this 
measure was suggested by some designing leaders, or whether they found 
it prudent to soothe the people by complying with their inclination, is 
uncertain. The representatives were admitted, and considered themselves, 
in conjunction with the governor and assistants, as the supreme legislative 
asseml)ly of the colony. In assertion of their own rights, they enacted 
that no law should l)e passed, no tax should be imposed, and no public 
officer should be appointed, but in the general assembly. The pretexts for 
making this new arrangement were plausible. The number of freemen was 
greatly increased ; many resided at a distance from the places where the 
supreme courts were held ; personal attendance became inconvenient ; the 
form of government in their own country had rendered familiar the idea of 
delegating their rights, and committing the guardianship of their liberties 
to representatives of their own choice, and the experience of ages had 
taught them that this important trust might with safety be lodged in their 
hands. Thus did the company of Massachusetts Bay, in less than six 
years from its incorporation by tho king, mature and perfect a scheme 
which, I have already observed, some of its more artlul and aspiring 
leaders seem to have had in view, when the association fiir peopling New 
England was first formed. The colony must henceforward be considered, 
not as a coipoiation whose powers were defined, and its. mode of 



AMERICA. 439 

procedure regulated by its charter, but as a society, which, having acquired 
or assumed poHtical liberty, had, by its own voluntary deed, adopted a 
constitution or government tramed on the model ol' that in England. 

But however liberal their system of civil policy might be, as their reli- 
gious opinions were no longer under any restraint of authority, the spirit of 
fanaticism continued to spread, and became everyday wilder and more 
extravagant. Williams, a nnnister of Salem, in high estimation, having 
conceived an antipathy to the cross of St. George in the standard of Eng- 
land, declaimed against it with so much vehemence, as a relic of super- 
stition and idolatry which ought not to be retained among a people so pure 
and sanctified, that Endicott, one of the members of the court of assistants, 
in a transport of zeal, publicly cut out the cross from the ensign displaj'ed 
before the governor's gate. This frivolous matter interested and divided 
the colony. Some of the militia scrupled to follow colours in which there 
was a cross, lest they should do honour to an idol ; others refused to serve 
under a mutilated banner, lest they should be suspected of having 
renounced their allegiance to the crown of England. Alter a lon^ contro- 
A'ersy, carried on by both parties with that heat and zeal which m trivial 
disputes supply the want of argument, the contest was temiinated by a 
compromise. The cross was retained in the ensigns of forts and ships, but 
erased from the colours of the militia. Williams, on account of this, as 
well as of some other doctrines deemed unsound, was banished out of the 
colony.* 

The prosperous state of New England was now so highly extolled, and 
the simple Irame of its ecclesiastic policy so much admired by all whose 
affections were estratiged from the church of England, that crowds of new- 
settlers flocked thither [1635]. Among these were two persons, whose 
liames have been rendered memorable by the appearance which they 
afterwards made on a more conspicuous theatre ; one was Hugh Peters, the 
enthusiastic and intriguing chaplaiti of Oliver Cromwell : the other Mr. 
Henry Vane, son of Sir Henry Vane, a privy counsellor, high in office, and 
of great credit with the king ; a young man of a noble family, animated 
with such zeal for pure religion and such love of liberty as induced hiin 
to relinquish all his hopes in England, and to settle in a colony hitherto no 
further advanced in improvement than barely to afford subsistence to its 
members, was received with the fondest admiration. His mortified 
appearance, his demure look and rigid manners, carried even beyond the 
standard of preciseness in that society which he joined, seemed to indicate 
a man of high spiritual attainments, while his abilities and address in busi- 
ness pointed him out as worthy of the highest station in the community. 
With universal consent, and high expectations of advantage from his 
administration, he was elected governor in the year subsequent to his 
arrival [1636], But as the affairs of an infant colony afforded not objects 
adequate to the talents of Vane, his busy pragmatical spirit occupied itself 
Avith theological subtilties and speculations unworthy of his attention. 
These were excited by a woman, whose reveries produced such effects 
bolh within the colony and beyond its precincts, that frivolous as they may 
now appear, they must be mentioned as an occurrence of importance in its 
history. 

It was the custom at that time in New England, among the chief men 
in every congregation, to meet once a week in order to rej)eat the sermons 
which they had heard, and to hold religious conference with respect to the 
doctrine contained in them. Mrs. Hutchinson, whose husband was among 
the most respectable members of the colony, regretting that persons of her 
.sex were excluded from the benefit of those meetings, assembled statedly 
in her house a number of women, whoem[)loyed themselves in pious exercises 

* Xcil'sHist. of N. Enp. p. HO. Sco. iriifcliir.son. p. HT. rhalmpis. p 15<i. 



440 HISTORY OF [Book X. 

similar to (hose ot Ihe men. At first she satisfied herself with repeating what 
she could recolJect of the discourses delivered hy their teachers. She began 
afterwards to add illustrations, and at length proceeded to censure some of 
the clergy as unsound, and to vent opinions and fancies of her own. These 
were all founded on the system which is denominated Antinomian bjr 
divines, and tinged with the deepest enthusiasm. She taught, that sanctity 
of life is no evidence of justification, or of a state of favour with God ; and 
that such as inculcated the necessity of manifesting the reality of our faith 
by obedience preached only a covenant of works ; she contended that the 
Spirit of God dwelt personally in good men, and by inward revelations and 
impressions they received the fullest discoveries of the divine will. The 
fluency and confidence with which she delivered these notions gained 
lier many admirers and proselytes, not only among the vulgar but among 
the principal inhabitants. The whole colony was interested and agitated. 
Vane, whose sagacity and acuteness seemed to forsake him whenever they 
were turned towards religion, espoused and defended her wildest tenets. 
Many conferences were held, days of fasting and humiliation were 
appointed, a general s3^nod was called ; and, after dissensions so violent as 
threatened the dissolution of the colony, Mrs. Hutchinson's opinions were 
condemned as erroneous, and she herself banished [1637]. Several of her 
disciples withdrew from the province of their own accord. Vane quitted 
America in disgust, unlamented even by those who had lately admired 
him ; some of whom now regarded him as a mere visionary, and others as 
one of those dark turbulent spirits doomed to embroil every society into 
ivhich they enter.* 

However much these theological contests might disquiet the colony of 
Massachusetts Bay, they contributed to the more speedy population of 
America. When Williams was banished from Salem in the year one 
thousand six hundred and thirty-four, such was the attachment of his hear- 
ers to a pastor whose piety they revered, that a good number of them volun- 
tarily accompanied him in his exile. They directed their march towards 
the south ; and having purchased from the natives a considerable tract of 
land, to which W^illiams gave the name of Providence, they settled there. 
They were joined soon after by some of those to whom the proceedings 
against Mrs. Hutchinson gave disgust ; and by a transaction ^vith the 
Indians they obtained a right to a fertile island in Narraganset Bay, m hich 
acquired the name of Rhode Island. Williams remained among them 
upwards of forty years, respected as the father and the guide of the colony 
which he had planted. His spirit differed from that of the puritans in 
Massachusetts ; it was mild and tolerating ; and having ventured himself 
to reject established opinions, he endeavoured to secure the same liberty 
to other men, by maintaining that the exercise of private judgment was a 
natural atid sacred right; that the civil magistrate has no compulsive juris- 
diction in the concerns of religion ; that the punishment of any person on 
account of his opinions was an encroachment on conscience, and an act of 
persecution.! These humane principles he instilled into his ibllowe s ; 
and all who felt or dreaded oppression in other settlements resorted to a 
community in which universal toleration was known to be a fundamental 
maxim. In the plantations of Providence and Rhode Island, political union 
was established by voluntary association, and the equality of condition 
among the members, as well as their religious opinions ; their form of 
government was purely democratical, the supreme power being lodged in 
ihe freemen personally assembled. In this state they remained until they 
were incorporated by charter.^ 

* Mallior, bool: vli c. 3. Uuichiiison, p. 53. 74. Nual, p. 1. 144. 16.=5, &c. Chalmprs, p. Ifi.S. 
t Ncal's Hist, of N. Kiig. p. J41. 1 nmrliiiison. d. :V. Neal. ii. 1 ('.'. Houcl. Piiin. li. p. 76, 
&c. Clialmcrs. i:i. ii. 



AMERICA. Ml 

To similar causes the colony of Connecticut is indebted for its orig^in. 
The rivalship between Mr. Cotton and Mr, Hooker, two favourite minis- 
ters in the settlement of Massachusetts Bay, disposed the latter, who was 
least successful in this contest for fame and power, to wish for some settle- 
ment at a distance from a competitor by whom his reputation was eclipsed. 
A good number of those who had imbibed Mrs. Hutchinson's'notions, and 
were oflfended at such as combatt-d them, offered to accompany him. 
Having employed proper persons to explore the country, they pitched upon 
the west side of the great river Connecticut as the most inviting station ; 
and in the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-six, about a hundred 
persons, with their wives and families, after a fatiguing march of many 
uays through woods and swamps, arrived there, and laid the foundation of 
the towns of Hartford, Springfield, and VVeathersfield. This settlement 
■was attended with peculiar irregularities. Part of the district now occu- 
pied lay beyond the limits of the territory granted to the colony of Mas- 
sachusetts Bay, and yet the emigrants took a commission from the governor 
and court of assistants, empowering them to exercise jurisdiction in that 
country. The Dutch from Manhados or New York, having discovered 
the river Connecticut, and established some trading houses upon it, had 
acquired all the right that prior possession confers. Lord Say and Sele 
and Lord Bnxjk, the heads of two illustrious families, were so much 
alarmed at the arbitraiy measures of Charles L, both in his civil and eccle- 
siastical administration, that they took a resolution, not unbecoming young 
men of noble birth and liberal sentiments, of retiring to the New World, 
in order to enjoy such a form of religion as they approved of, and those 
liberties which they deemed essential to the well being of society. They, 
too, fixed on the banks of the Connecticut as their place of settlement, and 
had taken possession, by building a fort at the mouth of the river, which 
from their united names was called Say Brook. The emigrants from Mas- 
sachusetts, without regarding either the defects in their own right or the 
pretensions of other claimants, kept possession, and proceeded with vigour 
to clear and cultivate the country. By degrees they got rid of every com- 
petitor. The Dutch, recently settled in America, and too feeble to engage 
in a war, peaceably withdrew from Connecticut. Lord Say and Sele and 
Lord Brook made over to the colony whatever title they might have to 
any lands in that region. Society was established by a voluntary compact 
of the freemen ; and though they soon disclaimed all dependence on the 
colony of Massachusetts Bay, they retained such veneration for its legisla- 
tive wisdom as to adopt a form of government nearly resembling its insti- 
tutions, with respect both to civil and ecclesiastical policy. At a subse- 
quent period, the colony of Connecticut was likewise incorporated by 
royal charter.* 

The history of the first attempts to people the provinces of New Hamp- 
shire and Maine, which form the fourth and most extensive division in New 
England, is obscured and perplexed, by the interfering claims of various 
proprietors. The company of Plj-mouth had inconsiderately parcelled 
out the northern part of the territory contained in its grant among difJerent 

! persons : of these only Sir Ferdiriando Gorges and Captain Mason seem to 
lave had any serious intention to occupy the lands allotted to them. Their 
efTorts to accomplish this were meritorious and persevering, but unsuccess- 
ful. The expense of settling colonies in an uncultivated country must 
necessarily be great and immediate ; the prospect of a return is often un- 
certain, and always remote. The funds of two private adventurers were 
not adequate to such an undertaking. Nor did the planters whom tbey 
sent out possess that principle of enthusiasm, which animated their neigh- 
bours of Massachusetts with vigour to struggle through all the hardships atid 

• Hutchinson, n. 44, &r. Neal, i. 147. noHclas. ii. 15". tc. Phalmprs's Anna!"!, fh. xii. 

Vor . I.— S6 



442 HISTORY OF [BookX. 

clangers to which society in its infancy is exposed in a savage land. 
Gorges and Mason, it is probable, must have abandoned their design, if, 
from the same motives that settlements had been made in Rhode Island and 
Connecticut, colonists had not unexpectedly migrated into New Hamp- 
shire and Maine. Mr. Wheelwright, a minister of some note, nearly related 
to Mrs. Hutchinson, and one of her most fervent admirers and partisans, 
had on this account been banished from the province of Massachusetts Bay.* 
In quest of a new station, he took a course opposite to the other exiles, 
and advancing towards the north, founded the town of Exeter on a small 
river flowing into Piscataqua Bay. His followers, few in numljer, but 
firmly united, were of such rigid principles, that even the churches of 
Massachusetts did not appear to them sufficiently pure. From time to time 
they received some recruits, whom love of novelty, or dissatisfaction with 
the ecclesiastical institutions of the other colonies prompted to join thetn. 
Their plantations were widely dispersed, but the country was thinly peo- 
pled, and its political state extremely unsettled. The colony of Massa- 
chusetts Bay claimed jurisdiction over them, as occupying lands situated 
within the limits of their grant. Gorges and Mason asserted the rights 
conveyed to them as proprietors by their charter. In several districts the 
planters, without regarding the pretensions of either party, governed them- 
selves by maxims and laws copied from those of their brethren in the adja- 
cent colonies.! The first reduction of the political constitution in the pro- 
vinces of New Hampshire and Maine into a regular and permanent form, 
was subsequent to the Revolution. 

By extending their settlements, the English became exposed to new 
danger. The tribes of Indians around Massachusetts Bay were feeble and 
unwarlike ; yet from regard tojustice, as well as motives of prudence, the 
first colonists were studious to obtain the consent of the natives before they 
ventured to occupy any of their lands ; and though in such transactions the 
consideration given was often very inadequate to the value of the territory 
acquired, it was sufficient to satisfy the demands of the proprietors. The 
English took quiet possession of the lands thus conveyed to them, and no 
open hostility broke out between them and the ancient possessors. But 
the colonies of Providence and Connecticut soon found that they were sur- 
rounded by more powerful and martial nations. Among these the most 
considerable were the Narragansets and Pequods ; the former seated on the 
bay which bears their name, and the latter occujiying the territory which 
stretches from the river Pequods along the banks of the Connecticut. The 
Pequods were a formidable people, who could bring into the field a thou- 
sand warriors not inferior in courage to any in the New World. They 
foresaw, not only that the extermination of the Indian race must be the 
consequence of permitting the English to spread over the continent of 
America, but that, if measures were not speedily concerted to pievent it, 
the calamity would be unavoidable. With this view they applied to the 
Narragansets, requesting them to forget ancient animosities tbr a moment, 
and to co-operate with Ihem in expelling a common enemy who threHtened 
both with destruction. They represented that, when those strangers first 
landed, the object of their visit was not suspected, and no proper precau- 
tions were taken to check their progress ; that now, by sending out colo- 
nies in one year towards three different quarters, their intentions were 
manifest, andf the people of America must abandon their native seats to 
make way ibr unjust intruders. 

But the Narragansets and Pequods, like most of the contiguous tribes in 
America, were rivals, and there subsisted between them an hereditaiy and 
implacable enmity. Revenge is the darling passion of savages ; in order 

* Hutchinson, p. 70. f Ibid. p. 103. &c. 176. DouRlas'sSum. ii. 22, &r. Chalmers's A nnalf. 
r]\. xvii. 



A M £ R I C A. 443 

to secure the indulgence of which there is no present advantagje that they 
will not sacrifice, and no future consequence which they do not totally 
disregard. The Narragansets, instead of closing with the prudent proposal 
of their neighbours, discovered their hostile intentions to the governor of 
Massachusetts Bay : and, eager to lay hold on such a favourable opportu- 
i:ity of wreaking their vengeance on their ancient foes, entered into an 
alliance with the English against them. The Pequods, more exasperated 
than discouraged by the imprudence and treachery of their countrymen, 
took the field, and carried on the war in the usual mode of Americans. 
They surprised stragglers, and scalped them ; they plundered and burnt 
remote settlements ; they attacked Fort Say Brook without success, though 
garrisoned only by twenty men ; and ^vhen the English began to act 
offensively, they retired to fastnesses which they deemed inaccessible. 
The dittijrent colonies had agreed to unite against the common enemy, 
each furnishing a quota of men in proportion to its numbers. The troops 
of Connecticut, which lay most exposed to danger, were soon assembled. 
The march of those from Mussachusetts, which formed the most consider- 
able body, was retarded by the most singular cause that ever influenced 
the operations of a military force. When they were mustered previous to 
their departure, it was found that some of the officers, as well as of the 
private soldiers, were still under a covenant of works ; and that the 
blessing of God could not be implored or expected to crown the arms of 
such unhallnwed men with success. The alarm was general, and many 
arrangements necessary in order to cast out the unclean, and to render this 
little band sufficiently pure to fight the battles of a people who entertained 
high ideas of their own sanctity.* 

Meanwhile the Connecticut troops, reinforced by a small detachment 
from Say Brook, found it necessary to advance towards the enemy. They 
were posted on a rising ground, in the middle of a swamp towards the 
head of the river Mistick, which they had surrounded with palisadoes, 
the best defence that their slender skill in the art of fortification had dis- 
covered. Though they knew that the English were in motion, yet, with 
the usual improvidence and security of savages, they took no measures 
either to observe their progress, or to guard against being surprised them- 
selves. The enemy, unperceived, reached the palisadoes [May 20] ; and 
if a dog had not given the alarm by barking, the Indians must have been 
massacred without resistance. In a moment, however, they started to 
arms, and, raising the war cry, prepared to repel the assailants. But at 
that early period of their intercourse with the Europeans, the Americans 
were little acquainted with the use of gunpowder, and dreaded its effects 
extremely. While some of the English galled them with an incessant fire 
through die intervals between the palisadoes, others forced their way by 
the entries into the fort, filled only with branches of trees ; and .setting fire 
to the huts which were covered with reeds, the confusion and terror quickly 
became general. Many of the women and children perished in the 
flames ; and the warriors, in endeavouring to escape, were either slain by 
the English, or, falling into the hands of their Indian allies, who surrounded 
the fort at a distance, were reserved lor a more cruel fate. After the junc- 
tion of the troops from Massachusetts, the English resolved to pursue their 
victory ; and hunting the Indians from one place of retreat to another, 
some subsequent encounters were hardly less tatal to them than the action 
on the Mistick. In less than three months the tribe of Pequods were ex- 
tirpated : a few miserable fugitives, who took refuge among the neigh- 
bouring Indians, being incorporated by them, lost their name as a distinct 
people. In this first essay of their arms, the colonists of New England 
seem to have been conducted by skilful and enterprising officers, anii dis- 

Neal. i. 169. 



444 HISTORY OF [Book X 

played both courage and perseverance as soldiers. But they stained their 
laurels by the use which they made of victory. Instead ot treating the 
Pequods as an independent people, who made a gallant effort to defend 
the property, the rights, and the freedom of their nation, they retaliated 
upon them all the barbarities of American war. Some they massacred in 
cold blood, others they gave up to be tortured by their Indian allies, a con- 
siderable number they sold as slaves in Bermudas, the rest were reduced 
to servitude among themselves.* 

But reprehensible as this conduct of the English must be deemed, their 
vigorous efforts in this decisive campaign filled all the surrounding tribes 
of Indians with such a high opinion of their valour as secured a long tran- 
quillity to all their settlements. At the same time the violence of admin- 
istration in England continued to increase their population and strength, by 
forcing many respectable subjects to tear themselves from all the tender 
connections that bind men to their native country, and to fly for refuge to a 
region of the New World, which hitherto presented to them nothing that 
could allure them thither but exemption from oppression. The number of 
those emigrants drew the attention ot government, and appeared so formi- 
dable that a proclamation was issued, prohibiting masters of ships from 
carrying passengers to New England without special permission. On 
many occasions this injunction was eluded or disregarded. Fatally for the 
king, it operated with full effect in one instance. Sir Arthur Haslerig, 
John Hampden, Oliver Cromwell, and some other persons whose principles 
and views coincided Avith theirs, impatient to enjoy those civil and reli- 
gious liberties which they struggled in vain to obtain in Great Britain, 
hired some ships to carry them and their attendants to New England. By 
order of council, an embargo was laid on these when on the point of 
sailing; and Charles, far from suspecting that the future revolutions in his 
kingdoms were to be excited and directed by persons in such an humble 
sphere of life, forcibly detained the men destined to overturn his throne 
and to terminate his days by a violent death.t 

But, in spite of all the efforts of government to check this spirit of 
migration, the measures of the king and his ministers were considered by 
a great body of the people as so hostile to those rights which they deemed 
most valuable, that in the course of the year one thousand six hundred and 
tliirty-eight, about three thousand persons embarked for New England, 
choosing rather to expose themselves to all the consequences of disre- 
garding the royal proclamation than to remain longer ut)der oppression. 
Exasperated at this contempt of his authority, Charles had recourse to a 
violent but effectual mode of accomplishing what he had in view. A 
writ of mio warranto was issued against the corporation of Massachusetts 
Bay. The colonists had conformed so little to the terms of their charter 
that judgment was given against them without difficulty. They were 
found to have forfeited all their rights as a corporation, which ot course 
returned to the crown, and Charles began to take measures lor new model- 
ling the political frame of the colony, and vesting the administration of its 
affairs in other hands. But his plans were never carried into execution. 
In every corner of his dominions the storm now began to gather, which 
soon burst out w ith such fatal violence, that Charles, during the remainder 
of his unfortunate reign, occupied with domestic and more interesting cares, 
had not leisure to bestow any attention upon a remote and inconsiderable 
province.! 

On the meeting of the Long Parliament, such a revolution took place 
in England that all the motives for migrating to the New World ceased. 



* HutchiDson 
116, &c 
Annals 



chinson, p. 58. 76, &c. Mather, Magnalia, b. vii. ch. 6. Hubbard's State of N. Eng. p. 5. 
t Mather, Magnalia, b. i. ch. 5. p. 23. Neal's Hist, of N. Eng. i. 151. Chalmrrs'a 
i. 155. 160. &c. i Hutchinson, p. 86. 502. &c. Chalmers's Annals, i. 161 



A ME RIO.. 445 

The maxims ot the puritans with respect (o the government both of church 
and state became predominant in the nation, and were enforced by the 
hand of power. Their oppressors were humbled ; that perfect system 
of reformed pohty, which had long been the object of their admiration 
and desire, was established by law ; and amidst the intrigues and conflicts 
of an obstinate civil war, turbulent and aspiring spirits tbund such full oc- 
cupation that they had no inducement to quit a busy theatre, on which they 
had risen to act a most conspicuous part. From the year one thousand six 
hundred and twenty, when the first feeble colony was conducted to New 
England by the Brownists, to the year one thousand six hundred and forty, 
it has been computed that twenty-one thousand two hundred British 
subjects had settled there. The money expended by various adventurers 
during that period, in fitting out ships, in purchasing stock, and transporting 
settlers, amounted on a moderate calculation, nearly to two hundred thou- 
sand pounds :* a vast sum in that age, and which no principles, inferior in 
force to those wherewith the puritans were animated, could have persuaded 
men to lay out on the uncertain prospect of obtaining an establishment in 
a remote uncultivated region, which, iVom its situation and climate, could 
allure them with no hope but that of finding subsistence and enjoying 
freedom. For some years, even subsistence was procured with difficulty ; 
and it was towards the close of the period to which our narrrative is arrived, 
before the product of the settlement yielded the planters any return for 
their stock. About that time they began to export com in small quantities 
to the West Indies, and made some feeble attempts to extend the fishery, 
and to open the trade in lumber, which have since proved the staple 
articles of commerce in the colony.t Since the year one thousand six 
hundred and forty, the number of people with which New England has 
recruited the poptilation of the parent state, is supposed at least to equal 
what may have been drained from it by occasional migrations thither. 

But though the sudden change of system in Great Britain stopped 
entirely the influx of settlers into New England, the principles of the 
colonists coincided so perfectly with those of the popular leaders in par- 
liament that they were soon distinguished by peculiar marks of their 
brotherly aflection. By a vote of the House ot Commons in the year one 
thousand six hundred and forty-two, the people in all the different planta- 
tions of New England were exempted from payment of any duties, either 
upon goods exported thither, or upon those which they imported into the 
mother country, until the House shall take further order to the contrary. 
This was afterwards confirmed [1646] by the authority of both Houses. 
Encouraged by such an extraordinary privilege, industry made rapid pro- 
gress in all the districts of New England, and population increased along 
with it. In return for those favours, the colonists applauded the measures 
of parliament, celebrated its generous efforts to vindicate the rights and 
liberties of the- nation, prayed for the success of its arms, and framed regu- 
lations in order to prevent any exertion in favour of the king on the other 
side of the Atlantic. J 

Relying on the indulgent partiality with which all their proceedings 
were viewed by men thus closely united with them in sentiment and 
wishes, the people of New England ventured on a measure which not 
only increased their security and power, but may be regarded as a con- 
siderable step towards independence. Under the impression or pretext of 
the danger to which they were exposed from the surrounding tribes of 
Indians, the four colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and 
New Haven, entered into a league of perpetual confederacy, offensive and 
defensive [May 19, 164 J] ; an idea familiar to several leading men in the 

♦ Mather, b. i ch 4. p. 17. ch. 5. p. 23. Hutcliinson, p. 193. Chalmers's Annals, p. IC,^. 
1 Hutchinson, p. 91, W, ^ Ihid. p. 114. App. .117. Chelnior^'s Annals, i. 174. 17^ 



446 HISTORY OF [BookX, 

colonies, as it was framed in imitation of the famous bond of union among^ 
the Dutch provinces, in whose dominions the Brownists had long resided. 
It was stipulated that the confederates should henceforth be distinguished 
by the name of the United Colonies of New England ; that each colony 
should remain separate and distinct, and have exclusive jurisdiction within 
its own territory ; and that in every war, offensive or defensive, each of 
the confederates shall furnish his quota of men, provisions, and money, 
at a rate to be fixed from time to time, in proportion to the number of 
people in each settlement ; that an assembly composed of two commis- 
sioners from each colony shall be held annually, with power to deliberate 
and decide in all points of common concern to the confederacy ; and eveiy 
determination, in which six of their number concur, shall be binding on 
the whole.* In this transaction the Colonies of New England seem to 
have considered themselves as independent societies, possessing all the 
rights of sovereignty, and free from the control of any superior power. 
The governing party in England, occupied with affairs of more urgent 
concern, and nowise disposed to observe the conduct of their brethren in 
Ainerica with any jealous attention, suffered the measure to pass without 
animadversion. 

Emboldened by this connivance, the spirit of independence gathered 
strength, and soon displayed itself more openly : some persons of note in 
the colony of Massachusetts, averse to the system of ecclesiastical polity 
established there, and preferring to it the government and discipline of the 
churches of England or Scotland, having remonstrated to the general court 
against the injustice of depriving them of their rights as freemen, and of 
their privileges as Christians [1'j46], because they could not join as mem- 
bers with any of the congregational churches, petitioned that they might 
no longer be bound to obey laws to which they had not assented, nor be 
subjected to taxes imposed by an assembly in which they were not repre- 
sented. Their demands were not only rejected, but they were imprisoned 
and fined as disturbers of the public peace; and when they appointed 
some of their number to lay their grievances before parliament, the annual 
court, in order to prevent this appeal to the supreme power, attempted 
first to seize their papers, and to obstruct their embarkation for England. 
But though neither of these could be accomplished, such was the address 
and influence of the Colony's agents in England, that no inquiry seems to 
have been made into this transaction. f This was followed by an indica- 
tion, still less ambiguous, of the aspiring spirit prevalent among the people 
of Massachusetts. Under every form of government the right of coining 
money has been considered as a prerogative peculiar to sovereignty, and 
which no subordinate member in any state is entitled to claim. Regardless 
of this established maxim, the general court ordered a coinage of silver 
money at Boston [1652], stamped with the name of the colony, and a tree 
as an apt symbol of its progressive vigour.| Even this usurpation escaped 
without notice. The Independents, having now humbled all rival sects, 
engrossed the whole direction of affairs in Great Britain, and long accustomed 
to admire the government of New England, framed agreeably to those 
principles Avhich they had adopted as the most perfect model of civil and 
ecclesiastical polity, they were unwilling to stain its reputation by censuring 
any part of its conduct. 

When Cromwell usurped the supreme power, the colonies of New 
England continued to stand as high in his estimation. As he had deeply 
imbibed all the fanatical notions of the Independents, and was perpetually 
surrounded by the most eminent and artful teachers of that sect, he kept 
a constant correspondence with the leading men in the American settle- 

* Neal's Hist, of N. Eiig. i. 2n\>, &r. Hutcliinson p. 124. fhalmei-.s'? Annals, p. 177. f Nral'/J 
Hist, of N. Etig. i. 121. Hutchinson's Hist. 14ri, &c Collpct. 188, &c. Chalm. Ami. 179. Mather. 
Magnal.b. iii. ch. t: p. 30. t Hutchinson's Hist. 177, 178. Chalmers's Annals, p. ISI. 



AMERICA. 447 

raentd, who seem to have looked up to him as a zealous patron.* He in 
return considered them as his most devoted adherents, attached to him no 
less by affection than by principle. He soon gave a striking proof ot this. 
On the conquest of Jamaica, he formed a scheme for the security and 
improvement of the acquisition made by his victorious arms, suited to the 
ardour of an impetuous spirit that delighted in accomplishing its ends by 
extraordinary means. He proposed to transport the people of New 
England to that island, and employed every argument calculated to make 
impression upon them, in order to obtain their consent. He endeavoured 
to rouse their religious zeal by representing what a fatal blow it would be 
to the man of sin, if a colony of the faithful were settled in the midst of 
his territories in the New World. He allured them with prospects of 
immense wealth in a fertile region, which would reward the industry of 
those who cultivated it with all the precious productions of the torrid zone, 
and expressed his fervent wish that they might take possession of it, in 
order to fulfil God's promise of making his people the head and not the 
tail. He assured them of being supported by the whole force of his 
authority, and of vesting all the powers of government entirely in their 
hands. But by this time the colonists were attached to a country in which 
they had resided for many years, and where, though they did not attain 
opulence, they enjoyed the comforts of life in great abundance ; and they 
dreaded so much the noxious climate of the West Indies, which had proved 
fatal to a great number of the English who first settled in Jamaica, that 
they declined, though in the most respectful terms, closing with the Pro- 
ttctor's proposition.! 

* Hutchinson, App. 520, Slc. Collect, p. 233. t Hutchinson, p. 190, &c. Chalmers, p. 188 



i 44b 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Note [1]. Pace 19. 

Tyre was situated at such a distance from the Arabian Gulf, or Red Sea, as 
jnade it impracticable to convey commodities from thence to that city by land 
carriage. This induced the Phoenicians to render themselves masters of JRhino-' 
crura or Rhinocolura, the nearest port in the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. 
They landed the cargoes whicii they purchased in Arabia, Ethiopia, and India, 
at Elath, the safest harbour in the Red Sea towards the North. Thence they 
were carried by land to Rhinocolura, the distance not being very considerable'; 
and, being re-shipped in that port were transported to Tyre, and distributed over 
the world. Strabon. Geogr. edit. Casaub. lib. xvi. p. 1128. Diodor. Sicul, 
Biblioth. Histor. edit. Wesselingii, lib. i. p. 70. 

Note [2]. Page 21. 

The Periplus Hannonis is the only authentic monument of the Carthaginian 
skill in naval affairs, and one of the most curious fragments transmitted to us 
by antiquity. The learned and industrious Mr. Dodwcll, in a dissertation 
prefixed to the Periplus of Hanno, in the edition of the Minor Geographers 
published at Oxford, endeavours to prove- that this is a spurious work, the 
composition of some Greek, who assumed Hanno's name. But M. de Montes- 
quieu, in his TEsprit des Loix, lib. xxi. c. 8. and M. de Bougainville, in a dis- 
sertation published torn. xxvi. of the Meinoires de TAcad^mie des Inscriptions, 
&.C. have established its authenticity by arguments which to me appear un- 
answerable. Ramusio has accompanied his translation of this curious voyage 
with a dissertation tending to illustrate it. Racolte de Viaggi, vol. i. p. 112. 
M. de Bougainville has, with great learning and ability, treated the same subject. 
It appears that Hanno, according to the mode of ancient navigation, undertook 
this voyage in small vessels so constructed that he could keep close in with the 
coast. He sailed from Gedes to the island of Cerne in twelve days. This is 
probably what is known to the moderns by the name of the Isle of Arguim, 
It became the chief station of the Carthaginians on that coast ; and M. de 
Bougainville contends, that the cisterns found there are monuments of the Car- 
thaginian power and ingenuity. Proceeding from Cerne, and still following 
the winding of the coast, he arrived in seventeen days, at a promontory which 
he called The West Horn, probably Cape Palmas. From this he advanced to 
another promontory, which he named The South Horn, and which is manifestly 
Cape de Tres Puntas, about five degrees north of the line. All the circumstances 
Contained in the short abstract of his journal, which is handed down to us, con- 
cerning the appearance and state of the countries on the coast of Africa, arc 
confirmed and illustrated by a comparison with the accounts of modern naviga- 
tors. Even those circumstances which, from their seeming improbability, have 
been produced to invalidate the credibility of his relation, tend to confirm it. 
He observes, that in the country to the south of Cerne, a profound silence 
reigned through the day ; but during the night mnumerable fires were kindled 
along the banks if the rivers, and the air resounded with Iho noiso cf pipe^ 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 449 

uhd drums and cries of joy. The same thing, as Ramusio observes, still takes 
place. The excessive heat obliges the Negroes to take shelter in the woods, or 
in their houses, during the day. As soon as the sun sets, they sally out, and by 
torchlight enjoy the pleasure of music and dancing, in which they spend the 
night. Ramus, i. 113. F. In anotlier place, he mentions the sea as burning 
with torrents of fire. What occurred to M. Adanson, on the same coast, may 
explain this : " As soon," says he, " as the sun dipped beneath the horizon, and 
night overspread the earth with darkness, the sea lent us its friendly light. 
While the prow of our vessel ploughed the foaming surges, it seemed to set them 
all on fire. Thus we sailed in a luminous inclosure, which surrounded us like 
a large circle of rays, from whence darted in the wake of the ship a long stream 
of a light." Voy. to Senegal, p. 176. This appearance of the sea, observed by 
Hunter, has been mentioned as an argument against the authenticity of the 
Periplus. It is, however, a phenomenon very common in warm climates. Cap- 
tain Cook's second voyage, vol. i. p. 15. The Periplus of Hanno has been 
translated, and every point with respect to it has been illustrated with much 
learning and ingenuity, in a work published by Don Pedr. Rodrig. Campomanes, 
entitled, Antiguedad maritima de Cartago, con el Periplo desu General Harmon 
traducido e illustrado. Mad. 1756. 4to. 

Note [3]. Page 21 

Long after the navigation of the Phoenicians and of Eudoxus round Africa, 
Polybius, the most intelligent and best informed historian of antiquity, and par- 
ticularly distinguished by his attention to geographical researches, affirms, that 
it was not known, in his time, whether Africa was a continued continent stretching 
to the south, or whether it was encompassed by the sea. Polybii Hist. lib. iii. 
Pliny the naturalist asserts, that there can be no communication between the 
southern and northern temperate zones. Plinii Hist. Natur. edit, in usum, 
Delph. 4to. lib. ii. c. 68. If they had given full credit to the accounts of those 
voyages, the former could not have entertained such a doubt, the latter could 
not have delivered such an opinion. Strabo mentions the voyage of Eudoxus, 
but treats it as a fabulous tale, lib. ii. p. 155 ; and, according to his account of 
it, no other judgment can be formed with respect to it. Strabo seems not to 
have known any thing with certainty concerning the form and state of the 
southern parts of Africa. Geogr. lib. xvii. p. 1180. Ptolemy, the most inquisi- 
tive and learned of all the ancient geographers, was equally unacquainted with 
any parts of Africa situated a few degrees beyond the equinoctial line ; for he 
supposes that this great continent was not surrounded by the sea, but that it 
stretched, without interruption, towards the south pole ; and he so far mistakes 
its true figure that he describes the continent as becoming broader and broader 
as it advanced towards the south. Ptolemsei Geogr. lib. iv.c. 9. Brietii Parallela 
Geogr. veteris et novae, p. 86. 

Note [4]. Page 24. 

A FACT recorded by Strabo affords a very strong and singular proof of the 
ignorance of the ancients with respect to the situation of the various parts of 
the earth. When Alexander marched along the banks of the Hydaspes and 
Acesine, two of the rivers which fall into the Indus, he observed that there were 
many crocodiles in those rivers, and that the country produced beans of the 
same species with those which were common in Egypt. From these circum- 
stances he concluded that he had discovered the source of the Nile, and prepared 
a fleet to sail down the Hydaspes to Egypt. Strab. Geogr. lib. xv. p. 1020. 
This amazing error did not arise from any ignorance of geography peculiar to 
that monarch ; for we are informed by Strabo, that Alexander applied with 
particular attention in order to acquire the knowledge of this science, and had 
accurate maps or descriptions of the countries through which ho marched. Lib. 
ii. p. 120. But in his age the knowledge of the Greeks did not extend beyond 
the limits of the Mediterranean- 

Vot,. I.— fi7 



450 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Note [5]. Page 24. 

As the flux and reflux of the sea is remarkably great at the mouth of the 
river Indus, this would render the phenomenon more formidable to the Greeks. 
Varen Geogr. vol. i. p. 231. 

Note [6]. Page 25. 

It is probable that the ancients were seldom induced to advance so far as the 
mouth of the Ganges, either by motives of curiosity or views of commercial 
advantage. In consequence of this, their idea concerning the position of that 
great river was very erroneous. Ptolemy places that branch of the Ganges, 
which he distinguishes by the name of the Great Mouth, in the hundred and 
forty-sixth degree of longitude from his first meridian in the Fortunate Islands. 
But its true longitude, computed from that meridian, is now determined, by 
astronomical observations, to be only a hundred and five degrees. A geographer 
so eminent must have been betrayed into an error of this magnitude by the 
imperfection of the information which he had received concerning those distant 
regions; and this affords a striking proof of the intercourse with them being 
extremely rare. With respect tjo the countries of India beyond the Ganges, 
his intelligence was still more defective, and his errors more enormous. I shall 
have occasion to observe, in another place, that he has placed the country of 
the Seres, or China, no less than sixty degrees further east than its true position. 
M. d'Anville, one of the most learned and intelligent of the modern geographers, 
has set this matter in a clear light, in two dissertations published in Mem. de- 
TAcad^m. des Inscript. Sic. torn, xxxii. p. 573. 604. 

Note [7]. Page 25. 

It is remarkable, that the discoveries of the ancients were made cliiefly by 
land; those of the moderns arc carried on chiefly by sea. The progress of 
conquest led to the former, that of commerce to the latter. It is a judicious 
observation of Strabo, that the conquests of Alexander the Great made known 
the East, those of the Romans opened the West, and those of Mithridates King 
of Pontus the North. Lib. i. p. 26. When discovery is carried on by land 
alone, its progress must be slow and its operations confined. When it is carried 
on only by sea, its sphere may be more extensive, and its advances more rapid; 
but it labours under peculiar defects. Though it may make known the position 
of different countries, and ascertain their boundaries as far as these are deter- 
mined by the ocean, it leaves us in ignorance with respect to their interior state. 
Above two centuries and a half have elapsed since the Europeans sailed round 
the southern promontory of Africa, and have traded in most of its ports; but, 
in a considerable part of that great continent, they have done little more than 
survey its coasts, and mark its capes and harbours. Its interior regions are in a 
great measure unknown. The ancients, who had a very imperfect knowledge 
of its coasts, except where they are washed by the Mediterranean or Red Sea, 
were accustomed to penetrate into its inland provinces, and, if we may rely on 
the testimony of Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, had explored many parts of 
it now altogether unknown. Unless both modes of discovery be united, the 
geographical knowledge of the earth must remain incomplete and inaccurate. 

Note [8]. Page 27. 

The notion of the ancients concerning such an excessive degree of heat in 
the torrid zone as rendered it uninhabitable, and their persisting in this error 
long after they began to liave some commercial intercourse with several parts 
of India lying within the tropics, must appear so singular and absurd, that it 
may not be unacceptable to some of my readers to produce evidence of their 
holding this opinion, and to account for the apparent inconsistence of their theory 
with their experience. Cicero, who had bestowed attention upon every part 
of philosophy known to the ancients, seems to have believed that the torrid zone 
was uninhabitable, and, of consequence, that there could be no interconrs? 



NOTES AlsD ILLUSTKATlOiNS. 451 

between the nortlicrn and southern temperate zones. He introducos Africanus 
thus addressing tlie younger Scipio: "You see tJiis earth encompassed, and ag 
it were bound in by certain zones, of which two, at the greatest distance from 
each otlier, and sustaining the opposite poles of lieaven, are frozen with perpetual 
cold ; the middle one, and the largest of all, is burnt with the heat of the sun; 
two are habitable; the people in the southern one are antipodes to us, with 
whom we have no connection." Homnium IScipionis^ c. 6. Geminus, a Greek 
philosopher, contemporary with Cicero, delivers the same doctrine, not in a 
popular work, but in his E/o-a^ a^ » ac 'imvcfAiva., a treatise purely scientific. "When 
we speak," says he, "of the southern temperate zone and its inhabitants, and 
concerning those who are called antipodes, it must be always understood, that 
\vc have no certain knowledge or information concerning the southern temperate 
zone, whether it be inhabited or not. But from the spherical figure of the earth, 
and the course which the sun holds between the tropics, we conclude that there 
is another zone situated to the south, which enjoys the same degree of tempera- 
ture with the northern one which we inhabit." Cap. xiii. p. 31. ap. Pctavii 
Opus de Doctr. Temper, in quo Uranologium sive Systemata var. Auctorum. 
Amst. 1705. vol. 3. The opinion of Pliny the naturalist, with respect to both 
these points, was the same: "There are five divisions of the earth, which arc 
called zones. All that portion which lies near to the two opposite poles is 
oppressed with vehement cold and eternal frost. There, unblessed with 
the aspect of milder stars, perpetual darkness reigns, or at the utmost, a 
feeble light reflected from surrounding snows. The middle of the earth, in 
which is the orbit of the sun, is scorched and burnt up with flames and fiery 
vapour. Between these torrid and frozen districts lie two other portions of 
the earth, which are temperate ; but, on account of the burning region inter- 
posed, there can be no communication between them. Thus Heaven has de- 
prived us of three parts of the earth." Lib. ii. c. 63. Strabo delivers his opinion 
to the same effect, in terms no less explicit: "The portion of the earth which 
lies near the equator, in the torrid zone, is rendered uninhabitable by heat." 
Lib. ii. p. 154. To these I might add the authority of many other respectable 
philosophers and historians of antiquity. 

In order to explain the sense in which this doctrine was generally received, we 
may observe, that Parmenides, as we are informed by Strabo, was the first who 
divided the earth into five zones, and extended the limits of the zone which he 
supposed to be uninhabitable on account of heat beyond the tropics. Aristotle, 
as we learn likewise from Strabo, fixed the boundaries of the diflTerent zones in 
the same manner as they are defined by modern geographers. But the progress 
of discovery having gradually demonstrated that several regions of the earth 
which lay within the tropics were not only habitable, but populous and fertile, 
this induced later geographers to circumscribe the limits of the torrid zone. It 
is not easy to ascertain with precision the boundaries which they allotted it. 
From a passage in Strabo, who, as far as I know, is the only author of antiquity 
from whom we receive any hint concerning this subject, 1 should conjecture, 
that those w^ho calculated according to the measurement of the earth by Era- 
tosthenes, supposed the torrid zone to comprehend near sixteen degrees, about 
eight on each side of the equator; whereas such as followed the computation 
of Poaidonius allotted about twenty-four degrees, or somewhat more than 
twelve degrees on each side of the equator to the torrid zone. Strabo, lib. ii. p. 
151. According to the former opinion, about two-thirds of that portion of the 
earth which lies between the tropics was considered as habitable ; according to 
tlie latter, about one-half of it. With this restriction, the doctrine of the 
ancients concerning the torrid zone appears less absurd ; and we can conceive 
the reason of their asserting this zone to be uninhabitable, even after they had 
opened a commimication with several places within the tropics. When men 
of science spoke of the torrid zone, they considered it as it was limited by the 
definition of geographers to sixteen, or at the utmost to twenty-four degrees; 
and as they knew almost nothing of the countries nearer to the equator, they 
might still suppose tlurn to be uninhabitable. In loose and popular discourse, 
the name of the torrid zone continued to be given to all that portion of the 
earth which lies witliin the tropics. Cicero seems to have been unacquainted 
^vith those ideas of the later geographers; and, adhering to the division of 



452 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Parracnides, describes tlie torrid zone as the largest of the five. Some of the 
ancients rejected the notion concerning the intolerable heat of the torrid zone 
as a popular error. This we are told by Plutarch was the sentiment of Pythago- 
ras- and we learn from Strabo, that Eratosthenes and Polybius had adopted 
the same opinion, lib. ii. p. 154. Ptolemy seems to have paid no regard to tho 
ancient doctrine and opinions concerning the torrid zone. 

Note [9]. Page 35. 

The court of Inquisition, which effectually checks a spirit of liberal inquirj', 
and of literary improvement, wherever it is established, was unknown in Por- 
tugal in the fifteentli century, when the people of that kingdom began their 
voyages of discovery. More than a century elapsed before it was mtroduced 
by John III., whose reign commenced A. D. 1521. 

Note [10]. Page 38. 

An instance of this is related by Hakluyt, upon the authority 6f the Portu- 
guese historian Garcia de Resende. Some English merchants having resolved 
to open a trade with the coast of Gumea, John II. of Portugal despatched 
ambassadors to Edward IV., in order to lay before him the right which he had 
acquired by the Pope's bull to the dominion of that country, and to request of 
him to prohibit his subjects to prosecute their intended voyage. Edward was 
so much satisfied with the exclusive title of the Portuguese, that he issued his 
orders in the terms which they desired. Hakluyt, Navigations, Voyages, and 
Traffics of the English, vol. ii. part ii. p. 2. 

Note [11]. Page 42. 

The time of Columbus's death may be nearly ascertained by the following 
circumstances. It appears from the fragment of a letter addressed by him to 
Ferdinand and Isabella, A. D. 1501, that he had at that time been engaged forty 
years in a seafaring life. In another letter he informs them that he went to 
sea at the age of fourteen : from those facts it follows, that he was born A. D. 
1447. Life of Christa. Columbus, by his son Don Ferdinand. Churchill's 
Collection of Voyages, vol. ii. p. 484, 485. 

Note [12]. Page 44. 

The spherical figure of the earth was known to the ancient geographers. 
They invented the method, still in use, of computing the longitude and latitude 
of different places. According to their doctrine, the equator, or imaginary line 
which encompasses the earth, contained three hundred and sixty degrees ; these 
they divided into twenty-four piirts, or hours, each equal to fifteen degrees. 
The country of the Seres or Since, being the furthest part of India known t» 
tiie ancients, was supposed by Marinus Tyrius, the most eminent of the ancient 
geographers before Ptolemy, to bo fifteen hours, or two hundred and twenty- 
five degrees to tiie east of the first meridian, passing through the Fortunate 
Islands. Ptolemsei Geogr. lib. i. c. 11. If this supposition was well founded, 
the country of the Seres, or Clrina, was only nine hours, or one hundred and 
Ihirty-five degrees west from the Fortunate or Canary Islands ; and the navi- 
gation in that direction was much shorter than by the course which the Portu- 
guese were pursuing. Marco Polo, in his travels, had described countries, 
particularly tlie island of Cipango or Zipangri, supposed to be Japan, con- 
siderably to the east of any part of Asia known to the ancients. Marcus Paulus 
de Region. Oriental, lib. ii. c. 70. lib. iii. c. 2. Of course, this country, as it 
extended further to the east, was still nearer to the Canary Islands. The con- 
clusions of Columbus, though drawn from inaccurate observations, were just. 
If the suppositions of Marinus had been well founded, and if the countries 
which Marco Polo visited, had been situated to the east of tiiose whose longitude 
Marinus had ascertained, the proper and nearest course to the East Indies must 
have been to steer directly west. Ilerrera, dec. 1. lib. i. c. 2. A more extensive 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 453 

knowledge of the globe has now discovered llie great error of Marinus, in 
supposing China to be fifteen hours, or two hundred and twenty-five degrees 
east from the Canary Islands; and that even Ptolemy was mistaken, when he 
reduced llie longitude of China to twelve hours, or one hundred and eighty degrees. 
The longitude ol the western frontier of that vast empire is seven hours, or one 
hundred and fifteen degrees from the meridian of the Canary Islands. But 
Columbus followed tJie light which his age afforded, and relied upon the 
authority of writers, who were at that time regarded as the instructers and 
guides of mankind in the science of geography. 

Note [13]. Page 53. 

As the Portuguese, in making their discoveries, did not depart far from the 
coast of Africa, they concluded that birds, whose flight they observed with 
great attention, did not venture to any considerable distance from land. In 
the infancy of navigation it was not known that birds often stretched their flight 
to an immense distance from any shore. In sailing towards the West Indian 
Islands, birds are often seen at the distance of two hundred leagues from the 
nearest coast. ISloane's Nat. Hist, of Jamaica, vol. i. p. 30. Catesby saw an 
owl at sea when the ship was six hundred leagues distant from land. Nat. 
Hist, of Carolina, pref. p. 7. Hist. Naturelle de M. Buflbn, torn. xvi. p. 32. 
From which it appears, that this indication of land, on which Columbus seems 
to have relied with some confidence, was extremely uncertain. This observa- 
tion is confirmed by Capt. Cook, the most extensive and experienced navigator 
of any age or nation. "No one yet knows (says he) to what distance any of 
the oceanic birds go to sea; for iny own part, 1 do not believe that there is one 
in the whole tribe that can be relied on in pointing out the vicinity of land." 
Voyage towards the South Pole, vol. i. p. 275. 

Note [14]. Page 58. 

In a letter of the Admiral's to Ferdinand and Isabella, he describes one of 
the harbours in Cuba with all the enthusiastic admiration of a discoverer. — "I 
discovered a river which a galley might easily enter : the beauty of it induced 
me to sound, and 1 found from five to eight fathoms of water. Having pro- 
ceeded a considerable way up the river, every thing invited me to settle there. 
The beauty of the river, the clearness of the water through which I could see 
the sandy bottom, the multitude of palm trees of different kinds, the tallest 
and fiue.si 1 had seen, and an infinite number of other large and flourishing trees, 
the bird.s, and the verdure of the plains are so wonderfully beautiful, that this 
country excels all others as far as the day surpasses the night in brightness and 
splendour, so that I often said, that it would be in vain for me to attempt to 
give your Highnesses a full account of it, for neither my tongue nor my pen 
could coiiie up to the truth ; and indeed I am so much amazed at the sight of 
such beauty, that I know not how to describe it." Life of Columb. c. 30. 

Note [15]. Page 59. 

The account which Columbus gives of the humanity and orderly behaviour 
of the natives on this occasion is very striking. " The king (says he in a letter 
to Ferdinand and Isabella) having been informed of our misfortune, expressed 
great grief for our loss, and immediately sent aboard all the people in the place 
in many large canoes ; we soon unloaded the ship of every tiling that was upon 
deck, as the king gave us great assistance : he himself, with his brothers and 
relations, took all possible care that every thing should be properly done, both 
aboard and on shore. And, from time to time, he sent some of his relations 
weeping, to beg of me not to be dejected, for he would give me all that he had. 
I can assure your Highnesses, that so much care could not have been taken in 
securing our eff'ects in any part of Spain, as all our property was put together 
in one place near his palace, until the houses which he wanted to prepare for 
the custody of it were emptied. He immediately placed a guard of armed men, 
who watched during the whole night, and tliose on shore lamented as if they 



454 NOTES AxND ILJ.USTRATIONS. 

iiad been much interested in our loss. The people are so affectionate, so tractablu, 
and so peaceable, that I swear to your HiglincsseR, that tiierc is not a better race 
of men, nor a better country in tlie world. Tliey love their neighbour as them- 
selves; their conversation is the sweetest and mildest in the world, cheerful and 
always accompanied with a smile. And although it is true that they go naked, 
yet your Highnesses may be assured that they iiave many very commendable 
customs ; the king is served with great state, and his behaviour is so decent that 
it is pleasant to see him, as it is likewise to observe the wonderful memory 
which these people have, and their desire of knowing every thing, which leads 
them to inquire into its causes and effects." Life of Columbus, c. 32. It is 
pirobable that the Spaniards were indebted for this officious attention to the 
opinion which the Indians entertained Qf them as a superior order of beings. 

Note [16]. Page 62. 

Every monument of such a man as Columbus is valuable. A letter wliich 
lie wrote to Ferdinand and Isabella, describing what passed on this occasion, 
exhibits a most striking picture of his intrepidity, his humanity, his prudence, 
his public spirit, and courtly address. " I would have been less concerned for 
this misfortune had I alone been in danger, both because my life is a debt that 
I owe to the Supreme Creator, and because I have at other times been exposed 
to the most imminent hazard. But what gave me infinite grief and vexation 
was, that after it had pleased our Lord to give me faith to undertake this enter- 
prise, in which I had now been so successful, thai my opponents would have 
been convinced, and the glory of your Highnesses, and the extent of your ter- 
ritory, increased by me ; it should please the Divine Majesty to stop all by my 
death. All this would have been more tolerable had it not been attended with 
the loss of those men whom 1 had carried with me, upon promise of the greatest 
jtrosperity, who, seeing themselves in such distress, cursed not only their 
coming along with me, but that fear and awe of me which prevented tliem 
from returning, as they often had resolved to have done. But besides all this, 
my sorrow was greatly increased by recollecting that I iiad left my two sons at 
school at Cordova, destitute of friends, in a foreign country, when it could not 
in all probability bo known that I had done such services as might induce Your 
Highnesses to remember them. And though I comforted myself with the faith 
that our Lord would not permit that which tended so much to the glory of his 
Church, and wliich I had brought about with so much trouble, to remain im- 
perfect, yet I considered, tiiat, on account of my sins, it was his will to deprive 
me of that glory which I might have attained in this world. While in this 
coufuscd state, 1 thought on the good t>)rtune which accompanies Your High- 
nesses, and imagined that although I should perish, and the vessel be lost, it 
was possible tliat you might somehow come to the knowledge of my voyage, 
and the success with which it was attended. For that reason I wrote upon 
parchment with tlie brevity which the situation required, that I had discovered 
the lands wliich I promised, in how many days I had done it, and what course 
1 had followed. I mentioned the goodness of the country, the character of the 
inhabitants, and that Your Highnesses' subjects were left in possession of all 
that 1 had discovered. Having scaled tiiis writing, I addressed it to Your 
Highnesses, and promised a thousand ducats to any person who should deliver 
it sealed, so that if any foreigner found it, the promised reward might prevail 
on them not to give the inibrmation to another. I then caused a great cask to 
be brought to me, and wrapping up the parchment in an oiled cloth, and after- 
wards in a cake of wax, 1 put it into the cask, and having stopped it well, I 
cast it into the sea. All the men believed that it was some act of devotion. 
Imagining that this might never chance to be taken up, as the ships approached 
nearer to Spain, I made another packet like the first, and placed it at the top 
of the poop, so that, if the shi}) sunk, the cask remaining above water might 
be committed to the guidance of iortune." 

Note [17]. Page 64, 

Some Spanish authors, with the meanness of national jealousy, have endea- 
voured to detract from the glory of Columbus, by insinuating that he was led 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. .^455 

to the discovery of the New World, not by his own inventive or enterprising 
genius, but by information which he had received. According to their ac- 
count a vessel having been driven from its course by easterly winds, was 
carried before them far to the west, and landed on the coast of an unknown 
country, from which it returned with difficulty ; the pilot and three sailors 
being the only persons who survived the distresses which the crew sutfercd 
from want of provisions and fatigue in this long voyage. In a few days after 
their arrival, all the four died ; but the pilot having been received into the house 
of Columbus, his intimate friend disclosed to him before his death, the secret 
of the discovery which he had accidentally made, and left him his papers con- 
taining a journal of tlie voyage, which served as a guide to Columbus in his 
undertaking. Gomara, as-far as I know, is the first author who published this 
story. Hist. c. 13. Every circumstance is destitute of evidence to support it. 
Neither the name of the vessel nor its destination is known. Some pretend 
that it belonged to one of the seaport towns in Andalusia, and was sailing 
either to tl>e Canaries or to Madeira ; others, that it was a Biscayner in its way 
to England ; others, a Portuguese ship trading on the coast of Guinea. The 
name of the pilot is alike unknown, as well as that of the port in which he 
landed on his return. According to some, it was in Portugal; according to 
others, in Madeira, or the Azores. The year in which this voyage was made is 
no less uncertain. Monson's Nav. Tracts. Churchill, iii. 371. No mention is 
made of this pilot, or his discoveries, by And. Bernaldes, or Pet. Martyr, the 
contemporaries of Columbus. Herrera, with his usual judgment, passes over 
it in silence. Oviedo takes notice of tliis report, but considers it as a tale fit 
only to amuse the vulgar. Hist. lib. ii. c. 2. As Columbus held his course 
directly west from the Canaries, and never varied it, some later authors have 
supposed that this uniformity is a proof of his being guided by some previous 
information. But they do not recollect the principles on which he founded all 
his hopes of success, that by holding a westerly course he mast certainly arrive 
at those regions of the east described by the ancients. His fiiTn belief of his 
o\vn system led him to take that course, and to pursue it without deviation. 

The Spaniards are not the only people who have called in question Columbus's 
claim to the honour of having discovered America. Some German authors 
ascribed this honour to Martin Behaim their countryman. He was of the noble 
family of the Behaims of Schwartzbach, citizens of the first rank in the Imi)erial 
town of Nuremberg. Having studied under the celebrated .lohn Muller, better 
known by the name of Regiomontanus, he acquired such knowledge of cos- 
mography as excited a desire of exploring those regions, the situation and 
qualities of which he had been accustomed, under that able master, to investi- 
gate and describe. Under the patronage of the Dutchess of Burgundy he re- 
paired to Lisbon, whither the fame of the Portuguese discoveries invited all 
the adventurous spirits of the age. There, as we learn from Herman Schedel, 
of whose Chronicon Mtindi, a German translation was printed at Nuremberg, 
A. D. 1493, his merit as a coamographer raised him, in conjunction with 
Diego Cano, to the command of a squadron fitted out for discovery in the year 
1483. In that voyage he is said to have discovered the kingdom of Congo. 
He settled in the island of Fayal, one of the Azores, and was a particular friend 
of Columbus. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. i. c. 2. Magellan had a terrestrial globe 
made by Behaim, on which he demonstrated the course that he proposed to 
hold in search of the communication with the South Sea, which he afterwards 
discovered. Gomara Hist. c. 19. Herrera, dec. 11. lib. ii. c. 19. In the year 
1492, Behaim visited his relations in Nuremberg, and left with them a map 
drawn with his own hand, which is still preserved among the archives of the 
family. Thus far the story of Martin Beliaim seems to be well authenticated ; 
but the account of his having discovered any part of the Now World appears 
to be merely conjectural. 

In the first edition, as I had at that time hardly any knowledge of Behaim 
but what I derived from a frivolous dissertation ' De vero Novi Orbis Inven- 
tore,' published at Frankfort, A. D. 1714, by Jo. Frid. Stuvenius, I was induced, 
by the authority of Herrera, to suppose that Behaim was not a native of Ger- 
many ; but from more full and accurate information, communicated to me by 
the learned Dr. John Rcinhold Forster. I am now satisfied that I was mistaken. 



466 ^"OTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Dr. Forster has been likewise so good as to favour me with a copy of Bchaim's 
map, as published by Doppelmayer in his account of the Mathematicians and 
Artists of Nuremberg. From this map the imperfection of cosmographical 
knowledge at that period is manifest. Hardly one place is laid down ui its 
true situation. Nor can I discover from it any reason to suppose that Behaim 
had the least knowledge of any region in America. He delineates, indeed, an 
island to wliich he gives the name of St. Brandon. This, it is imagined, may 
be some part of Guiana, supposed at first to be an island. He places it in the 
same latitude with the Cape Verd isles, and I suspect it to be an imaginary 
island which has been admitted into some ancient maps on no better authority 
than the legend oi' the Insh St. Brandon or Brendan, v\hose story is so childishly 
fabulous as to be unworthy of any notice. Girald. Cambrcnsis ap. Missingham 
Florilegium Sanctorum, p. 427. 

The pretensions of the Welsh to the discovery of America seem not to rest 
on a foundation much more solid. In the twelfth century, according to Powell, 
a dispute having arisen among the sons of Owen Guyneth, King of North 
Wales, concerning the succession to his crown, Madoc, one of their number, 
weary of this contention, betook himself to sea in quest of a more quiet settle- 
ment. He steered due west, leaving Ireland to the north, and arrived in an 
unknown country, which appeared to him so desirable, that he returned to 
Wales and carried thither several of his adherents and companions. This is 
said to have happened about the year 1170, and after that, he and his colony 
were heard of no more. But it is to be observed, that Powell, on whose tes- 
timony the authenticity of this story rests, published his history above four 
centuries from the date of the event which he relates. Among a people as 
rude and as illiterate as the Welsh at that period, the memory of a transaction 
so remote must have been very imperfectly preserved, and would require to be 
confirmed by some author of greater credit, and nearer to the era of Madoc's 
voyage than Powell. Later antiquaries have indeed appealed to the testimony 
of Meredith ap Rees, a Welsh bard, who died A. D. 1477. But he too lived at 
such a distance of time from the event, that he cannot be considered as a wit- 
ness of much more credit than Powell. Besides, his verses, published by Hakluyt, 
vol. iii. p. 1,, convey no information, but that Madoc, dissatisfied with liis 
domestic situation, employed himself in searching the ocean for new possessions. 
But even if we admit the authenticity of Powell's story, it does not follow tliat 
the unknown country which Madoc discovered by steering west, in such a 
course as to leave Ireland to the north, was any part of America. The naval 
skill of the Welsh in the twelfth century was hardly equal to such a voyage. 
If he made any discovery at all, it is more probable that it was Madeira, or 
some other of the western isles. The affinity of the Welsh language with some 
dialects spoken in America, has beenmentioned as a circumstance which confirms 
the truth of Madoc's voyage. But that affinity has been observed in so few in- 
stances, and in some of these is so obscure, or so fanciful, that no conclusion 
can be drawn from the casual resemblance of a small number of words. There 
is a bird, which, as far as is yet known, is found only on the coasts of South 
America, from Port Desire to the Straits of Magellan. It is distinguished 
by the name of Penguin. This word in the Welsh language signifies TVJiilc- 
he.ad. Almost all the authors who favour the pretensions of the Welsh to the 
discovery of America, mention this as an irrefragable proof of the affinity of 
the Welsh language with that spoken in this region of America. But Mr. 
Pennant, who has given a scientific description of the Penguin, observes that 
all the birds of this genus have black heads, " so that we must resign every 
hope (adds he) founded on this hypothesis of retrieving the C'ambrian race in 
the New World." Philos. Transact, vol. Iviii. p. 91, &c. Besides tliis, if the 
Welsh, towards the close of the twelfth century, had settled in any part of 
America, some remains of the Christian doctrine and rites must have been 
found among their descendants, when they were discovered about three hundred 
years posterior to their migration ; a period so short that, in the course of it, 
we cannot well suppose that all European ideas and arts would be totally for- 
gotten. Lord Lyttleton, in his notes to the fifth book of his History of Henry 
II., p. 371, has examined what Powell relates concerning the discoveries made by 
Madoc,and invalidates the truth of his story by other arguments of great weight 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 457 

The pretensions of" tlie Norwegians to tlie discovery of America seem to be 
Better founded than those of the Germans or Welsh. The inhabitants of 
Scandinavia were remarkable in the middle ages for the boldness and extent 
of their maritime excursions. In 874, the Norwegians discovered and planted 
a colony in Iceland. In 982, they discovered Greenland, and estabhshed settle- 
ments there. From that, some of their navigators proceeded towards the 
west, and discovered a country more inviting than those horrid regions with 
which they v\ ere acquainted. According to their representation, this country 
was sandy on the coasts, but in the interior parts level and covered with wood, 
on which account they gave it the name of Hellt-laivd, and Mark-land, and 
having afterwards found some plants of the vine which bore grapes, they called 
it fVin-land. The credit of this story rests, as far as I know, on the authority 
of the saga, or chronicle of King Olaus, composed by Snorro Sturlonides, or 
Sturhiso7is, published by Perinskiold, at Stockholm, A. D. 1697. As Snorro 
was born in the year 1179, his chronicle might be compiled about two centuries 
after the event which he relates. His account of the navigation and discoveries 
of Biorn, and iiis companion Lief, is a very rude confused tale, p. 104. 110. 
326. It is impossible to discover from him what part of America it was in 
which the Norwegians landed. According to his ai count of the length of the 
days and nights, it must have been as far north as the fifty-eighth degree of 
latitude, on some part of the coast of Labradore, approaching near to the entry 
of Hudson's Straits. Grapes certainly are not the production of that country. 
Torfeus supposes that there is an error in the text, by rectifying of which the 
place where the Norwegians landed may be supposed to be situated in latitude 
49°. But neither is that the region of the vine in America. From perusing 
Snorro 's tale, I should think that the situation of Newfoundland corresponds 
best with that of the country discovered by the Norwegians. Grapes, however, 
are not the production of that barren island. Other conjectures are mentioned 
by M. Mallet, Introd. k I'Hist. de Dannem. 175, &c. I am not sufficiently ac- 
quainted with the literature of the north to examine them. It seems manifest, 
that if the Norwegians did discover any part of America at that period, their 
attempt to plant colonies proved unsuccessful, and all knowledge of it was 
soon lost. 

Note [18]. Page 64. 

Peter Martyr, ab Angleria, a Milanese gentleman, residing at that time in 
the court of Spain, whose letters contain an account of the transactions of 
that period, in the order wherein they occurred, describes the sentiments with 
which he himself and his learned correspondents were affected in very striking 
terms. " Prse leetitia prosiluisse tc, vixque a lachrymis pra; gaudio temperasse, 
quando literas adspexisti meas quibus, de antipodum orbe latenti hactenus, tc 
certiorem feci, mi suavissime Pomponi, insinuasti. Ex tuis ipse Uteris coUigo, 
quid senseris. Sensisti autem, tantique rem fecisti, quanti virum summa doc- 
trina Lnsignitum decuit. Quis namque cibus sublimibus prastari potest ingeniis, 
isto suavior ? quod condimentum gratius ? A me facio coiijecturam. Beati 
sentio spiritus meos, quando accitos alloquor prudentcs aliquos ex his qui ab ea 
redcunt provincia. Implicent animos pecuniarum cumulis augendis miseri 
avari, libidinibus obscoeni ; nostras nos mentes, postquam Deo pleni aliquando 
fuerimus, contemplando, hujuscemodi rerum notitia demulciamus." Epist, 152, 
Pomponio Lseto. 

Note [19]. Page 69. 

So firmly were men of science, in that age, persuaded tliat the countries 
which Columbus had discovered were connected with tlie East Indies, that Be- 
nald<'s, the Cura de los Palacios, who seems to have been no inconsiderablo 

froficient in the knowledge of cosmography, contends that Cuba was not an 
sland, but a part of the continent, and united to the dominions of the Great 
Khan. This he delivered as his opinion to Columbus himself, who was liis 
guest for some time on his return from his second voyage ; and he supports it 
by several arguments, mostly founded on the authority of Sir John Mandevillc. 
Vol. I.— 58 



458 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

MS. penes me. Antonio Gallo, who was secretary to the magistracy of Genoa 
towards the close of the fifteenth century, published a short account of the 
navigations and discoveries of his countryman Columbus, annexed to his 
Opuscula Historica de Rebus Populi Genuensis : in which he informs us, from 
letters of Columbus which he himself had seen, tliat it was his opinion, founded 
upon nautical observations, that one of the islands he had discovered was dis- 
tant only two hours or thirty degrees from Cattigara, which, in the charts of the 
geographers of that age, was laid down, upon the authority of Ptolemy, lib. 
vii. c. 3, as the most easterly place in Asia. From this he concluded, that if 
some unknown continent did not obstruct the navigation, there must be a short 
and easy access, by holding a westerly course, to this extreme region of the 
East. Muratori Scriptores Rer. Italicarum, vol. xxiii. p. 304. 

Note [20]. Page 71. 

Bernaldes, the Cura or Rector de los Palacios, a contemporary writer, says, 
that five hundred of these captives were sent to Spain, and sold publicly in 
Seville as slaves ; but that, by the change of climate and their inability to 
bear the fatigue of labour, they all died in a short time. MS. jjjcnes »ne. 

Note [21]. Page 76. 

Columbus seems to have formed some very singular opinions concerning the 
countries which he had now discovered. The violent swell and agitation of 
the waters on the coast of Trinidad led him to "conclude this to be the highest 
part of the terraqueous globe, and he imagined that various circumstances 
concurred in proving that the sea was here visibly elevated. Having adopted 
this erroneous principle, the apparent beauty of the country induced him to 
fall in with a notion of Sir John Mandeviile, c. 102, that the terrestrial paradise 
was the highest land in the earth ; and he believed that he had been so fortunate 
as to discover this happy abode. Nor ought we to think it strange that a person 
of so much sagacity should be influenced by the opinion or reports of such a 
fabulous author as Mandeviile. Columbus and the other discoverers were 
obliged to follow such guides as they could find ; and it appears from several 
passages in the manuscript of Andr. Bernaldes, the friend of Columbus, that 
no inconsiderable degree of credit was given to the testimony of Mandeviile in 
that age. Bernaldes frequently quotes him, and always with respect. 

Note [22]. Page 81. 

It is renjarkable that neither Gomara nor Oviedo, the most ancient Spanish 
historians of America, nor Herrera, consider Ojeda, or his companion Vespucci, 
as the first discoverers of tlie continent of America. They uniformly ascribe 
this honour to Columbus. Some have supposed that national resentment 
against Vespucci, for deserting the service of Spain, and entering into that of 
Portugal, may have prompted these writers to conceal the actions which he 
performed. But Martyr and Benzoni, both Italians, could not be warped by 
the same prejudice. Martyr was a contemporary author; he resided in the 
court of Spain, and had the best opportunity to be exactly informed with respect 
to all public transactions ; and yet neither in his Decads, the first general history 
pubhshed of the New World, nor in his Epistles, which contain an account of 
all the remarkable events of his time, does he ascribe to Vespucci the honour 
of having first discovered the continent. Benzoni went as an adventurer to 
America in the year 1541, and resided there a considerable time. He appears 
to have been animated with a warm zeal for the honour of Italy, his native 
country, and yet does not mention the exploits and discoveries of Vespucci. 
Herrera, who compiled his general history of America from the most authentic 
records, not only follows those early writers, but accuses Vespucci of falsifying 
the dates of both the voyages which he made to the New World, and of con- 
founding the one with the other, in order that he might arrogate to himself the 
glory of having discovered the continent. Her. dec. 1. lib. iv. c. 2. He asserts, 
that in a judicial inquirv into this matter by the royal fiscal, it was proved by 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 459 

lUo testimony of Ojeda himself, that he touched at Hispaniola when returning 
to Spain from his first voyage; whereas Vespucci gave out that they returned 
directly to Cadiz from the coast of Paria, and touched at Hispaniola only in 
their second voyage ; and that he had finished the voyage in five months ; 
whereas, according to Vespucci's account, he had employed seventeen months 
in performing it. Viaggio primo de Am. Vespucci, p. 36. Viag. secundo, p. 45. 
Hcrrera gives a more full account of this inquest in another part of his Decads, 
and to the same effect. Her. dec. 1. lib. vii. c. 5. Columbus was in Hispaniola 
when Ojeda arrived there, and had by that time come to an agreement "with 
Roldan, who opposed Ojeda's attempt to excite a new insurrection, and, of 
consequence, his voyage must have been posterior to that of the admiral. 
Life of Columbus, c. 84. According to Vespucci's account, he set out on his 
first voyage May 10th, 1497. Viag. primo, p. 6. At that time Columbus 
was in the court of Spain preparing for his voyage, and seems to have en- 
joyed a considerable degree of favour. The aftiairs of the New World were 
at this juncture under the direction of Antonio Torres, a friend of Columbus. 
It is not probable that, at that period, a commission would be granted to another 
person to anticipate the admiral by undertaking a voyage which he himself 
intended to perform. Fonseca, who patronized Ojeda, and granted the license 
for his voyage, was not recalled to court, and reinstated in the direction of 
Indian affairs, until the death of Prince John, which happened September, 1497, 
(P. Martyr, Ep. 182,) several months posterior to the time at which Vespucci 
pretends to have set out upon his voyage. A life of Vespucci was published 
at Florence by the Abate Bandini, A. D. 1745, 4to. It is a work of no merit, 
written with little judgment, and less candour. He contends for his country- 
man's title to the discovery of the continent with all the blind zeal of national 
partiality, but produces no new evidence to support it. We learn from him 
that Vespucci's account of his voyage was published as early as the year 1510, 
and probably sooner. Vita di Am. Vesp. p. 52. At what time the name of 
America came to be first given to the New World is not certain. 

Note [23]. Page 99. 

The form employed on this occasion served as a model to the Spaniards in 
all their subsequent conquests in America. It is so extraordinary in its nature, and 
gives us such an idea of the proceedings of the Spaniards, and the principles upon 
which they founded their right to the extensive dominions which they acquired 
in the New World, that it well merits the attention of the reader. " I Alonso de 
Ojeda, servant of the most high and powerful kings of Castile and Leon, the 
conquerors of barbarous nations, their messenger and captain, notify to you, and 
declare in as ample form as I am capable, that God our Lord, who is one and 
eternal, created the heaven and the earth, and one man and one woman, of 
whom you and we, and all the men who have been or shall be in the world, 
are descended. But as it has come to pass through the number of generations 
during more than five thousand years, that they have been dispersed into 
different parts of the world, and are divided into various kingdoms and pro- 
vinces, because one country was not able to contain them, nor could they have 
found in one the means of subsistence and preservation : therefore God our 
Lord gave the charge of all those people to one man named St. Peter, whom 
he constituted the lord and head of all the human race, that all men, in what- 
ever place they are born, or in whatever faith or place they are educated, might 
yield obedience unto him. He hath subjected the whole world to his jurisdic- 
tion, and commanded him to establish his residence in Rome, as the most 
prpper place for the government of the world. He likewise promised and gave 
liim power to establish his authority in every other part of the world, and to 
judge and govern all Christians, Moors, .Tews, Gentiles, and all other people 
of whatever sect or faith they may be. To him is given the name of Pope, 
which signifies admirable, great father and guardian, because he is the father 
and governor of all men. Those who lived in the time of this holy father 
obeyed and acknowledged him as their Lord and King, and the superior of the 
universe. The same has been observed with respect to thorn who, since his 



460 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

lime, have been chosen to the pontificate. Thus it now continues, and will 
continue to the end of the world. 

" One of these Pontiffs, as lord of the world, hath made a grant of these 
islands, and of the Tierra Firine of the ocean sea, to the Catholic Kings of 
Castile, Don Ferdinand and Donna Isabella, of glorious memory, and their 
successors, our sovereigns, with all they contain, as is more fully expressed in 
certain deeds passed upon that occasion, which you may see if you desire it. 
Thus His Majesty is King and lord of these islands, and of the continent, in 
virtue of this donation ; and, as King and lord aforesaid, most of the islands 
to which his title hath been notified, have recognised His Majesty, and now 
yield obedience and subjection to him as their lord, voluntarily and without 
resistance ; and instantly, as soon as they received information, they obeyed 
the religious men sent by the King to preach to them, and to instruct them in 
our holy faith ; and all these, of their own free will, without any recompense 
or gratuity, became Christians, and continue to be so ; and His Majesty having 
received them graciously under his protection, has commanded that they should 
be treated in the same manner as his other subjects and vassals. You are 
bound and obliged to act in the same manner. Therefore I now entreat and 
require you to consider attentively what I have declared to you ; and that you 
may more perfectly comprehend it, that you take such time as is reasonable in 
order that you may ackno ledge the Church as the superior and guide of the 
universe, and likewise the holy father called the Pope, in his own right, and 
his Majesty, by his appointment, as King and sovereign lord of these Islands, 
and of the Tierra Firme ; and that you consent that the aforesaid holy fathers 
shall declare and preach to you the doctrines above mentioned. If you do this, 
you act well, and perform that to which you are bound and obliged ; and His 
Majesty, and I in his name, will receive you with love and kindness, and will 
leave you, your wives and children, free and exempt from servitude, and in 
the enjoyment of all you possess, in the same manner as the inhabitants of 
the islands. Besides this. His Majesty will bestow upon you many privileges, 
exemptions, and rewards. But if you will not comply, or maliciously delay to 
obey my injunction, then, with the help of God, I will enter your country by 
force, I will carry on war against you with the utmost violence, I will subject 
von to the yoke of obedience to the Church and King, I \\ ill take your wiveS 
and children, and will make them slaves, and sell or dispose of them according 
to His Majesty's pleasure; I will seize your goods, and do you all the mischief 
in my power, as rebellious subjects, who will not acknowledge or submit to 
their lawful sovereign. And I protest, that all the bloodshed and calamities 
which shall follow are to be imputed to you, and not to His Majesty, or to me, 
or the gentlemen who serve under me ; and as I have now made this declara- 
tion and requisition unto you, I require the notary here present to grant me a 
certificate of this, subscribed in proper form." Herrera, dec. 1. lib. vii. c. 14. 

Note [24]. Page 105. 

Balboa, in his letter to the king, observes that of the hundred and ninety 
men whom he took with him, there were never above eighty fit for service at 
one time. So much did they suffer from hunger, fatigue, and sickness. Her- 
rera, dec. 1. lib. X. c. 16. P. Mart, decad. 226. 

Note [25]. Page 110. 

FoNSECA, Bishop of Palencia, the principal director of American Affairs, had 
eight hundred Indians in property ; the commendator Lope de Conchillos, his 
chief associate in that department, eleven hundred ; and other favourites had 
considerable numbers. They sent overseers to the islands, and hired out those 
slaves to the planters. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. ix. c. 14. p. 325. 

Note [26]. Page 119. 

Though America is more plentifully supplied with water than the other 
regions of the globe, there is no river or stream of water in Yucatan. Thin 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 461 

peninsula projects from the continent a hundred leagues, but, where broadest, 
does not extend above twenty-five leagues. It is an extensive plain, not only 
without mountains, but almost without any inequality of ground. T e in- 
habitants are supplied with water from pits, and, wherever they dig them, find 
it in abundance. It is probable, from all those circumstances, that this country 
was formerly covered by the sea. Herrerae Descriptio Indiee Occidentalis, p. 
14. Histoire Naturelle, par M. de Buffon, torn. i. p. 593. 

Note [27]. Page 120. 

M. Clavigero censures me for having represented the Spaniards who sailed 
with Cordova and Grijalva, as fancying in the warmth of their imagination, 
that they saw cities on the coast of Yucatan adorned with towers and cupolas. 
I know not what translation of my history he has consulted (for his quotation 
from it is not taken from the original), but I never imagined that any building 
erected by Americans could suggest the idea of a cupola or dome, a structure 
which their utmost skill in architecture was incapable of rearing. My words 
are, that they fancied the villages which they saw from their ships " to be 
cities adorned with towers and pinnacles." By pinnacles I meant some eleva- 
tion above the rest of the building ; and the passage is translated almost 
literally from Herrera, dec. 2. lib. iii. c. 1. In almost all the accounts of new 
countries given by the Spanish discoverers in that age, this warmth of admira- 
tion is conspicuous ; and led them to describe these new objects in the most 
splendid terms. When Cordova and his companions first beheld an Indian 
village of greater magnitude than any they had beheld in the islands, they dig- 
nified it by the name of Grand Cairo. 6. Diaz, c. 2. From the same cause 
Grijalva and his associates thought the country, along the coast of which they 
held their course, entitled to the name of New Spain. 

Note [28]. Page 123. 

The height of the most elevated point in the Pyrenees is, according to M. 
Cassini, six thousand six hundred and forty-six feet. The height of the moun- 
tain Gemmi, in the canton of Berne, is ten thousand one hundred and ten feet. 
The height of the Peak of Teneriffe, according to the measurement of P. 
Feuill^, is thirteen thousand one hundred and soventy-eight feet. The height 
of Chimborazo, the most elevated point of the Andes, is twenty thousand 
two hundred and eighty feet ; no less than seven thousand one hundred and 
two feet above the highest mountain in the ancient continent. Voyage de D. 
Juan Ulloa, Observations Astron. et Physiq. torn. ii. p. 114. The line of con- 
gelation on Chimborazo, or that part of the mountain which is covered per- 
petually with snow, is no less than two thousand four hundred feet from its 
summit. Prevot Hist. G^n6r. des Voyages, vol. xiii. p. 636. 

Note [29]. Page 123. 

As a particular description makes a stronger impression than general asser- 
lions, I shall give one of Rio de la Plata by an eye-witness, P. Cattanco, a 
Modenese Jesuit, who landed at Buenos Ay res in 1749, and thus represents 
what he felt when such new objects were first presented to his view. " While 
1 resided in Europe, and read in books of history or geography, that the mouth 
of the river de la Plata was a hundred and fifty miles in breadth, I considered 
it as an exaggeration, because in this hemisphere we have no example of such 
vast rivers. When I approached its mouth, I had the most vehement desire to 
ascertain the truth with my own eyes ; and I found the matter to be exactly as 
it was represented. This I deduce particularly from one circumstance : When 
we took our departure from Monte Video, a fort situated more than a hundred 
miles from the mouth of the river, and where its breadth is considerably di- 
minished, we sailed a complete day before we discovered the land on the op- 
posite bank of the river ; and when we were in the middle of the channel, we 
could not discern land on cither side, and saw nothing but the sky and water as 
if we had been in some great ocean. Indeed we should have taken it to be «pa, 



462 xNOTKS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

if the frcsli water of the river, which was turbid hke the Po, had not satisfied 
UB that it was a river. Moreover, at Buenos Ayres, another hundred miles 
up the river, and where it is still much narrower, it is not only impossible to 
discern the opposite coast, which is indeed very low, but perceive the houses 
or the tops of the steeples in the Portuguese settlement at Colonia on the other 
side of the river." Lettera prima, published by Muratori, 11 Christianesimo 
Felice, &c. i. p. 257. 

Note [30]. Page 124. 

Newfoundland, part of Nova Scotia, and Canada, are the countries which 
lie in the same parallel of latitude with the Kingdom of France ; and in every 
part of these the water of the rivers is frozen during winter to the thick- 
ness of several feet ; the earth is covered with snow as deep ; almost all the 
birds fly during that season from a climate where they could not live. The 
country of the Eskimaux, part of Labrador, and the countries on the south 
of Hudson's Bay, are in the same parallel with Great Britain ; and yet in all 
these the cold is so intense that even the industry of Europeans has not at- 
tempted cultivation. 

Note [31]. Page 125. 

AcosTA is the first philosopher, as far as I know, who endeavoured to ac- 
count for the different degrees of heat in the old and new continents, by the 
agency of the winds which blow in each. Histoire Moral. &c. lib. ii. and iii. 
M. de Buffon adopts this theory, and has not only improved it by new observa- 
tions, but has employed his amazing powers of descriptive eloquence in em- 
bellishing and placing it in the most striking light. Some remarks may be 
added, which tend to illustrate more fully a doctrine of much importance in 
every inquiry concerning the temperature of various climates. 

When a cold wind blows over land, it must in its passage rob the surface of 
some of its heat. By means of this the coldness of the wind is abated. But 
if it continue to blow in the same direction, it will come, by degrees, to pass 
over a surface already cooled, and will suffer no longer any abatement of its 
own keenness. Thus, as it advances over a large tract of land, it brings on all 
the severity of intense frost. 

Let the same wind blow over an extensive and deep sea ; the superficial 
water must be immediately cooled to a certain degree, and the wind propor- 
tionally warmed. But the superficial and colder water, becoming specifically 
heavier than the warmer water below it, descends ; what is warmer supplies 
its place, which, as it comes to be cooled in its turn, continues to warm the air 
v/hich passes over it, or to diminish its cold. This change of the superficial 
water and successive ascent of that which is warmer, and the consequent suc- 
cessive abatement of coldness in the air, is aided by the agitation caused in the 
sea by the mechanical action of the wind, and also by the motion of the tides. 
This will go on, and the rigour of the wind will continue to diminish until the 
whole water is so far cooled, that the water on the surface is no longer removed 
from the action of the wind fast enough to hinder it from being arrested by 
frost. Whenever the surface freezes, the wind is no longer warmed by the 
water from below, and it goes on with undiminished cold. 

From those principles may be explained the severity of winter frosts in ex- 
tensive continents; their mildness in small islands; and the superior rigour of 
winter in those parts of North America with which we are best acquainted. 
In the north-west parts of Europe, the severity of winter is mitigated by the 
west winds, which usually blow in the months of November, December, and 
part of January. 

On the other hand, when a warm wind blows over land, it heats the surface, 
which must therefore cease to abate the fervour of the wind. But the same 
wind blowing over water, agitates it, brings up the colder water from below, 
and thus is continually losing somewhat of its own heat. 

But the great power of the sea to mitigate the heat of the wind or air passing 
over it, proceeds from the following cii'cumstance : — that on account of the 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 463 

transparency of the sea, its surface cannot be heated to a great degree by the 
sun's rays; whereas the ground, subjected to their influence, very soon acquires 
great heat. When, therefore, the wind blows over a torrid continent, it is 
soon raised to a heat ahnost intolerable ; but during its passage over an exten- 
aive ocean, it is gradually cooled ; so that on its arrival at the furthest shore 
it is again fit for respiration. 

Those principles will account for the sultry heats of large continents in the 
torrid zone : for the mild climate of islands in the same latitude ; and for the 
superior warmth in summer which large continents, situated in the temperate 
or colder zones of the earth, enjoy when compared with that of islands. The 
heat of a climate depends not only upon the immediate effect of the sun's 
rays, but on their continued operation, on the effect which they have formerly 
produced, and which remains for some time in the ground. This is the reason 
why the day is warmest about two in the afternoon, the summer warmest about 
the middle of July, and the winter coldest about the middle of January. 

The forests which cover America, and hinder the sunbaems from heating the 
ground, are a great cause of the temperate climate in the equatorial parts. The 
ground, not being heated, cannot heat the air ; and the leaves, which receive 
the rays intercepted from the ground, have not a mass of matter sufficient to 
absorb heat enough for this purpose. Besides, it is a known fact, that the vege- 
tative power of a plant occasions a perspiration from the leaves m proportion 
to the heat to which they are exposed : and, from the nature of evaporation, 
this perspiration produces a cold in the leaf proportional to the perspiration. 
Thus the effect of the leaf in heating the air in contact with it is prodigiously 
diminished. For those observations, which throw much additional light on 
tliis curious subject, I am indebted to my ingenious friend, Mr. Robison, pro- 
fessor of natural philosophy in the university of Edinburgh. 

Note [32]. Page 125. 

The climate of Brazil has been described by two eminent naturalists, Piso 
and Margrave, who observed it with a philosophical accuracy for which we 
search in vain in the accounts of many other provinces in America. Both 
represent it as temperate and mild when compared with the climate of Africa. 
They ascribe this chiefly to the refreshing wind which blows continually from 
the sea. The air is not only cool, but chilly through the night, insomuch that 
the natives kindle fires every evening in their huts. Piso deMedicina Brasiliensi, 
lib. i. p. 1, &c. Margravius Histor. Rerum Natural. Brasilise, lib. viii. c. 3. p. 
264. Nieuhoff. who resided long in Brazil, confirms their description. Churchill's 
Collection, vol. ii. p. 26. Gumilla, who was a missionary many years among 
the Indians upon the river Oronoco, gives a similar description of the tempera- 
ture of the climate there. Hist, de TOronoque, torn. i. p. 26. P. Acugna felt 
a very considerable degree of cold in the countries on the banks of the river 
AmazoHS. Relat. vol. ii. p. 56. M. Biet, who lived a considerable time in 
Cayenne, gives a similar account of the temperature of that climate, and 
asoribes it to the same cause. Voyage de la France, Equinox, p. 330. Nothing 
can be more different from these descriptions than that of the burning heat of 
the African coast given by M. Adanson. Voyage to Senegal, passim. 

Note [33]. Page 126. 

Two French frigates were sent upon a voyage of discovery in the year 1739. 
In latitude 44° south, they began to feel a considerable degree of cold. In 
latitude 48°, they met with Islands of floating ice. Hiatoire des Navigations 
aux Terres Australes, tom. ii. p. 256, &c. Dr. Halley fell in with ice in latitude 
59°. Id. tom. i. p. 47. Commodore Byron, \vh?n on the coast of Patagonia, 
latitude 50° 33' south, on the fifteenth of December, which is midsummer in 
that part of the globe, the twenty-first of December being the longest day 
there, compares the climate to that of England in the middle of winter. 
Voyages by Hawkesworth, i. 25. Mr. Banks having landed on Terra del 
Fuego, in the Bay of Good Success, latitude 55°, on the sixteenth of January, 
"which, corresponds to the month of July in our hemisphere, two of his attend- 



464 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

ants died in one night of extreme cold, and all the party were in the most 
imminent danger of perishing. Id. li. 31,52. By the fourteenth of March, 
correspondmg to September in our hemisphere, winter was set in with rigouTi 
and the mountains were covered with snow. Ibid. 72. Captain Cook, in hia 
voyage towards the South Pole, furnishes new and striking instances of the 
extraordinary predominance of cold in this region of the globe. " Who would 
have thought (says he) that an island of no greater extent than seventy leagues 
in circuit, situated between the latitude of 54° and 55°, should in the very 
height of summer be, in a manner, wholly covered, many fathoms deep, with 
frozen snow ; but more especially the S. VV. coast? The very summits of the 
lofty mountains were cased with snow and ice ; but the quantity that lay in 
the valleys is incredible ; and at the bottom of the bays, the coast was ter- 
minated by a wall of ice of considerable height." Vol. ii. p. 217. 

In some places of the ancient continent, an extraordinary degree of cold 
prevails in very low latitudes. Mr. Bogle, in his embassy to the court of the 
Delai Lama, passed the winter of the year 1774, at Chamnanning, in latitude 
31° 39' N. He often found the thermometer in his room twenty-nine degrees 
under the freezing point by Fahrenheit's scale : and in the middle of April the 
standing waters were all frozen, and heavy showers of snow frequently fell. 
The extraordinary elevation of the country seems to be the cause of this ex- 
cessive cold. In travelling from Indostan to Thibet, the ascent to the sum- 
mit of the Boutan Mountains is very great, but the descent on the other side 
is not in equal proportion. The kingdom of Thibet is an elevated region, ex- 
tremely bare and desolate. Account of Thibet, by Mr. Stewart, read in the 
Ro}'al Society, p. 7. The extraordinary cold in low latitudes in America cannot 
be accounted for by the same cause. Those regions are not remarkable for 
elevation. Some of them are countries depressed and level. 

The most obvious and probable cause of the superior degree of cold towards 
the southern extremity of America, seems to be the form of the continent there. 
Its breadth gradually decreases as it stretches from St. Antonio southwards, 
and I'rom the bay of St. Julian to the Straits of Magellan its dimensions are 
much contracted. On the east and west sides it is washed by the Atlantic and 
Pacific Oceans. From its southern point it is probable that a great extent of 
sea, without any considerable tract of land, reaches to the Antarctic pole. 
In whichever of these directions the wind blows, it is cooled before it approaches 
the Magellanic regions, by passing over a vast body of water ; nor is the land 
there of such extent, that it can recover any considerable degree of heat in its 
progress over it. These circumstances concur in rendering the temperature of 
the air in this district of America more similar to that of an insular, than to 
that of a continental climate, and hinder it from acquiring the same degree of 
summer heat with places in Europe and Asia in a correspondent northern lati- 
tude. The north wind is the only one that reaches this part of America, after 
blowing over a great continent. But from an attentive survey of its position, 
this will be found to have a tendency rather to diminish than augn;ent the 
degree of heat. The southern extremity of America is properly the termina- 
tion of the immense ridge of the Andes, which stretches nearly in a direct line 
from north to south, through the whole extent of the continent. The most 
sultry regions in South America, Guiana, Brazil, Paraguay, and Tucuman, lie 
many degrees to the east of the Magellanic regions. The level country of 
Peru, which enjoys the tropical heats, is situated considerably to the west of 
them. The north wind then, though it blows over land, does not bring to the 
southern extremity of America an increase of heat collected in its passage 
over torrid regions ; but before it arrives there, it must have swept along the 
summits of the Andes, and becomes impregnated with the cold of that frozen 
recion. 

Though it be now demonstrated that there is no southern continent in that 
region of the globe which it was supposed to occupy, it appears to bo certain 
from Captain Cook's discoveries, that there is a large tract of land near the 
south pole, which is the source of most of the ice spread over the vast southern 
ocean. Vol. ii. p. 230. 239, &c. Whether the influence of this remote frozen 
continent may reach the southern extremity of America, and affect its climate, 
re an inquiry not unworthy of attention. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTKATlOiNS. 165 



Note ^M]. Page 127. 

M. CoNDAMiNE is 0116 of the latest and most accurate observers of the in- 
terior state of South America. " After descending from the Andes (says he.) 
one beholds a vast and uniform prospect of water and verdure, and nothing 
more. One treads upon the earth, but does'not see it ; as it is so eutiroly 
covered with luxuriant plants, weeds, and shrubs, that it would require a cou-- 
siderable degree of labour to clear it for the space of a foot." Relation ahre- 
gee d'un Voyage, &c. p. 48. One of the singularities in the forests is a sort of 
osiers, or withes, called bejucos by the Spaniards, lianes by the French, and rubbcs 
by the Indians, which are usually employed as ropes in America. This is one 
of the parasitical plants, which twists about the trees it meets with, and rising 
above their highest branches, its tendrils descend perpendicularly, strike into 
the ground, take root, rise up around another tree, and thus mount and descend 
alternately. Other tendrils are carried obliquely by the wind, or some accident, 
and form a confusion of interwoven cordage, which resembles the rigging of a. 
ship. Bancroft, Nat. Hist, of Guiana, 99. These withes are often as thick as 
the arm of a man. Id. p. 75. M. Boguer's account of the forests in Peru 
perfectly resembles this description. Voyages au Peru, p. 16. Oviedo gives a 
eimilar description of the forests in other parts of America. Hist. lib. ix. p, 
144. D.. The country of the Moxos is so much overflowed, that they arc 
obliged to reside on the summit of some rising ground during some part of tho 
year, and have no communication with their countrymen at any distance. 
Lettres Edifiantes, tom. x. p. 187. Garcia gives a full and just description of 
tho rivers, lakes, woods, and marshes in those countries of America which lie 
between the tropics. Origcn de los Indios, lib. ii. c. 5. § 4, 5. The incredible 
hardships to which Gonzalez Pizarro was exposed in attempting to march into 
the countiy to the east of the Andes, convey a very striking idea of that part 
of America in its original uncultivated state. Garcil. de la Vega, Roval Com- 
ment, of Peru, part ii. book iii. c. 2 — 5. 

Note [35]. Page 128. 

The animals of America seem not to have been always of a size inferior tci 
fhosc in other quarters of the globe. From antlers of the moose-deer which 
have been found in America, it appears to have been an animal of great size. 
Near the banks of the Oliio, a considerable number of bones of an immense 
magnitude have been found. The place where this discovery has been made 
lies about one hundred and ninety miles below the junction of the river Scioto 
with the Ohio. It is about four miles distant from tlie banks of the latter, on 
the side of the marsh called the Salt lick. The bones lie in vast quantities 
about five or six feet under ground, and the stratum is visible in the bank on 
tlie edge of the Lick. Journal of Colonel George Croglan, MS. jiencs me. 
This spot seems to be accurately laid down by Evans in his map. These bones 
must have belonged to animals of enormous bulk ; but naturalists being ac- 
quainted with no living creature of such size, were at first inclined to think 
that they were mineral substances. Upon receiving a greater number of speci- 
mens, and after inspecting them more narrowly, they are now allowed to be 
the bones of an animal. As the elephant is the largest known quadruped, and 
the tusks wnich were found, nearly resembled, both in form and quality, the 
tusks of an elephant, it was concluded that the carcasses deposited on the 
Ohio were of that species. But Dr. Hunter, one of the persons of our ago 
best qualified to decide with respect to this point, having accurately examined 
several parcels of tusks, and grinders, and jaw-bones, sent from the Ohio to 
London, gives it as his opinion that they did not belong to an elephant, but to 
some huge carnivorous animal of an unknown species. Phil. Transact, vol. 
Iviii. p. 34. Bones of the same kind, and as remarkable for their size, havo 
been found near the mouths of the great rivers Oby, Jeniseia, and Lena in 
Siberia. Strnhlenberg, Descript. of J^orth and East Paris of Europe and Jisia. 
p. 402, &c. The olpphant seems to be confined in his range to tlie tprrid zone. 

Vol. I,— 59 



4SS NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

and never multiplicB beyond it. In such cold region? as those bordering on the 
frozen sea, lie could not live. The existence of such large animals in America, 
might open a wide field for conjecture. The more we contemplate the face of 
nature, and consider the variety of her productions, the more we must be satisfied 
that astonishing changes have been made in the terraqueous globe by convul- 
sions and revolutions, of which no account is preserved in liistory. 

Note [36]. Page 128. 

This degeneracy of the domestic European animals in America may be im- 
puted to some of these causes. In the Spanish settlements, which are situated 
either within the torrid zone, or in countries bordering upon it, the increase of 
heat and diversity of food prevent sheep and horned cattle from attaining the 
same size as in Europe. They seldom become so fat, and their flesh is not so 
juicy, or of such delicate flavour. In North America, where the climate is 
more favourable, and similar to that of Europe, the quahty of the grasses 
which spring up naturally in their pasture grounds is not good. Mitchell, p. 
151. Agriculture is still so much in its infancy, that artificial food for cattle is 
not raised in any quantity. During a winter, long in many provinces, and rigo- 
rous in all, no proper care is taken of their cattle. The general treatment of 
their horses and horned cattle is injudicious and harsh in all the English colonies. 
These circumstances contribute more, perhaps, than any thing peculiar in tho 
quality of the climate, to the degeneracy of breed in the horses, cows, and 
sheep of many of the North American provinces. 

TE [37]. Page 128. 

In the year 1518, the island of Hispaniola was afflicted with a dreadful visita- 
tion of those destructive insects, the particulars of which Herrera' describes, 
and mentions a singular instance of the superstition of the Spanish planters. 
After trying various methods of exterminating the ants, they resolved to im- 
plore protection of the saints ; but as the calamity was new, they were at a loss 
to find out the saint who could give them the most effectual aid. They cast 
lots in order to discover the patron whom they should invoke. The lots de- 
cided in favour of St. Saturninus. They celebrated his festival with great 
solemnity, and immediately, adds the historian, the calamity began to abats. 
Herrera, dec. 2. lib. iii. c. 15. p. 107. 

Note [38]. Page 1-29. 

The author of Recherches Philosophiques sur les Americains supposes this 
difference in heat to be equal to twelve degrees, and that a place thirty degrees 
from the equator in the old continent is as warm as one situated eighteen degrees 
from it in America, torn. i. p. 11. Dr. Mitchell, after observations carried on 
during thirty years, contends that the difference is equal to fourteen or fifleen 
degrees of latitude. Present State, &c. p. 257. 

Note [39]. Page 129. 

January 3d, 1765, Mr. Bertram, near the head of St. John's river, in East 
Florida, observed a frost so intense that in one night the ground was frozen an 
inch thick upon the banks of the river. The limes, citrons, and banana trees, 
at St. Augustin, were destroyed. Bertram's Journal, p. 20. Other instances 
of the extraordinary operations of cold in the southern provinces of North 
America are collected by Dr. Mitchell. Present State, p. 206, &c. February 
7th, 1747, the frost at Charleston was so intense, that a person having carried 
two quart bottles of hot water to bed, in the morning they were split to pieces, 
and the water converted into solid lumps of ice. In a kitchen where there waa 
a fire, the water in a jar in which there was a live large eel, was frozen to the 
bottom. Almost all the orange and olive trees were destroyed. Description of 
Suuth Carolina, 8vo. Lond. 1761. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 467 



Note [40]. Page 129. 

A REMARKABLE instance of this occurs in Dutch Guiana, a country every 
Vrhere level, and so low, that during the rainy seasons it is usually covered with 
water near two feet in height. This renders the soil so rich, that on the surface, 
for twelve inches in depth, it is a stratum of perfect itianure, and as such has 
been transported to Barbadoes. On the banks of the Essequibo, thirty crops of 
ratan canes have been raised successively; whereas in the West Indian islands 
not more than two is ever expected from the richest land. The expedients by 
which the planters endeavour to diminish this excessive fertility of soil are va- 
rious, Bancroft, Nat. Hist, of Guiana, p. 10, Sic. 

Note [41]. Page 134. 

MuLLER seems to have believed, without sufficient evidence, that the Capo 
had been doubled, tom. i. p. 11, &c. ; and the imperial academy of St. Peters- 
burgh give some countenance to it by the manner in which l^schukotskoi-noss 
is laid down in their charts. But 1 am assured, from undoubted authority, that 
no Russian vessel has ever sailed round that cape ; and as the country of Tshutki 
is not subject to the Russian empire, it is very imperfectly known. 

Note [42]. Page 135. 

Were this the place for entering into a long and intricate geographical dis- 
quisition, many curious observations might arise from comparing the accounts of 
the two Russian voyages and the charts of their respective navigations. One 
remark is applicable to both. We cannot rely with absolute certainty on the 
position which they assign to several of the places which they visited. The 
Weather was so extremely foggy, that they seldom saw the sun or stars ; and 
the position of the islands and supposed continents was commonly determined 
by reckoning, not by observation. Behring and Tschirikow proceeded much 
further towards the east than Krenitzin. The land discovered by Behring, which 
he imagined to be part of the American continent, is in the 236th degree of 
longitude from the first meridian in the isle of Ferro, and in 58° 28' of latitude. 
Tschirikow came upon the same coast in longitude 241°, latitude 56°. Muller, 
i. 248, 249. The former must have advanced 60 degrees from the port of 
Petropawlowski, from which he took his departure, and the latter 65 degrees. 
But from the chart of Krenitzen's voyage, it appears that he did not sail further 
towards the east than to the 208th degree, and only 32 degrees from Petropaw- 
lowski. In 1741, Behring and Tschirikow, both in going and returning, held a 
course which was mostly to the south of that chain of islands, which they dis- 
covered ; and observing the mountainous and rugged aspect of the headlands 
which they descried towards the north, they supposed them to be promontories 
belonging to some part of the American continent, which, as they fancied, 
stretched as far south as the latitude 56. In this manner they are laid down 
in the chart published by Muller, and likewise in a manuscript chart drawn by 
a mate of Behring's ship, communicated to me by Mr. Professor Robison. 
But in 1769, Krenitzin, after wintering in the island Alaxa, stood so far towards 
the north in his return, that his course lay through the middle of what Behring 
and Tschirikow had supposed to be a continent, which he found to be an open sea, 
and that they had mistaken rocky isles for the headlands of a continent. It ie 
probable, that the countries discovered in 1741, towards the east, do not belong 
to the American continent, but are only a continuation of the chain of islands. 
The number of volcanos in this region of the globe is remarkable. There arc 
several in Karntchatka, and not one of the islands, great or small, as far as the 
Russian navigation extends, is without them. Many are actually purning, and 
the mountains in all bear marks of having been once in a state of eruption. 
Were I disposed to admit such conjectures as have found place in other inquiries 
concerning the peopling of America, I might suppose that this part of the 
earth, having manifestly suffered violent convulsions from earthquakes and 



468 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Tolcanos, an isthmus, which may liavc formerly united Asia to America, has 
been broken, and formed into a cluBtcr of islands by the shock. 

It is sinfjular, tliat at the very time the Russian navigators were attempting 
to make diBcoveries in the north-west of America, the Spaniards were prose* 
cuting the same design from another quarter. In 1769, two small vessels 
sailed from Loretto in California to explore the coasts of the country to the 
nortli of tliat peninsula. They advanced no further than the port of Monte- 
Rcy, in latitude 3'6. But, in several successive expeditions fitted out from the 
port of St. Bias in New Galicia, the Spaniards have advanced as far as the 
latitude 5«. Gazeta de Madrid, March 19, and May 14, 1776. But as the 
journals of those voyages have not yet been published, I cannot compare their 
progress with that of the Russians, or show how near the navigators of the 
two nations have approached to each other. It is to be hoped that the enlight- 
ened minister who has now the direction of American affairs in Spain, will not 
witlihold this information from the public. 

Note [43]. Page 13G. 

Our knowledge of the vicinity of the two continents of Asia and AmericBj 
^vhich was very imperfect when I published the History of America in the year 
1777, is now complete. Mr. Coxe's account of the Russian Discoveries between 
Asia and America, printed in the year 1780, contains many curious and im- 
portant facts with respect to the various attempts of the Russians to open a com- 
munication with the New World. The history of the great voyage of Discovery, 
begun by Captain Cook in 1776, and completed by Captains Clerk and Gore, 
published in the year 1780, communicates all the information that the curiosity 
of mankind could desire with regard to this subject. 

At my request, my friend, Mr. Plaj'fair, Professor of Mathematics in the 
University of Edinburgh, has compared the narrative and charts of those illus- 
trious navigators with the more imperfect relations and maps of the Russians. 
The result of this comparison I communicate in his own words, with much 
greater confidence in his scientific accuracy, than I could have ventured to 
place in any observations which I myself might have made upon the subject. 

" The discoveries of Captain Cook in his last voyage have confirmed the 
conclusions which Dr. Robertson had drawn, and have connected together the 
facts from which they were deduced. They have now rendered it certain that 
Behring and Tschirikow touched on the coast of America in 1741. The former 
discovered land in latitude 58°, 28', and about 236° east from Ferro. He has 
given such a description of the Bay in which he anchored, and tlie high moun- 
tain to the westward of it 'vhich he call.s St. Elias, that though the account of 
his voyage is much abridged in the English translation. Captain Cook recognised 
the place as he sailed along the western coast of America in the year 1778. 
The isle of St. Hermogenes, near the mouth of Cook's river, Schumagins isles 
on the coast of Alashka, and Foggy Isle, retain in Captain Cook's chart the 
names which they had received from the Russian navigator. Cook's Voy. vol. 
ii. p. 347. 

" Tschirikow came upon the same coast about 2° 30' farther south than Beh- 
ring, near the Mount Edgecumbe of Captain Cook. 

" With regard to Krenitzin, we learn from Coxe's Account of the Russian 
Discoveries, that he sailed from the mouth of the Kamtchatka river with two 
ships in the year 1768. With his own ship he reached the island of Oonolashka, 
in which there had been a Russian settlement since the year 1762, where ho 
wintered probably in the same harbour or bay where Captain Cook afterwards 
anchored. The other ship wintered at Alashka, which was supposed to bo an 
island, though it be in fact a part of the American continent. Krenitzin 
accordingly returned without knowing that either of his ships had been on the 
coast of America ; and this is the more surprising, because Captain Cook has 
informed us that Alashka is understood to be a great continent, both by the 
Russians and the natives at Oonolashka. 

" According to Krenitzin, the ship which had wintered at Alashka had hardly 
sailed 30° to the eastward of the Jiarbour of St. Peter and St. Paul in Kamt- 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 469 

c.liatka ; out. according lo the more accurate charts of Captain Cook, it had 
Bailed no less than 37° 17' to the eastward of that harbour. There is nearly 
the same mistake of 5^ iu tlie longitude which Krcnitzin assigns to Oonolashka. 
It is remarkable enough, that in the chart of those seas, put into the hand of 
Captain Cook by the Russians on that island, there was an error of the same 
kind, and very nearly of the same extent. 

" But what is of most consequence to be remarked on the subject is, that 
the discoveries of Captain Cook have fully verified Dr. Robertson's conjecture 
• that it is probable that future navigators in those seas, by steering farther 
to the north than Behring and Tschirikow or Krenitzin had done, may find 
that the continent of America approaches still nearer to that of Asia.' See p. 
134. It has accordingly been found that these two continents, which, in the 
parallel of 53°, or that of the southern extremity of Alashka, are about four 
hundred leagues asunder, approach continually to one another as they streti;]i 
together toward the north, until, within less than a degree from the polar circle, 
they are terminated by two capes only thirteen leagues distant. The east capo 
of Asia is in latitude 66° 6' and in longitude 190° 22' east from Greenwich ; this 
western extremity of America, or Prince of Wales' Cape, is in latitude 65° 4G', 
and in longitude 191° 45'. Nearly in the middle of the narrow strait (Behring's 
Strait) which separates these capes, are the two islands of St. Diomede, from 
■wliich both continents may be seen. Captain King informs us, that as he 
was sailing through this strait, July 5, 1779, the fog having cleared away, he 
enjoyed the pleasure of seeing from the ship the continents of Asia and 
Anjerica at the same moment, together with the islands of St. Dioracda lying 
between them. Cook's Voy. vol. iii. p. 244. 

" Beyond this point the strait opens towards the Arctic Sea, and the coasts 
of Asia and America diverge so fast from one another, that in the parallel of 
69° they are more than one hundred leagues asunder. lb. p. 277. To the 
couth of the strait there are a number of islands, Clerk's, King's, Anderson's, 
izc, which, as well as those of St. Diomede, may have facilitated the migra- 
tions of the natives from the one continent to the other. Captain Cook, 
however, on the authority of the Russians at Oonolashka, and for other good 
reasons, has diminished the number of islands which had been inserted in 
former charts of the northern Archipelago. lie has also placed Alashka, or 
the promontory which stretches from the continent of America S. W. towards 
Kamtchatka, at the distance of five degrees of longitude farther from the coast 
of Asia than it was reckoned by the Russian navigators. 

" The geography of the Old and New World is therefore equally indebted to 
the discoveries made in this memorable voyage ; and as many errors have been 
corrected, and many deficiencies supplied, by means of these discoveries, so the 
accuracy of some former observations has been established. The basis of the 
map of the Russian empire, as far as regarded Kamtchatka, and the country of 
the Tschutzki, was the position of four places, Yakutsh, Ochotz, Bolcheresk, and 
Petropawlowski, which had been determined by the astronomer Krassilnicovv in 
the year 1744. Nov. Comment. Petrop. vol. iii. p. 465, &c. But the accuracy of 
his observations was contested byM. Engcl, and M. Robert de Vaugondy ; Coxe, 
Append, i. No. 2. p. 267. 272. and the former of these geographers ventured to take 
away no less than 28 degrees from the longitude, which, on the faith of Kras- 
silnicow's observations, was assigned to the eastern boundary of the Russian 
empire. With how little reason this w as done, will appear from considering 
that our British navigators, having determined the position of Petropawlowski 
by a great number of very accurate observations, found the longitude of that 
port 158° 43' E. from Greenwich, and its latitude 53° 1' ; agreeing, the first to 
less than seven minutes, and the second to less than half a minute, with the 
calculations of the Russian astronomer : a coincidence which, in tlie situation 
of so remote a place, does not leave an uncertainty of more than four Englisli 
miles, and which, for the credit of science, deserves to be particularly remarked. 
The chief error in the Russian maps lias been in not extending the boundaries 
of tliat empire sulFicicntly towards the cast. P'or as there was nothing to con- 
nect the land of the Tsclmtzki and tlie north-east point of Asia with those 
places whereof the position had been carefully asrjertaincd, except the imperfect 
awounts of Behring's and Synd'^s voyages, considerable errors roiild not fail to 



470 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

he introduced, and that point was laid down as not more than 23° 2' east of 
the meridian of Petropawlowski. Coxe, App. i. No. 2. By the observationo 
of Captain King, the difference of longitude between Petropawlowski and the 
East Cape is 31° 9' ; that is 8° 7' greater than it was supposed to be by the 
Russian geographers." — It appears from Cook's and King's Voy. iii. p. 272, 
that the continents of Asia and America are usually joined together by ice 
during winter. Mr. Samwell confirms this account ot his superior ollicer. 
*' At this place, viz. near the latitude of 66° N. the two coasts are only thirteen 
leagues asunder, and about midway between them lie two islands, the distance 
from each to either shore is short of t\\enty miles. At this place th^ natives 
of Asia could find no difficulty in passing over to the opposite coast, which 
is in sight of their own. That in a course of years such an event would happen, 
either through design or accident, cannot admit of a doubt. The canoes which 
we saw among the Tschutzki were capable of performing a much longer voyage ; 
and, however rude they may have been at some distant period, we can scarcely 
suppose them unequal to a passage of six or seven leagues. People might 
liave been carried over by accident on floating pieces of ice. They might 
also have travelled across on sledges or on foot ; for we have reason to believe 
that the strait is entirely frozen over in the winter ; so that, during that season, 
the continents, with respect to the communication between them, may be con- 
sidered as one land." Letter from Mr. Samwell, Scot's Magazine for 1788, p. 
604. It is probable that this interesting portion of geographical knowledge 
will, in the course of a few years, receive farther improvement. Soon after 
the publication of Captain Cook's last voyage, the great and enlightened 
Sovereign of Russia, attentive to every thing that may contribute to extend 
the bounds of science, or to render it more accurate, formed the plan of a new 
voyage of discovery, in order to explore those parts of the ocean lying between 
Asia and America, which Captain Cook did not visit, to examine more accu- 
rately the islands which stretch from one continent almost to the other, to sur- 
vey the north-east coast of the Russian empire, from the mouth of the Kovyma, 
or Kolyma, to the North Cape, and to settle, by astronomical observations, the 
position of each place worth notice. The conduct of this important enterprise 
is committed to Captain Billings, an English officer in the Russian service, of 
whose abilities for that station it will be deemed the best evidence, that he 
accompanied Captain Cook in his last voyage. To render the expedition more 
extensively useful, an eminent naturalist is appointed to attend Captain Billings. 
Six years will be requisite for accomplishing the purposes of the voyage. 
Coxe's Supplement to Russian Discoveries, p. 27, &c. 

Note [44]. Page 141. 

Few travellers have had such opportunity of observing the natives of Ame- 
i'ica, in its various districts, as Don Antonio Ulloa. In a work lately published 
by him, he thus describes the characteristical features of the race: "A very 
small forehead, covered with hair towards its extremities, as far as the middle 
of the eye-brows ; little eyes ; a thin nose, small and bending towards the 
upper lip ; the countenance broad ; the ears large ; the hair very black, lank, 
and coarse ; the limbs well turned, the feet small, the body of just proportion ; 
and altogether smooth and free from hair, until old age, when they acquire 
some beard, but never on the cheeks." Noticias Americanas, &c. p. 307. M. 
le Chevalier de Pinto, who resided several years in a part of America which 
Ulloa never visited, gives a sketch of the general aspect of the Indians there. 
" They are all of copper colour with some diversity of shade, not in proportion 
to their distance from the equator, but according to the degree of elevation of 
the territory which they inhabit. Those w ho live in a high country are fairer 
than those in the marshy low lands, on the coast. Their face is round, further 
removed, perhaps, than that of any people from an oval shape. Their forehead 
is small, the extremity of their ears far from the face, their lips thick, their nose 
flat, their eyes black, or of a chcsnut colour, small, but capable of discerning 
objects at a great distannc. Their hair is always thick and sleek, and without 
any tendency to curl. They have no hair on any part of their body but the 
head. At the first aspect a southern American appears to be mild and innocent. 



NOTES AND ILLLSTRATIONS. 471 

hut on a more attentive view, one discovers in his countenance something wild, 
distrustful, and sullen." MS. pejies me. The two portraits drawn by hands 
Tcry different from those of common travellers, have a near resemblance. 

Note [45]. Page 141. 

Amazing accounts are given of the persevering speed of the Americans. 
Adair relates the adventures of a Chikkasah warrior, who ran through woods 
and Qver mountains, three hundred computed miles, in a day and a half and 
two nights. Hist, of Amer. Ind. 396. 

Note [46]. Page 143 

M. GoDiN LE Jeune, who resided fifteen y»a « among the Indians of Peru 
and Quito, and twenty years in the French colony of Cayenne, in which thcro 
is a constant intercourse with the Galibis and other tribes on the Oronoco, ob- 
serves, that the vigour of constitution among the Americans is exactly. in pro- 
portion to their habits of labour. The Indians in warm climates, such as those 
on the coasts of the South Sea, on the river of Amazons, and the river Orinoco, 
are not to be compared for strength with those in cold countries ; and yet, says 
he, boats daily set out from Para, a Portuguese settlement on the river of Ama- 
zons, to ascend that river against the rapidity of tiie stream, and with the same 
crew they proceed to San Pablo, which is eight hundred leagues distant. No 
crew of white people, or even of Negroes, would be found equal to a task of 
euch persevering fatigue, as the Portuguese have experienced ; and yet tho 
Indians being accustomed to this labour from their infancy, perform it. MS. 
jaenes me. 

Note [47]. Page 145. 

Don Antonia Ulloa, who visited a great part of Peru and Chili, the king- 
dom of New Granada, and several of the provinces bordering on the Mexican 
Gulf, while employed in the same service with the French Mathematicians 
during the space of ten years, and who afterwards had an opportunity of 
viewing the North Americans, asserts " that if we have seen one American, 
we may be said to ha%'e seen them all, their colour and make are so nearly tho 
same." Notic. Americanas, p. 328. A more early observer, Pedro de Cieca 
de Leon, one of the conquerors of Peru, who had likewise traversed many 
provinces of America, affirms that the people, men and women, although there 
is such a multitude of tribes or nations as to be almost innumerable, and such 
diversity of climates, appear nevertheless like the children of one father and 
mother. ' Chronica del' Peru, parte i. c. 19. There is, no doubt, a certain com- 
bination of features, and peculiarity of aspect, which forms what may be called 
a European or Asiatic countenance. There must likewise be one that may he 
denominated American, common to the whole race. This may be supposed to 
strike the traveller at first sight, while not only the various shades, which dis- 
tinguish people of different regions, but the peculiar features which discriminate 
individuals, escape the notice of a transient observer. But when persons who 
had resided so long among the Americans concur in bearing testimony to the 
similarity of their appearance in every climate, we may conclude that it is 
more remarkable than that of any other race. See likewise Garcia Origen de 
los Indies, p. 54. 242. Torquemada Monarch. Indiana, ii. 571. 

Note [48]. Page 146. 

M. LE Chevalier de Pinto observes, that in the interior parts of Brazil, he 
had been informed that some persons resembling the white people of Darien 
had been found ; but that the breed did not continue, and their children became 
like other Americans. This race, however, is very imperfectly known. MS, 
penes me. 



•J72 NOTES AND IjuLUSTRATIONy. 



Note [49]. Page 147. 

-The testimonies of different travellers, concerning the Patagonians, hare 
been collected and stated with a considerable degree of accuracy by the author 
of Recherches Philosophiques, &c. torn. i. 281, &c. iii. 181, &c. Since the 
publication of his work, several navigators have visited the Magellanic regions, 
and like their predecessors, differ very widely in their accounts of its inhabitants. 
By Commodore Byron and his crew, who sailed through the Straits in ^764, 
the common size of the Patagonians was estimated to be eight feet, and many 
of them much taller. Phil. Transact, vol. Ivii. p. 78. By Captains Wallis and 
Carteret, wlio actually measured them in 1760, they were found to be from six 
feet to si.v feet five and seven inches in height. Phil. Trans, vol. Ix. p. 22. 
These, however, seem to have been the very people whose size had been rated 
so high in the year 1764 ; for several of them had beads and red baize of the 
same kind with what had been put on board Captain Wallis's ship, and he 
naturally concluded that they had got these from Mr. Byron. Hawkesw. i. 
In 1767 they were again measured by M. Bougamville, whose account differs 
little from that of Captain Wallis. Voy. 129. To these I shall add a testi- 
mony of great weight. In the year 1762, Don Bernardo Ibegnez de Echavarri 
accompanied the Marquis de Valdelirios to Buenos Ayres, and resided there 
fjeveral years. He is a very intelligent author, and his reputation for veracity 
unimpeached among his countrymen. In speaking of the country towards the 
southern extremity of America, " By what Indians," says he, " is it possessed? 
Not certainly by the fabulous Patagonians who are supposed to occupy this 
district. I have from many eye-witnesses, who have lived among those Indians, 
and traded much with them, a true and accurate description of their persons. 
They are of the same stature with the Spaniards. I never saw one who rose 
in height two varas and two or three inches," i. e. about 80 or 81'332 inches 
English, if Echavarri makes his computation according to the vara of Madrid. 
This agrees nearly with the measurement of Captain Wallis. Reyno Jesuitico, 
238. Mr. Falkner, who resided as a missionary forty years in the southern 
parts of America, says that " the Patagonians, or Puelches, are a large bodied 
people ; but I never heard of that gigantic race which others have mentioned, 
though I liave seen persons of all the different tribes of southern Indians." 
Introd. p. 26. M. Dobrizhoffer, a Jesuit, who resided eighteen years in Para- 
guay, and who had seen great numbers of the various tribes which inhabit the 
countries situated upon the Straits of Magellan, confirms, in every point, the 
testimony of his brother missionary Falkner. Dobrizhoffer enters into some 
detail with respect to the opinions of several authors concerning the stature of 
the Patagonians. Having mentioned the reports of some early travellers with 
regard to the extraordinary size of some bones found on that coast which were 
supposed to be human ; and having endeavoured to show that these bones 
belonged to some large marine or land animal, he concludes, " de hisce ossibus 
crede quicquid libuerit, dummodo, nie suasore, Patagones pro gigantibus desinas 
habere." Hist, de Abissonibus, vol. ii. p. 19, &.c. 

Note [50]. Page 149 

Antonio Sanciiks Ribeiro, a learned and ingenious physician, published a 
dissertation in the year 1765, in which he endeavours to prove that this disease 
was not introduced from America, but took its rise in Plurope, and was brought 
on by an epidemical and malignant disorder. Did I choose to enter into a dis- 
quisition on this subject, which I should not have mentioned if it had not i)een 
intimately connected with this part of my inquiries, it would not be difficult to 
point out some mistakes with respect to the facts upon which he founds, a^ 
well as some errors in the consequences which he draws from them. The rapid 
communication of this disease from Spain over Europe, seems however to 
vescmble the progress of an epidemic, rather than that of a disease transmitted 
by infection. Tiie first mention of it is in the year 1493, and before the year 
1497, it had made its appearance in most countries of Europe,with such alarmiuif 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 473 

svmptoms as rendered it necessary for the civil magistrate to interpose, in order 
to check its career. — Since the publication of this work, a second edition of 
Dr. Sanchez's Dissertation has been communicated to me. It contains several 
additional facts in confirmation of his opinion, which is supported with such 
plausible arguments, as render it a subject of inquiry well deserving the atten- 
tion of learned physicians. 

Note [51]. Page 150. 

. The people of Otaheite have no denomination for any number above two 
hundred, which is sufficient for their transactions. Voyages by Hawkesworth, 
ii. 228. 

Note [52]. Page 152. 

As the view which I have given of rude nations is extremely different from 
that exhibited by very respectable authors, it may be proper to produce some of 
the many authorities on which I found my description. The manners of the 
savage tribes in America have never been viewed by persons more capable of 
obBcrving them with discernment, than the philosophers employed by France 
and Spain, in the year 1735, to determine the figure of the earth. M: Bouguer, 
D. Antonio d'Ulloa, and D. Jorge Juan, resided long among the natives of the 
least civilized provinces in Peru. M. de la Condamine had not only the same 
advantages with them for observation, but, in his voyage down the Maragnon, 
he had an opportunity of inspecting the state of the various nations seated on 
its banks, in its vast course across t'he continent of South America. There is a 
wonderful resemblance in their representation of the character of the Ameri- 
cans. " They are all extremely indolent," says M Bouguer, " they are stupid ; 
they pass whole days sitting in the same place, without moving, or speaking a 
single word. It is not easy to describe the degree of their indifference for 
wealth, and all its advantages. One does not well know what motive to pro- 
pose to them, when one would persuade them to perform any service. It is 
vain to offer them money; they answer, that they are not hungry." Voyage 
au Perou, p. 102. " If one considers them as men, the narrowness of their 
understanding seems to be incompatible with the excellence of the soul. Their 
imbecility is so visible that one can hardly form an idea of them different from 
what one has of the brutes. Nothing di.sturbs the tranquillity of their souls, 
equally insensible to disasters and to prosperity. Though half naked, they 
are as contented as a monarch in his most splendid array. Riches do not 
attract them in the smallest degree, and the authority of dignities to which 
they may aspire are so little the objects of their ambition, that an Indian will 
receive with the same indifference the office of a judge (Alcade) or that of a 
hangman, if deprived of the former and appointed to the latter. Nothing can 
move or change them. Interest has no power over them, and they often refuse 
to perform a small service, though certain of a great recompense. Fear makes 
no impression upon them, and respect as little. Their disposition is so singular 
that there is no method of influencing them, no means of rousing them from 
that indifference which is proof against all the endeavours of the wisest persons; 
no expedient which can induce them to abandon that gross ignorance, or lay 
aside that careless negligence which disconcert the prudence and disappoint 
the care of such as are attentive to their welfare." Voyage d'Ulloa, torn. i. 
335. 356. Of those singular qualities he produces many extraordinary instances, 
p. 336 — 347. " Insensibility," says M. de la Condamine, " is the basis of the 
American character. I leave others to determine, whether this should be dig^ 
nifiod with the name of apathy, or disgraced with that of stupidity. It arises, 
without doubt, from the small number of their ideas, which do not extend 
beyond their wants. Gluttons even to voracity, when they have wherewithal 
to satisfy their appetite.' Temperate, when necessity obliges them, to such a 
degree, that they can endure want without seeming to desire any thing. Pusil- 
lanimous and cowardly to excess, unless when they are rendered desperate by 
drunkenness Averse to labour, indifferent to every motive of glory, honour, 
or gratitude ; occupied entirely bv the object that is present, and always He- 
Vol.. I.— 60 



474 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

termined by it alonej without any solicitude about futurity; incapable of fore- 
sight or of reflection ; abandoning themselves when under no restraint, to a, 
puerile joy, which they express by frisking about and immoderate fits of laugh- 
ter ; without object or design, they pass their lite without thinking, and grow 
old without advancing beyond childhood, of winch they retain all the defects. 
If this description were applicable only to the Indians in some provinces of 
Peru, who are slaves in every respect but the name, one might believe, that ihia 
degree ot' degeneracy svas occasioned by the servile dependence to which they 
are reduced ; the example of the modern Greeks being proof how far servitude 
may degrade the human species. But the Indians in the missions of the Jesuits, 
and the savages who still enjoy unimpaired liberty, being as limited in their 
faculties, not to say as stupid, as the other, one cannot observe without humilia- 
tion, that man, when abandoned to simple nature, and deprived of the ad- 
vantages resulting from education and society, differs but little from the brute 
creation." Voyage de la Kiv. de Amaz. 52, 33. M. de Chanvalon, an intelli- 
genj. and philosophical observer, who visited Martinico in 1751, and resided 
there six years, gives the following description of the Caraibs: "It is not the 
red colour of their complexion, it is not the singularity of their features, which 
constitutes the chief difference between them and us. It is their excessive sim- 
plicity : it is the limited degree of their faculties. Their reason is not mora 
enlightened or more provident than the instinct of brutes. The reason of the 
most gross peasants, that of the negroes brought up in the parts of Africa 
most remote from intercourse with Europeans, is such, that we discover ap- 
pearances of intelligence, which, though imperfect, is capable of increase. But 
of this the understanding of the Caraibs seems to be hardly susceptible. If 
sound philosophy and religion did not afford us their light, if we were to decide 
according to the first impression which the view of that people makes upon 
the mind, we should be disposed to believe that they do not belong to the samis 
species with us. Their stupid eyes are the true mirror of their souls ; it appears 
to be without functions. Their indolence is extreme ; they have never the 
least solicitude about the moment which is to succeed that which is present." 
Voyage k la Martinique, p. 44, 43. 31. M. de la Borde, Tertre, and Rochefort, 
confirm this description. " The characteristics of the Californians," says P. 
Venegas, " as well as of all other Indians, are stupidity and insensibility ; want 
of knowledge and reflection ; inconstancy, impetuosity, and blindness of appe- 
tite ; an excessive sloth, and abhorrence of all labour and fatigue ; an excessive 
love of pleasure and amusement of every kind, however trifling or brutal ; 
pusillanimity ; and, in fine, a most wretched want of every thing which con- 
stitutes the real man, and renders him rational, inventive, tractable, and useful 
to himself and society. It is not easy for Europeans, who never were out of 
tlieir own country, to conceive an adequate idea of those people ; for, even in 
the least frequented corners of the globe, there is not a nation so stupid, of 
such contracted ideas, and so weak both in body and mind, as the unhappy 
Californians. Their understanding comprehends little more than what they 
see ; abstract ideas, and much less a chain of reasoning, being far beyond their 
power ; so that they scarce ever improve tlieir first ideas, and these are in 
general false, or at least inadequate. It is in vain to represent to them any 
future advantages which will result to them from doing or abstaining from 
this or that particular immediately present ; the relation of means and ends 
being beyond the stretch of their faculties. Nor have they the least notion of 
pursuing such intentions as will procure themselves some future good, or guard 
them against future evils. Their aIII is proportional to their faculties, and all 
their passions move in a very narrow sphere. Ambition they have none, and 
are more desirous of being accounted strong than valiant. The objects of 
ambition with us, honour, fame, reputation, titles, posts, and distinctions of 
superiority, are unknown among them ; so that this powerful spring of action, 
the cause of so much seeming good and real evil in the world, has no power 
here. This disposition of mind, as it gives them up to" an amazing languor and 
lassitude, their lives fleeting away in a perpetual inactivity and detestation of 
labour, so it likewise induces them to be attracted by the first object which their 
own fancy, or the persuasion of another, places before them ; and at the same 
time renders them 3s prone to alter their resolutions with the same facility. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 475 

They look with indifFerence upon any kindness done them; nor is even the 
bare remembrance of it to be expected from them. In a word, the unhappy 
mortals may be compared to children, in whom the developemeut of reason is 
not completed. They may indeed be called a nation who never arrive at man- 
hood." Hist, of California, English Transl. i. 64. 67. Mr. Ellis gives a similar 
account of the want of foresight and inconsiderate disposition of the people 
adjacent to Hudson's Bay. Voyage, p. 194, 195. 

The incapacity of the Americans is so remarkable, that negroes from all the 
different provinces of Africa are observed to be more capable of improving by 
instruction. They acquire the knowledge of several particulars which the 
Americans cannot comprehend. Hence the negroes, though slaves, value them- 
selves as a superior order of beings, and look down upon the Americans with 
contempt, as void of capacity and of rational discernment. Ulloa Notic. 
Americ. 322, 323. 

Note [53]. Page 155. 

DoBRizHOFFER, the last traveller I know who has resided among any tribe of 
the ruder Americans, has explained so fully the various reasons which have 
induced their women to suckle their children long, and never to undertake 
rearing such as were feeble or distorted, and even to destroy a considerable 
number of their offspring, as to throw great light on the observations I have 
made, p. 144. 154. Hist, de Abissonibus, vol. ii. p. 107. 221. So deeply were 
these ideas imprinted in the minds of the Americans, that the Peruvians, a 
civilized people when compared with the barbarous tribes W'hose manners I am 
describing, retained them ; and even their intercourse with the Spaniards has 
not been able to root them out. When twins are born in any family, it is still 
considered as an ominous event, and the parents have recourse to rigorous acts 
of mortification, in order to avert the calamities with which they are threatened. 
When a child is born with any deformity, they will not, if they can possibly 
avoid it, bring it to be baptised, and it is with difficulty they can be brought to 
rear it. Arriaga Extirpac. de la Idolat. del Peru, p. 32, 33. 

Note [54]. Page 156. 

The number of the fish in the rivers of South America is so extraordinary 
as to merit particular notice. "In the Maragnon (says P. Acugna,) fish are 
so plentiful, that, without any art, they may take them with the hands." p. 138. 
" In the Orinoco (says P. Gumilla,) besides an infinite variety of other fish, 
tortoise or turtle abound in such numbers, that I cannot find words to express 
it. I doubt not but that such as read my account will accuse me of exaggera- 
tion : but I can affirm that it is as difficult to count them as to count the sands 
on the banks of that river. One may judge of their number by the amazing 
consumption of them ; for all the nations contiguous to the river, and even 
many who are at a distance, flock thither at the season of breeding, and not 
only find sustenance during that time, but carry off great numbers both of the 
turtles and of their eggs," &c. Hist, de TOrenoque, ii. c. 22. p. 59. M. de la 
Condamine confirms their accounts, p. 159. 

Note [55]. Page 156. 

Piso describes two of these plants, the Cururnape and the Guajana-Timho. 
It is remarkable, that though they have this fatal effect upon fishes, they are 
80 far from being noxious to the human species, that they are used in medicine 
with success. Piso, lib. iv. c. 88. Bancroft mentions another, the Hiarree, a 
small quantity of which is sufficient to inebriate all the fish to a considerable 
distance, so that in a few minutes they float motionless on the surface of the 
water, and are taken with ease. Nat. Hist, of Guiana, p. 106. 

Note [56]. Page 157. 

Remarkable instances occur of the calamities which rude nations suffer by 
famine. Alvar Nugnez Cabcca de Vaca, one of tlie most gallant and virtuous 



476 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

of the Spanish adventurers, resided almost nine years among the savages of 
Florida. They were unacquainted with every species of agriculture. Their 
subsistence was poor and precarious. " They live chiefly (says he) upon roots 
of different plante, which they procure with great difficulty, wandering from 
place to place in search of them. Sometimes they kill game, sometimes they 
catch hsh, but in such small quantities, that their hunger is so extreme as com- 
pels them 10 eat spiders, the eggs of ants, worms, Uzards, serpents, a kind of 
unctuous earth, and, 1 am persuaded, that if in this country there were stones, 
they would swallow these. They preserve the bones of fishes and serpents, 
which they grind into powder and eat. The only season when they do not 
suffer much from famine, is when a certain fruit, which he calls Tunas, is ripe. 
This is the same with the Opuntia, or prickly pear, of a reddish and yellow 
colour, with a sweet insipid taste. They are sometimes obliged to travel far 
from their usual place of residence in order to find them. Naufragios, c. xviii. 
p. 20, 21, 22. In another place he observes, that they are frequently reduced 
to pass two or three days without food, c. xxiv. p. 27. 

Note [57]. Page 158. 

M. Fermin has given an accurate description of the two species of manioc, 
with an account of its culture, to which he has added some experiments, in 
order to ascertain the poisonous qualities of the juice extracted from that 
species which he calls the bitter cassava. Among the Spaniards it is known 
by the name of Yuca brava. Descr. de Surin. torn. i. p. 66. 

Note [58]. Page 158. 

The plantain is found m Asia and Africa, as well as in America. Oviedo 
contends, that it is not an indigenous plant of the New World, but was intro- 
duced into the Island of Hispaniola, in the year 1516, by Father Thomas de 
Berlanga, and that he transplanted it from the Canary Islands, whither the 
original slips had been brought from the East Indies. Oviedo, lib. viii. c. 1. 
But the opinion of Acosta and other naturalists, who reckon it an American 
plant, seems to be better founded. Acosta Hist. Nat. lib. iv. 21^ It was culti- 
vated by rude tribes in America, who had little intercourse with the Spaniards, 
and who were destitute of that ingenuity which disposes men to borrow what 
is useful from foreign nations. Gumil. iii. 186. Wafer's Voyage, p. 87. 

Note [59]. Page 159. 

It is remarkable that Acosta, one of the most accurate and best informed 
writers concerning the West Indies, affirms that maize, though cultivated in the 
continent, was not known in the islands, the inhabitants of wliich had none 
but cassada bread. Hist. Nat. lib. iv. c. 16. But P. Martyr, in the first book of 
his first Decad, which was written in the year 1493, upon the return of Columbus 
from his first voyage, expressly mentions maize as a plant which the islanders 
cultivated, and of which they made bread, p. 7. Gomara likewise asserts that 
they were acquainted with the culture of maize. Histor. Gener. cap. 28. 
Oviedo describes maize without any intimation of its being a plant that was 
not natural to Hispaniola. Lib. vii. c. 1. 

Note [60]. Page 161. 

New Holland, a country which formerly was only known, has lately been 
visited by intelligent observers. It lies in a region of the globe where it must 
enjoy a very favourable climate, as it stretches from the 10th to the 38th degree 
of southern latitude. It Is of great extent, and from its square form must be 
much more than equal to all Europe. The people who inhabit the various 
parts of it appear to be of one race. They are evidently ruder than most of 
tlio Americans, and have made still less progress in in]])rovement and the arts 
of life. There is not the least appearance of cultivation in any part of this 
vast region. The inhabitants arc extremely few. so that tbo country appears 



iNOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 477 

almost desolate. Their tribes are still more inconsiderable than those of 
America. They depend for subsistence almost entirely on fishing. They do 
not settle in one place, but roam about in quest of food. Both sexes go stark 
naked. Their habitations, utensils, &c. are more simple and rude than those 
of the Americans. Voyages, by Hawkes worth, iii. 6'22, &Lc. This, perhaps, 
is the country where man has been discovered in the earliest stage of his pro- 
gress, and exhibits a miserable specimen of his condition and powers in that 
uncultivated state. If this country shall be more fully explored by future 
navigators, the comparison of the manners of its inhabitants with those of the 
Americans will prove an instructive article in the history of the luiman species. 

Note [61]. Page 161. 

P. Gabriel Marest, who travelled from his station among the Illinois to 
Michilimackinac, thus describes the face of the country: — "We have marched 
twelve days without meeting a single human creature. Sometimes we found 
ourselves in vast meadow s, of which we could not see the boundaries, through 
which there flowed many brooks and rivers but without any path to conduct 
us. Sometimes we were obliged to open a passage across thick forests, through 
bushes, and underwood filled with briars and thorns. Sometimes we had to 
pass through deep marshes, in which we sunk up to the middle. After being 
fatigued through the day, we had the earth for our bed, or a few leaves, ex- 
posed to the wind, the rain, and all the injuries of the air." Lettr. Edifiantes, 
ji. 360. Dr. Bicknell, in an excursion from North Carolina towards the moun- 
tains, A. D. 1730, travelled fifteen days without meeting with a human creature, 
Nat. Hist, of North Carolina, 389. Diego de Ordas, in attempting to make a 
settlement in South America, A. D. 1532, marched fifty days through a country 
without one inhabitant. Herrera, dec. 5. lib. i. c. 11. 

Note [62]. Page 162. 

I STRONGLY suspcct that a community of goods, and an undivided store, are 
knowTi only among the rudest tribes of hunters ; and that as soon as any spe- 
cies of agriculture or regular industry is known, the idea of an exclusive right 
of property to the fruits of them is introduced. I am confirmed in this opi- 
nion by accounts which I have received concerning the state of property among 
the Indians in very different regions of America. " The idea of the natives of 
Brazil concerning property is, that if any person cultivate a field, he alone 
ought to enjoy the produce of it, and no other has a title to pretend to it. If 
an individual or family go a hunting or fishing, what is caught belongs to the 
individual or to the family, and they communicate no part of it to any but to 
their cazique, or to such of their kindred as happen to be indisposed. If any 
person in the village come to their hut, he may sit down freely, and eat without 
asking liberty. But this is the consequence of their general principle of hos- 
pitality; for I never observed any partition of the increase of their fields, or 
the produce of the chase, which I could consider as the fesult of any idea con- 
cerning a community of goods. On the contrary, they are so much attached 
to what they deem to be their property, that it would be extremely dangerous 
to encroach upon it. As far as I can see or can learn, there is not one tribe of 
Indians in South America among whom the community of goods which has 
been so highly extolled is known. The circumstance in the government of the 
Jesuits, most irksome to the Indians of Paraguay, was the community of goods 
which those fathers introduced. This was repugnant t<J the original ideas of 
the Indians, They were acquainted with the rights of private exclusive pro- 
perty, and they submitted with impatience to regulations which destroyed 
them." M. le Chcval, de Pinto, MS. penes me. " Actual possession (says a 
missionary who resided several years among the Indians of the five nations) 
gives a right to the soil ; but, whenever a possessor sees fit to quit it, another 
has as good right to take it as he who left it. This law, or custom, respects 
not only the particular spot on which he erects his house, but also his planting- 
ground. If a man has prepared a particular spot of ground on which lie 
designs in future to build or plant, no man has a right to incommode him., 



478 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

nmch less to the fruit of his labours, until it appears that he voluntarily gives 
up his views. But I never heard of any formal conveyance from one Indian 
to another in their natural state. The limit of every canton is circumscribed ; 
that is, they are allowed to hunt as far as such a river on this hand, and such a 
mountain on the otiier. This area is occupied and improved by individuals and 
their families : individuals, not the community, have the use and profit of their 
own labours, or success in hunting." MS. of Mr. Gideon Hawley, penes me. 

Note [63]. Page 162. 

Tbis difference of temper between the Americans and Negroes is so remark- 
able, that it is a proverbial saying in the French islands, " Regarder un sauvage 
de travers, c'est le battre ; le battre, c'est le tuer; battrc \m Negre, c'est le 
nourrir," Tertre, ii. 490, 

Note [64]. Page 163. 

The description of the political state of the people of Cinaloa perfectly 
resembles that of the inhabitants of North America. " They have neither 
laws nor kings (says a missionary who resided long among them) to punish any 
crime. Nor is there among them any species of authority, or political govern- 
ment, to restrain them in any part of their conduct. It is true that they ac- 
knowledge certain caziques, who are heads of their families or villages ; but 
their authority appears chiefly in war, and the expeditions against their enemies. 
This authority the caziques obtain not by hereditary riglit, but by their valour 
in war, or by the power and number of their families and relations. Sometimes 
tliey owe their pre-eminence to their eloquence in displaying their own ex- 
ploits." Ribas Histor. de las Triumph, &c. p. 11. The state of the Chiquitos 
in South America is nearly the same. " They have no regular form of govern- 
ment or civil life, but in matters of public concern they listen to the advice of 
their old men, and usually follow it. The dignity of Cazique is not hereditary, 
but conferred according to merit, as the reward of valour in war. The union 
among them is imperfect. Their society resembles a republic without any 
head, in which every man is master of himself, and, upon the least disgust, 
separates from those with whom he seemed to be connected." Relacion His- 
torical de las Missiones de los Chiquitos, por P. Juan, Patr. Fernandez, p. 32, 33. 
Thus, under very different climates, when nations are in a similar state of 
society, their institutions and civil government assume the same form. 

Note [65]. Page 168, 

" I HAVE known the Indians (says a person well acquainted with their mode 
of life) to go a thousand miles for the purpose of revenge, in pathless woods, 
over hills and mountains, through huge cane swamps, exposed to the extremi- 
ties of heat and cold, the vicissitude of seasons, to hunger and thirst. Such is 
their overboiling revengeful temper, that they utterly contemn all those things 
as imao-inary trifles, if they are so happy as to get the scalp of the murderer, 
or enemy, to satisfy the craving ghosts of their deceased relations." Adair's 
Hist, of Amer. Indians, p, 130, 

Note [66]. Page 168, 

L\ the account of the great war between the Algonquins and Iroquois, the 
achievements of Piskaret, a famous chief of the Algonquins, performed mostly 
by himself alone, or with one or two companions, make a capital figure. De 
!a Potherie, i, 297, &c. Colden's Hist, of Five Nations, 125, &c. 

Note [67], Page 169. 

The life of an unfortunate leader is often in danger, and he is always de- 
graded from the rank which he had acquired by his former exploits. Adair^ 
p. 3t)«, 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 479 



Note [68J. Page 169. 

As the ideas of the North Americans, with respect to the mode of carrying 
on war, are generally known, I have Founded my observations chiefly upon the 
testimony of the authors wlio describe them. But the same maxims took 
place among other nations in the New World. A judicious missionary has 
given a view of the military operations of the people in Gran Chaco, m South 
America, perfectly similar to those of the Iroquois. " They are much addicted 
to war (says he), which tliey carry on frequently among themselves, but per- 
petually against the Spaniards. But they may rather be called thieves than 
soldiers, tor they never make head against the Spaniards, unless when they can 
assault them by stealth, or have guarded against any mischance by spies, who 
may be called indefatigable ; they will watch the settlements of the Spaniards 
for one, t ■. o, or three years, observing by night every thing that passes with the 
Utmost solicitude, whether they may expect resistance or not, and until they 
are perfectly secure of the event, they will not venture upon an attack ; so 
that, when they do give the assault, they are certain of success, and free from 
ail danger. These spies, in order that they may not be observed, will creep on 
all four like cats in the night ; but if they are discovered, make their escape 
with much dexterity. But, although they never choose to face the Spaniards, 
if they be surrounded in any place whence they cannot escape, they will fight 
with desperate valour, and sell their lives very dear/' Lozano Descript. del 
Gran Chaco, p. 78. 

Note [69]. Page 170. • 

Lery, who was an eye-witneas of the proceedings of the Toupinambos, a 
Brasilian tribe, in a war against a powerful nation of their enemies, describes 
their courage and ferocity in very striking terms. Ego cum Gallo altero. paulo 
curiosius, magno nostro periculo (si enim ab hostibus capti aut lesi fuissemus, 
devorationi fuissemus devoti), barbaros nostros in militiam ountes comitari 
volui. Hi, numero 4000 capita, cum hostibus ad littus deccrtSirunt, tanta feroci- 
tate, ut vel rabidos et furiosos quosque superarent. Cum primum liostes 
conspexere, in magnos atque-editos ululatus perruperunt. Hsc gens adeo fera 
est et truculenta, ut tantisper dum viriuiii vel tantillum restat, continuo dimi- 
cent, fugamque nunquam capessant. Quod a natura illis inditum esse reor. 
Testor interea me, qui non semel, turn peditum turn equitum copias ingentes, 
in aciem instructas hie conspexi, tanta nunquam voluptate videndis peditum 
legionibus arniis fulgentibus, quanta turn pugnantibus istis percussum fixisse. 
Lery Hist. Navigat. in Brasil. ap. de Bry, iii. 207, 208, 209. 

Note [70]. Page 170. 

It was originally the practice of the Americans, as well as of other savaga 
nations, to cut off the heads of the enemies whom they slew, and to carry them 
away as trophies. But, as they found these cumbersome in their retreat, which 
they always make very rapidly, and often through a vast extent of country, 
they became satisfied with tearing oS" their scalps. This custom, though most 
prevalent in North America, was not unknown among the Southern tribes, 
Lozano, p. 79. 

Note [71]. Page 172. 

The terms of the war song seem to be dictated by the same fierce spirit of 
revenge. " I go to war to revenge the death of my brothers ; I shall kill ; I 
shall exterminate ; I shall burn my enemies ; I shall bring away slaves ; I shall 
devonr their heart, dry their flesh, drink their blood ; I shall tear off their 
scalps, and make cups of their skulls." Bossu's Travels through Louisiana, 
vol. i. p. 102. I am informed, by persons on whose testimony I can rely, that 
as the number of people in the Indian tribes has decreased so much, almost 
none of their prisoners are now put to death. It is considered as belter policj 



480 NOTES AND 1LLUSTRATI0M5. 

to spare and to adopt theiiS. Those dreadful scenes which I have described 
occur now so rarely, that missionaries and traders who have resided long 
among the Indians, never were witnesses to them. 

Note [72]. Page 172. 

All tlie travellers who have visited the most imcivilized of the American 
tribes, agree in this. It is confirmed by two remarkable circumstances, which 
occurred in the conquest of different provinces. In the expedition of Narvaez 
into Florida in the year 1528, the Spaniards were reduced to such extreme dis- 
tress by famine, that, in order to preserve their own lives, they ate such of their 
companions as happened to die. This appeared so shocking to the natives, who 
were accustomed to devour none but prisoners, that it filled them with horror 
and indignation against the Spaniards. Torquemada Monarch. Ind. ii. p. 584. 
Naufraffios de Alv. Nugnes Cabeca de Vaca, c. xiv. p. 15. During the siege 
of Mexico, though the Mexicans devoured with greediness the Spaniards and 
Tlascalans whom they took prisoners, the utmost rigour of the famine which 
they suffered could not induce them to touch the dead bodies of their own 
countrymen. Bern. Diaz del Castillo Conquist. de la N. Espagna, p. 156. 

Note [73]. Page 172. 

Many singular circumstances concerning the treatment of prisoners among 
the people of Brasil, are contauied in the narrative of Stadius, a German officer 
in the service of the Portuguese, published in the year 1556. He was taken 
prisoner by the Toupinambos, and remained in captivity nine years. He was 
often present at those horrid festivals which he describes, and was destined him- 
self to the same cruel fate with other prisoners. But he saved his hfe by his 
extraordinary efforts of courage and address. De Bry, iii. p. 34, &c. M. de 
Lery, who accompanied M. de Villagagnon in his expedition to Brasil in the 
year 1556, and who resided some time in that country, agrees with Stadius in 
every circumstance of importance. He was fi-equently an eye-witness of the 
manner in which the Brasilians treated their prisoners. De Bry, iii. 210. 
Several striking particulars omitted by them, are mentioned by a Portuguese 
author. Purch. Pilgr. iv. 1294, &c. 

Note [74]. Page 174, 

Thodoh I have followed that opinion concerning the apathy of the Ameri- 
cans, which appeared to me most rational, and supported by the authority of 
the most respectable authors, other theories have been formed with regard to 
it, by writers of great eminence. D. Ant. Ulloa, in a late work, contends that 
the texture of the skin and bodily habit of the Americans is such, that they 
are less sensible of pain than the rest of mankind. He produces several proofs 
of this, from the manner in which they endure the most cruel chirurgical opera- 
tions, &c. Noticias Americanas, p. 313, 314. The same observation has been 
made by surgeons in Brasil. An Indian, they say, never complains under pain, 
and will bear the amputation of a leg or an arm without uttering a single 
groan. MS. penes me. 

Note [75]. Page 174. 

This is an idea natural to all rude nations. Among the Romans, in the 
early periods of their commonwealth, it was a maxim that a prisoner " tunj 
decessisse videtur cum captus est." Digest, lib. xlix. tit. 15. c. 18. And after- 
wards, when the progress of refinement rendered them more indulgent with 
respect to this article, they were obliged to employ two fictions of law to secure 
the property, and permit the return of a captive ; the one by the Lex Cornelia, 
and the other by the Jus Posthminii. Heinec. Elem. Jur. Civ. sec. ord. Pand, 
ii. p. 294. Among the Negroes the same ideas prevail. No ransom was ever 
accepted for a prisoner As soon as one is taken in war, he is reputed to bo 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 481 

dead; and he is so in effect to his country and his family. Voy. du Chc%'al. des 
Marchais, i. p. 369. 

Note [76]. Page 175. 

The people of Chili, the most gallant and high-spirited of all the Americans, 
are the only exception to this observation. They attack their enemies in the 
open field ; their troops are ranged in regular order ; their battalions advance 
to die charge not only with courage, but iMth ciisciphne. The North Ameri- 
cans, though many of them have substituted the European fire-arms in place of 
their own bows and arrows, still adhere to tlicir ancient maxims of war, and 
carry it on according to their own peculiar system. But the Chilese nearly 
resemble the warlike nations of Europe and Asia in their military operations. 
Ovalle's Relation of Chili. Church. Coll. iii. p. 71. Lozano's Hist. Parag. i, 
144, 145. 

Note [77]. Page 176. 

Herrera gives a remarkable proof of this. In Yucatan, the men are so so- 
licitous about their dress, that they carry about with them mirrors, probably 
made of stone, like those of the Mexicans, Dec. iv. lib. iii. c. 8, in which they 
delight to view themselves ; but the women never use them. Dec. iv. lib. x. c. 
3. He takes notice that among the fierce tribe of the Panches, in the new- 
kingdom of Granada, none but distinguished warriors were permitted either to 
pierce their lips and to wear green stones in them, or to adorn their heads with 
plumes of feathers. Dec. vii. lib. ix. c. 4. In some provinces of Peru, though 
that empire had made considerable progress in civilization, the state of women 
was little improved. All the toil of cultivation and domestic work was devolved 
upon them, and they were not permitted to wear bracelets, or other ornaments, 
■with whicfi the men were fond of decking themselves. Zarate Hist, de Peru, 
5. p. 15, 16. 

Note [78]. Page 176. 

I have ventured to call this mode of anointing and painting their hodies, the 
dress of the Americans. This is agreeable to their own idiom. As they never 
stir abroad if they are not completely anointed ; they excuse themselves when 
in this situation, by saying that they cannot appear because they are naked. 
Gumilla, Hist, de I'Orenoque, i. 191. 

Note [79]. Page 177. 

Some tribes in the province of Cinaloa, on the gulf of California, seem to be 
among the rudest people of America united in the social state. They neither 
cultivate nor sow ; they have no houses in which they reside. Those in the 
inland country subsist by hunting ; those on the seacoast chiefly by fishing. 
Both depend upon the spontaneous productions of the earth, fruits, plants, and 
roots of various kinds. In the rainy season, as they have no habitations to 
afford them shelter, they gather bundles of reeds, or strong grass ; and binding 
them together at one end, they open them at the other, and fitting them to 
their heads, they are covered as with a large cap, which, like a penthouse, 
throjvs off the rain, and will keep them dry for several hours. During the 
warm season, they form a shed with the branches of crecs, which protects them 
from the sultry rays of the sun. When exposed to cold they make large fires, 
round which they sleep in the open air. Historia de los Triomphos dc Nucstra 
Santa Fe entre Gentres las mas Barbaras, &c. por P. And. Perez dc Ribas, 
p. 7, &c. 

Note [80]! Page 177. 

These houses resemble barns. " We have measured some which were a 
hundred and fifty paces long, and tweivty paces broad. Above a hundred per- 
VoL. I.— 61 



482 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

sons resided in some of Uicm." Wilson's Account of Guia.na. Puich. Pilgr. 
vol. iv. p. 1263. Ibid. 1291. " Tho Indian houses," says Mr. Barrere, "have 
a most wretched appearance, and are a striking image of the rudeness of early 
times. Their huts are commonly built on some rising ground, or on the banks 
of a river, huddled sometimes together, sometimes straggling, and always with- 
out any order. Their aspect is melancholy and disagreeable. One sees nothing 
but what is hideous and savage. The uncultivated fields have no gayety. 
The silence which reigns there, unless when interrupted by tho disagreeable 
notes of birds, or cries of wild beasts, is extremely dismal." Relat. de la 
France Equin. p. 146. 

Note [81]. Page 178. 

Some tribes in South America can send their arrows to a great distance, and 
with considerable force, without the aid of the bow. They make use of a 
hollow reed, about nine feet long and an inch thick, which is called a Sarbacane. 
In it they lodge a small arrow, with some unspun cotton wound about its great 
end ; this confines the air, so that they can blow it with astonishing rapidity, 
and a sure aim, to tho distance of above a hundred paces. These small arrows 
are always poisoned. Fermin. Descr. de Surin. i. 55. Bancroft's Hist, of 
Guiana, p. 281, &c. The Sarbacane is much used in some parts of the East 
Indies. 

Note [82J. Page 178. 

T MIGHT produce many instances of this, but shall satisfy myself witli one 
taken from the Eskimaux. " Their greatest ingenuity (says Mr. Ellis) la 
shown in the structure of their bows, made commonly of three pieces of wood, 
each making part of the same arch, very nicely and exactly joined together. 
They arc commonly of fir or larch ; and as this wants strength and elasticity, 
they supply both by bracing the back of the bow with a kind of thread, or line, 
made of the sinews of their deer, and the bowstring of the same materials. 
To make them draw more stiffly, they dip them into water, which causes both 
the back of the bow and the string to contract, and consequently gives it the 
greater force ; and as thoy practise from their youth, they shoot with very 
great dexterity." Voyage to Hudson's Bay, p. 138. 

Note [83]. Page 178. 

Necessity is tlie great prompter and guide of mankind in their inventions. 
There is, however, such inequality in some parts of their progress, and some 
nations get so far the start of others in circumstances nearly similar, that we 
must ascribe this to some events in their story, or to some peculiarity in their 
situation, with which we are unacquainted. The people in the island of Ota- 
heite, lately discovered in the South Sea, far excel most of the Americans in 
the knowledge and practice of the arts of ingenuity, and yet they had not in- 
vented any method of boiling water; and having no vessel that could bear tlje 
fire, they had no more idea that water could be made hot, than that it could be 
made solid. Voyages by Hawkesworth, i. 466. 484. 

Note [84]. Page 178. 

Onk of these boats, which could carry nine men, weighed only sixty pounds. 
Gosnol. Relat. des Voy. a la Virgin. Rec. de Voy. au Nord, torn. v. p. 403. 

Note [85]. Page 179. 

A remarkable proof of this is produced by Ulloa. In weaving hammocks', 
coverlets, and other coarse cloths which they are accustomed to manufacture, 
their industry has discovered no more expeditious method than to take up 
thread after thread, and, after counting and sorting them each time, to pass 
the woof between them, so that in finishing a small piece of those stuffs they 



NOTES AxND ILLUSTRATIONS. 483 

frequently spend more than two years. Voyagrc, i. 336. Bancroft gives tlio 
same description of the Indians of Guiana, p. 255. According to Ada.ir, tho 
ingenuity aiyi despatch of the North American Indians are not greater, p. 42 J. 
From one of the engravings of the JVlexican paintings in Purchas, vol. iii. p. 
1106, I think it probable that the people of Mexico were unacquainted with 
any better or more expeditious mode of weaving. A loom was an invention 
beyond the ingenuity of the most improved Americans. In all their works they 
advance so slowly, that one of their artists is two months at a tobacco-pipe 
with his knife before he finishes it. Adair, p. 423. 

Note [86]. Page 180. 

The article of religion in P. Lafitau's Moeurs des Sauvages extends to 347 
tedious pages in quarto. 

Note [87]. Page 181. 

I HAVE referred the reader to sevtral of the authors who describe the most 
uncivilized nations in America. Their testimony is uniform. That of P. 
Piibas concernhig the people of Cinaloa coincides with the rest. "I was ex- 
tremely attentive (says he), during the years I resided among them, to ascertain 
whether they were to be considered as idolaters ; and it may be afiirmed with 
the most perfect exactness, that though among some of them there may be 
traces of idolatry, yet others have not the least knowledge of God, or even of 
any false deity, nor pay any formal adoration to the Supreme Being who exer- 
cises dominion over the world ; nor have they any conception of the providence 
of a Creator, or Governor, from whom they expect in the next life the reward 
of their good or the punishment of their evil deeds. Neither do they publicly 
join in any act of divine worship." Ribas Triumphos, Sic. p. 16. 

Note [88]. Page 181. 

TuE people of Brasil were so much affrighted by thunder, whicli is frequent 
and awful in their country, as well as in other parts of the torrid zone, that it 
was not only the object of rehgious reverence, but the most expressive name 
in their language for the Deity was Toupan, the same by which they distin- 
guished thunder. Piso de Medec. Brasil, p. 8. Nieuhoff. Church. Coll. ii. p. 13i. 

Note [89]. Page 184. 

By the account which M. Dumont, an eye-witness, gives of the funeral of 
the great chief of the Natchez, it appears that the feelings of the persons who 
suffered on that occasion were very different. Some solicited the honour with 
eagerness ; others laboured to avoid their doom, and several saved their lives 
by flying to the woods. As the Indian Brahmins give an intoxicating draught 
to the women who are to be burned together with the bodies of their Imsbands, 
which renders them insensible of their approaching fate, the Natchez obliged 
their victims to swallow several large pills of tobacco, w-hich produces a similar 
effect. Mem de Louis, i. 227. 

Note [90], Page 187. 

O.v some occasions, particularly in dances instituted for the recovery of 
persons who are indisposed, tiiey are extremely licentious and indecent. De 
la Pothcrie Hist. &c. ii. p. 42. Charlev. N. Fr. iii. p. 319. But tlio jiature of 
tlieir dances is commonly such as I have described. 

Note [91]. Page IT.T. 

The Othomacoas, a tribe seated on the banks of the Orinoco, emi>loy for the 
same purpose a composition which they call Yvpa. It is forme<I of the seeds 
'-•f an unknown plant reduced to powder, and certain .shells burned and pul- 

i 



484 ^OTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

verized. The effects of this when drawn up into the nostrils are so violent 
that they resemble madness rather than intoxication. Gumilla, i. 286. 

Note [92]. Page 188. 

Though this observation holds true among the greater part of the southern 
tribes, there are some in which the intemperance of the women is as exceseivft 
as that of the men. Bancroft's Nat. Hist, of Guiana, p. 275. 

Note [93]. Page 190. 

Even in the most intelligent writers concerning the manners of the Ameri- 
cans, one meets with inconsistent and inexplicable circumstances. The Jesuit 
Charlevoix, who, in consequence of the controversy between his order and that 
of the Franciscans, with respect to the talents and abilities of the North Ameri- 
cans, is disposed to represent their intellectual as well as moral qualities in the 
most favourable light, asserts, that they are engaged in continual negotiations 
with their neighbour's, and conduct these with the most refined address. At the 
same time he adds, " that it behooves their envoys or plenipotentiaries to exert 
their abilities and eloquence, for, if the terms which they offer are not accepted, 
they had need to stand on their guard. It frequently happens, that a blow 
with the hatchet is the only return given to their propositions. The envoy is 
not out of danger, even if he is so fortunate as to avoid the stroke ; he may 
expect to be pursued, and, if taken, to be burnt." Hist. N. Fr. iii. 251. What 
occurs, p. 147, concerning the manner in which the Tlascalans treated the am- 
bassadors from Zempoalla, corresponds with the fact related by Charlevoix. 
Men capable of such acts of violence seem to be unacquainted with the first 
principles upon which the intercourse between nations is founded ; and instead 
of the perpetual negotiations which Charlevoix mentions, it seems almost im- 
possible that there should be any correspondence whatever among them. 

Note [94]. Page 191. 

It is a remark of Tacitus concerning the Germans, " Gaudent muneribus, 
sed nee data imputant, nee acceptis obligantur." C. 21. An author who had 
a good opportunity of observing the principle which leads savages neither to 
express gratitude for favours which they had received, "nor to expect any return 
for such as they bestowed, thus explains their ideas : " If (say they) you give 
me this, it is because you have no need of it yourself; and as for me, I never 
part with that which I think necessary to me." Memoire surle Galibis; Hist. 
des Plantes de la Guiane Franroise par M. Aublot, tom ii. p. 110. 

Note [95]. Page 196. 

And Befnaldes, the contemporary and friend of Columbus, has preserved 
some circumstances concerning the bravery of the Caribbees, which are not 
mentioned by Don Ferdinand Columbus, or the other historians of that period 
whose works have been pubhshed. A Caribbean canoe, with four men, two 
women, and a boy, fell in unexpectedly with the fleet of Columbus in his second 
voyage, as it was steering through their islands. At first they were struck 
almost stupid with astonishment at such a strange spectacle, and hardly moved 
from the spot for above an hour. A Spanish bark, with twenty-five men, ad- 
vanced towards them, and the fleet gradually surrounded them, so as to cut 
oft' their communication with the shore. " When they saw that it was im- 
possible to escape (says the historian), they seized their arms with undaunted 
resolution, and began the attack. I use the expression xrith undmnited resolution, 
for they were few, and beheld a vast number ready to assault them. They 
wounded several of the Spaniards, although they had targets, as well as other 
defensive armour ; and even after their canoe was overset, it was with no little 
difficulty and danger that part of them were taken, as they continued to defend 
themselves, and to use their bows with great dexterity while swimming in the 
sea." Hist, de D. Fern, y Ysab. MS. c. 119. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 485 



Note [96]. Page 196. 

A PROBABLE conjecture may be formed with respect to the cause of the dis- 
tinction in character between the Caribbees and the inhabitants of the larger 
islands. The former appear manifestly to be a separate race. Their language 
is totally different from tiiat of their neighbours in the large islands. They 
themselves have a tradition, that their ancestors came originally from some 
part 'of the continent, and, having conquered and exterminated the ancient 
inhabitants, took possession of their lands, and of their women. Rochefort, 
384. Tertre, 360. Hence they call themselves Banaree, which signifies a man 
come from beyond sea. Labat, vi. 131. Accordingly, the Caribbees still use 
two distinct languages, one peculiar to the men, and the other to the women. 
Tertre, 361. The language of the men has nothing common with that spoken 
in the large islands. The dialect of the women considerably resembles it. 
Labat, 129. This strongly confirms the tradition which I have mentioned. 
The Caribbees themselves imagine that they were a colony from the Galabis, 
a powerful nation of Guiana in South America. Tertre, 361. Rochefort, 3^18. 
But as their fierce manners approach nearer to those of the people in the 
northern continent, than to those of the natives of South America ; and as 
their language has likewise some affinity to that spoken in Florida, their origin 
.should be deduced rather from the former than from the latter. Labat, 128, 
&c. Herrera, dec. i. lib. ix. c. 4. In their wars, they still observe their ancient 
practice of destroying all the males, and preserving the women either for ser- 
vitude or for breeding. 

Note [97]. Page 197. 

OcR knowledge of the events which happened in the conquest of New Spain, 
is derived from sources of information more original and authentic than that 
of any transaction in the history of America. The letters of Cortes to the 
Emperor Charles V. are an historical monument, not only first in order of 
time, but of the greatest authenticity and value. As Cortes early assumed a 
command independent of V^elasquez, it became necessary to convey such an 
account of his operations to Madrid, as might procure him the approbation of 
his sovereign. 

The first of his despatches has never been made public. It was sent from 
Vera Cruz, July 16th, 1519. As I imagined that it might not reach the Emperor 
until he arrived in Germany, for which he set out early in the year 1520, in 
order to receive the Imperial crown ; I made diligent search for a copy of this 
despatch, both in Spain and in Germany, but without success. This, however, 
is of less consequence, as it could not contain any thing very material, being 
written so soon after Cortes arrived in New Spain. But, in searching for the 
letter from Cortes, a copy of one from the colony of Vera Cruz to the Emperor 
has been discovered in the Imperial library at Vienna. Of this I have given 
some account in its proper place, see p. 210. The second despatch, dated Oc- 
tober 30th, 1520, was published at Seville A. D. 1522, and the third and fourth 
soon after they were received. A Latin translation of them appeared in Ger- 
many A. D. 1532. Ramusio soon after made them more generally known, by 
inserting them in his valuable collection. They contain a regular and minute 
history of the expedition, with many curious particulars concerning the policy 
and manners of the Mexicans. The work does honour to Cortes ; the style is 
simple and perspicuous; but as it was manifestly his interest to represent his 
own actions in the fairest light, his victories are probably exaggerated, liis 
losses diminished, and his acts of rigour and violence softened. 

The next in order is the Chronica de la Nueva Espagna, by Francisco Lopez 
de Gomara, published A. D. 1554. Gomara's historical merit is considerable. 
His mode of narration is clear, flowing, always agreeable, and sometimes 
elegant. But he is frequently inaccurate and credulous ; and as he was the do- 
mestic chaplain of Cortes after his return from New Spain, and probably com- 
posed his work at his desire, it is manifest that he labours to magnify the merit 
of his hero, and to conceal or extenuate such transactions as were unfavourable 



4«tj NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

to his character. Of this, Herrera accuses him in one instance, Dec. ii, hb. iii. 
c. 2, and it is not once only that this is conspicuous, lie writes, however, with 
so much freedom conccrnuig several measures of the .Spanish Court, that tho 
copies both of his Historia do las Indias, and of liis Chronica, were called in 
by a decree of tlie Council of the Indies, and they were long considered as pro- 
hibited books in Spain; it is only of late that license to print them has been 
granted. Pinelo Bibiioth. 3i{9. 

The Chronicle ot' Gomara induced Bernal Diaz del Castillo to compose his 
Historia Vcrdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva Espagna. He had been an 
adventurer in each of the expeditions to New Spain, and was the companion 
of Cortes in all his battles and perils. When he found that neither he himself, 
nor many of his fellow-soldiers, were once mentioned by Gomara, but that tho 
fame of all their exploits was ascribed to Cortes, the gallant veteran laid hold 
of his pen with* indignation, and composed his true liistory. It contains a prolix, 
minute, confused narrative of all Cortes's operations, in such a rude vulgar 
style as might be expected from an illiterate soldier. But as he relates trans- 
actions of which he was witness, and in which he performed a considerable 
part, his account bears all the marks of authenticity, and is accompanied with 
such a pleasant nav'iete, with such interesting details, with such amusing vanity, 
and yet so pardonable in an old soldier who had been (as he boasts) in a hun- 
dred and nineteen battles, as renders his book one of the most singular that 
is to be found in any language. 

Pet. Martyr ab Angleria, in a treatise De Insulis nuper inventis, added to 
Jiis Decades de Rebus Oceanicis et Novo Orbe, gives some account of Cortes's 
expedition. But he proceeds no further than to relate what happened after 
Jiis first landing. This work, which is brief and slight, seems to contain tho 
information transmitted by Cortes in his first despatches, embellished with 
several particulars communicated to the author by the officers who brouglit the 
letters from Cortes. 

But the book to which tho greater part of modern historians have had re- 
course for information concerning the conquest of New Spain, is Historia do 
la Conquisla de Mexico, por D. Antonio de Soils, first published A. D. 1684. 
J know no author in any language whose literary fame has risen so far beyond 
his real merit. De Solis is reckoned by his countrymen one of tho purest 
writers in the Castilian tongue ; and if a foreigner may venture to give his 
opinion concerning a matter of which Spaniards alone are qualified to judge, 
he is entitled to that praise. But though his language be correct, his taste in 
composition is far from being just. His periods are so much laboured as to bo 
often stiff, and sometimes tumid ; the figures which he employs by way of 
ornament are frequently trite or improper, and his observations superficial. 
These blemishes, however, might easily be overlooked, if he were not defective 
with respect to all the great qualities of an historian. Destitute of that 
patient industry in research which conducts to the knowledge of truth ; & 
stranger to that impartiality whicli weighs evidence with cool attention ; and 
ever eager to establish his favourite system of exalting the character of Cortes 
into tbat of a perfect hero, exempt from error, and adorned with every virtue ; 
he is less solicitous to discover wjiat was true than to relate what might appear 
splendid. When he attempts any critical discussion, his reasonings are fal- 
lacious, and founded upon an imperfect view of facts. Though he sometimes 
quotes the despatches of Cortes, he seems not to have consulted them ; and 
though he sets out wltli some censure on Gomara, he frequently prefers his 
authority, the most doubtful of any, to that of the other contemporary his- 
torians. 

lUit of all the Spanish writers, Herrera furnishes the fullest and most accn- 
r:ite information concerning the conquest of Mexico, as well as every other 
transaction of America. The industry and attention witli which he consulted 
not only the books, but the original papers and public records, which tended to 
throw any light upon the subject of his inquiries, were so great, and he usually 
judges of, the evidence befi)re him wilh so much impartiality and candour, that 
his Dccads may be ranked among tiie most judicious and useful historical col- 
lections. If, by attempting to relate the various occurrences in tlu^ New ^V'orld 
an a strict cln-onoloaiciil order, the umiivjomi'nt of events in hisi work had not 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 487 

been rendered so perplexed, disconnected, and obscure, that it is an unpleasant 
task to collect from diSerent parts of his book, and piece together the detached 
shreds of a story, he might justly have been ranked among the most eminent 
historians of his country, lie gives an account of the materials from which 
he composed his work, Dec. vi. lib. iii. c. 19. 

Note [98]. Pace 198. 

Cortes purposed to have gone in the train of Ovando when he set out for 
his government in the year 1502, but was detained by an accident. As he was 
attempting in a dark night to scramble up to the window of a lady's bed- 
chamber, with whom he carried on an intrigue, an old wall, on the top of 
which he had mounted, gave way, and he was so much bruised by the fall as 
to be unfit for the voyage. Gomara, Cronica de la Nueva Espagna, cap. 1 

Note [99]. Page 198. 

Cortes had two thousand pesos in the hands of Andrew Dueroi and he bor- 
rowed four thousand. Those sums are about equal in value to fifteen hundred 
pounds sterling ; but as the price of every thing was extremely high in America, 
they made but a scanty stock when applied towards the equipment of a military 
expedition. Herrera, dec. ii. lib. iii. c. 2. B. Diaz, c. 20. 

Note [100]. Page 200. 

The names of those gallant officers, which will often occur in the subsequent 
story, were Juan Velasquez de Leon, Alonso Hernandez Portocarrero, Francisco 
de Montejo, Chrietoval de Olid, Juan de Escalante, Francisco de Morla, Pedro 
de Alvarado, Francisco de Salceda, Juan de Escobar, Gines de Nortes. Cortes 
himself commanded the Capitana, or Admiral. Francisco de Orozco, an officer 
formed in the wars of Italy, had the command of the artillery. The experi- 
enced Alaminos acted as chief pilot. 

Note [101]. Page 201. 

In those different conflicts, the Spaniards lost only two men, but had a con- 
siderable number wounded. Though there be no occasion for recourse to any 
supernatural cause to account either for the greatness of their victories, or the 
smallness of their loss, the Spanish historians fail not to ascribe both to the 
patronage of St. Jago, the tutelar saint of their country, who, as they relate, 
fought at the head of their countrymen, and by his prowess gave a turn to the 
fate of the battle. Gomara is the first who mentions this apparition of St. 
James. It is amusing to observe the embarrassment of B. Diaz del Castillo, 
occasioned by the struggle between his superstition and his veracity. The 
former disposed him to believe this miracle, the latter restrained him from 
attesting it. " I acknowledge," says he, " that all our exploits and victorie.s 
are owing to our Lord Jesus Christ, and that in this battle there was such a 
number of Indians to every one of us, that if each had thrown a handful of 
earth they might have buried us, if by the great mercy of God we had not 
been protected. It may be that the person whom Gomara mentions as having 
appeared on a mottled gray horse, was the glorious apostle Signor San Jago 
or Signor San Pedro, and that I, as being a sinner, was not worthy to see him. 
This I know, that I saw Francisco de Morla, on such a horse, but as an un- 
worthy transgressor, did not deserve to see any of the holy apostles. It may 
have been the will of God, that it was so as Gomara relates, but until I read 
his Chronicle I never heard among any of the conquerors that such a tlun^ 
had happened." C'ap. 34. 

Note [102]. Page 203. 

Several Spanish historians relate this Occurrence in such terms as if they 
v/ished it should be believed, that the Indians, loaded with the presents, had 



488 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

carried them from the capital^ in the same short space of time that the couriers 
performed that journey. This is incredible, and Gomara mentions a circum- 
stance which shows that notliing extraordinary happened on this occasion. 
This rich present liad been prepared for Grijalva, when lie touched at the same 
place some months before, and was now ready to be delivered, as soon as 
Montezuma sent orders for that purpose. Gomara Cron. c. xxvii. p. 28. 

According to B. Diaz del Castillo, the value of the silver plate representing 
the moon was alone above twenty thousand pesos, above five thousand pounds 
sterling. 

Note [103]. Page 206. 

This private traffic was directly contrary to the instructions of Velasquez, 
who enjoined, that whatever was acquired by trade should be thrown into the 
common stock. But it appears that the soldiers had each a private assortir»ent 
of toys and other goods proper for the Indian trade, and Cortes gained their 
favour by encouraging this underhand barter. B. Diaz, c. 41. 

Note [104]. Page 211. 

Gomara has published a catalogue of the various articles of which this pre- 
sent consisted. Cron. c. 49. P. Martyr ab Angleria, who saw them after they 
were brought to Spain, and who seems to have examined them with great at- 
tention, gives a description of each, which is curious, as it conveys some idea 
of the progress which the Mexicans had made in several arts of elegance. De 
Jnsulis nuper inventis Liber, p. 354, &:c. 

Note [105]. Page 213. 

There is no circumstance in the history of the conquest of America which 
is more questionable than the account of the numerous armies brought into 
the field against the Spaniards. As the war with the republic of Tlascala, 
though of short duration, was one of the most considerable which the Spaniards 
waged in America, the account given of the Tlascalan armies merits some at- 
tention. The only authentic information concerning this is derived from threo 
authors. Cortes in his second despatch to the Emperor, dated at Segura de la 
Frontera, Oct. 30, 1520, thus estimates the number of their troops ; in the first 
battle 6000; in the second battle 100,000; in the third battle 150,000. Relat. 
ap. Ramus, iii. 228. Bernal Diaz del Castillo, who was an eye witness, and 
engaged in all the actions of this war, thus reckons their numbers : in the first 
battle, 3000, p. 43 ; in the second battle 6000, ibid. ; in the third battle 50,000, 
p. 45. Gomara, who was Cortes's chaplain after his return to Spain, and 
published his Cronica in 1552, follows the computation of Cortes, except in the 
second battle, where he reckons the Tlascalans, at 80,000, p. 49. It was mani- 
festly the interest of Cortes to magnify his own dangers and exploits. For it 
was only by the merit of extraordinary services that he could hope to atone for 
his irregular conduct in assuming an independent command. Bern. Diaz, 
though abundantly disposed to place his own prowess, and that of his fellow- 
conquerors, in the most advantageous point of light, had not the same tempta- 
tion to exaggerate ; and it is probable that his account of the numbers ap- 
proaches nearer to the truth. The assembling of an army of 150,000 men 
requires many previous arrangements, and such provisions for their subsistence 
as seems to be beyond the foresight of Americans. The degree of cultivation 
in Tlascala does not seem to have been so great as to have furnished such 
a vast army with provisions. Though this province was so much better 
cultivated than other regions of New Spain that it was called the country of 
bread ; yet the Spaniards in their march suffered such want, that they were 
obliged to subsist upon Thinas, a species of fruit which grows wild in the fields. 
Jlcrrera, dec, ii. lib. vi. c. 5. p, 182. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONt?. iS9 



Note [106]. Page 216 

These unhappy victims are said to be persons of distinction. It seems im- 
probable that so great a number as fifty should be employed as spies. So many 
prisoners had been taken and dismissed, and the Tlascalans had sent so many 
messages to the Spanish quarters, that there appears to be no reason for 
liazardmg the lives of so many considerable people in order to procure infor- 
mation about the position and state of their camp. The barbarous manner in 
which Cortes treated a people unacquainted with the laws of war established 
among polished nations, appears so shocking to the later Spanish writers, that 
they dimmish the number of those whom he punished so cruelly. Herrera 
says, that he cut off the hands of seven, and the thumbs of some more. Dec. 
ii. lib. ii. c. 8. Ue Solis relates, that the hands of fourteen or fifteen were cut 
off, and the thumbs of all the rest. Lib. ii. c. 20. But Cortes himself, Relat. 
p. 228. b. and after him Gomara, c. 48, affirm, that the hands of all the fift^ 
were cut off. 

Note [107]. Page 216. 

The horses were objects of the greatest astonishment to all the people of 
New Spain. At first they imagined the horse and his rider, like the Centaurs 
of the ancients, to be some monstrous animal of a terrible form ; and supposing 
that their food was the same as that of men, brought flesh and bread to nourish 
them. Even after they discovered their mistake, they believed the horses de- 
voured men in battle, and when they neighed, thought that they were demanding 
their prey. It was not the interest of the Spaniards to undeceive them. 
Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vi. c. 11. 

Note [108]. Page 218. 

According to Bart, de las Casas, there was no reason for this massacre, and 
it was an act of wanton cruelty, perpetrated merely to strike terror into the 
people of New Spain. Relac. de la Destruyc. p. 17, &c. But the zeal of Las 
Casas often leads him to exaggerate. In opposition to him, Bern. Diaz, c. 83, 
asserts, that the first missionaries sent mto New Spain by the Emperor made a 
judicial inquiry into this transaction ; and having examined the priests and elders 
of Cholula, found that there was a real conspiracy to cut off the Spaniards, 
and that the account given by Cortes was exactly true. As it was the object 
of Cortes at that time, and manifestly his interest, to gain the good will of 
Montezuma, it is improbable that he should have taken a step which tended 
so visibly to alienate him from the Spaniards, if he had not believed it to be 
necessary for his own preservation. At the same time the Spaniards who 
served in America had such contempt for the natives, and thought them so 
little entitled to the common rights of men, that Cortes might hold the Cholu- 
lans to be guilty upon slight and imperfect evidence. The severity of the 
punishment was certainly excessive and atrocious. 

Note [109]. Page 218. 

This description is taken almost literally from Bemal Diaz del Castillo, who 
was so unacquainted with the art of composition as to be incapable of em- 
bellishing his narrative. He relates in a simple and rude style what passed in 
his own mind and that of his fellow-soldiers on that occasion : " and let it not 
be thought strange," says he, " that I should write in this manner of what then 
happened, for it ought to be considered, that it is one thing to relate, another 
to have beheld things that were never before seen, or heard, or spoken of 
among men." Cap. 86. p. 64. b. 

Note [110]. Page 223. 

B. Diaz del Castillo gives us some idea of the fatigue and hardships they 
underwent in performing this and other parts of dutv. During the nine months 
Vol. I.— 62 



450 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

that they remained in Mexico, every man, witliout any distinction betweei^ 
officers and soldiers, slept on his arms in his quilted jacket and gorget. They 
lay on mats, or straw spread on the floor, and each was obliged to hold himself 
as alert as if he had been on guard. " This," adds lie, " became so habitual to 
me, that even now, in my advanced age, I always sleep in my clothes, and never 
in any bed. When I visit my Encoinienda., I reckon it suitable to my rank to 
have a bed carried along with my other baggage, but I never go into it ; but 
according to custom, 1 lie in my clothes, and walk frequently during the 
night into the open air to view the stars, as 1 was wont when in service." 
Cap. 108. 

Note [111]. Page 224. 

Cortes himself, in his second despatch to the Emperor, does not explain the 
motives which induced him either to condemn Qualpopoca to the flames, or 
to put Montezuma in irons. Ramus, iii. 236. B. Diaz is silent with respect to 
his reasons for the former ; and the only cause he assigns for the latter was, 
that he might meet with no interruption in executing the sentence pronounced 
against Qualpopoca, c. xcv. p. 75. But as Montezuma was his prisoner, and 
absolutely in his power, he had no reason to dread him, and the insult oifered 
to that monarch could have no effect but to irritate him unnecessarily. Gomara 
supposes that Cortes had no other object than to occupy Montezuma with his 
own distress and sufferings, that he might give less attention to what befell 
Qualpopoca. Cron. c. 89. Herrera adopts the same opinion. Dec. ii. lib. 
viii. c. 9. But it seems an odd expedient, in order to make a person bear one 
injury, to load him with another that is greater. De Solis imagines, that Cortes 
had nothing else in view than to intimidate Montezuma, so that he might make 
no attempt to rescue the victims from their fate ; but the spirit of that monarch 
was so submissive, and he had so tamely given up the prisoners to the disposal 
of Cortes, that he had no cause to apprehend any opposition from him. If the 
explanation which I have attempted to give of Cortes's proceedings on this oc- 
casion be not admitted, it appears to me, that they must be reckoned among 
the wanton and barbarous acts of oppression which occur too often in the his- 
1 ory of the conquest of America. 

Note [112]. Page 226. 

De Solis asserts, lib. iv. c. 3, that the proposition of doing homage to the King 
of Spain came from Montezuma himself, and was made in order to induce the 
Spaniards to depart out of his dominions. He describes his conduct on this 
occasion as if it had been founded upon a scheme of profound pohcy, and 
executed with such a refined address as to deceive Cortes himself. But there 
is no hint or circumstance in the contemporary historians, Cortes, Diaz, or 
Cromara, to justify this theory. Montezuma, on other occasions, discovered 
HO such extent of art and abilities. The anguish which he felt in performing 
this humbling ceremony is natural, if we suppose it to have been involuntary. 
But, according to the theory of De Solis, which supposes that Montezuma was 
executing what he himself had proposed, to have assumed an appearance of 
sorrow would have been preposterous, and inconsistent with his own design of 
deceiving the Spaniards. 

Note [113]. Page 227. 

In several of the provinces, the Spaniards, with all their industry and influ- 
ence, could collect no gold. In others, they procured only a few trinkets of 
small value. Montezuma assured Cortes, that the present which he offered to 
the king of Castile, after doing homage, consisted of all the treasure amassed 
by his father : and told him, that he had already distributed the rest of his 
gold and jewels among the Spaniards. B. Diaz. c. 104. Gomara relates, that 
all the silver collected amounted to 500 marks. Cron. c. 93. This agrees with 
the account given by Cortes, tliat the royal fifth of silver was 100 marks. 
Relnt. 239. B. So that thn sum total of silver was only 4000 ounces, at the 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 491 

rate of eight ounces a mark, which demonstrates the proportion of silver to 
gold to have been exceedingly small. 

Note [114]. Page 227 
De Solis, lib. iv. c. 1. calls in question the truth of this transaction, from no 
better reason than that it was inconsistent with that prudence which distin- 
guishes the character of Cortes. But he ought to have recollected the impetu- 
osity of his zeal at Tlascala, which was no less imprudent. He asserts, that 
the evidence for it rests upon the testimony of B. Diaz del Castillo, of Gomara, 
and of Herrera. They all concur, indeed, in mentioning this inconsiderate 
step which Cortes took ; and they had good reason to do so, for Cortes him- 
self relates this exploit in his second despatch to the Emperor, and seems to 
glory in it. Cort. Relat. Ramus, iii. 140. D. This is one instance, among 
many, of De Solis's having consulted with little attention the letters of Cortes 
to Charles V. from which the most authentic information with respect to his 
operations must be derived. 

Note [115]. Page 229. 

Herrera and De Solis suppose that Velasques was encouraged to equip this 
armament against Cortes by the account which he received from Spain con- 
cerniug the reception of the agents sent by the colony of Vera Cruz, and the 
warmth with which Fonseca Bishop of Burgos had espoused his interest, and 
condemned the proceedings of Cortes. Herrera, dec. ii. lib. ix. c. 18. Do 
Solis, lib. iv, c.S. But the chronological order of events refutes this supposi- 
tion. Portocarrero and Montcjo sailed from Vera Cruz, July 26, 1519. Her- 
rera, dec. ii. lib. v. c. 4. They landed at St. Lucar in October, according to 
Herrera, ibid. But P. Martyr, who attended the court at that time, and com- 
municated every occurrence of moment to his correspondents day by day, 
mentions the arrival of these agents for the first time in December, and speaks 
of it as a recent event. Epist. 650. All the historians agree that the agents 
of Cortes had their first audience of the Emperor at Tordesillas, when he went 
to that toivu to visit his mother in his way to St. Jago de Compostella. Her- 
rera, dec. ii. lib. v. c. 4. De Solis, lib. iv. c. 5. But the Emperor set out from 
Valladolid for Tordesillas on the. 1 Ith of March, 1520 ; and P. Martyr mentions 
his having seen at that time the presents made to Charles. Epist. 1665. The 
armament under Narvaez sailed from Cuba in April 1520. It is manifest then 
that Velasquez could not receive any account of what passed in this interview 
at Tordesillas previous to his hostile preparations against Cortes. His real 
motives seem to be those which I have mentioned. The patent appointing him 
Adelantado of New Spain, with such extensive powers, bears date November 
13, 1519. Herrera, dec. ii. lib. iii. c. 11. He might receive it about tho 
beginning of January. Gomara takes notice, that as soon as this patent was 
delivered to him, he began to equip a fleet and levy forces. Cron. c, 96. 

Note [116]. Page 230. 

De Solis contends, that as Narvaez had no interpreters, he could hold no 
intercourse with the people of the provinces, nor converse with them in any 
way but by signs, that it was equally impossible for him to carry on any com- 
munication with Montezuma. Liv. iv. c. 7. But it is upon the authority of 
Cortes himself that I relate all the particulars of Narvaez's correspondence both 
with Montezuma and with his subjects in the maritime provinces. Relat. 
Ramus, iii. 2'44. A. C. Cortes alfirms that there was a mode of intercourse 
between Narvaez and the Mexicans, but does not explain how it was carried on. 
Bernal Diaz supplies this defect, and informs us that the three deserters who 
joined Narvaez acted as interpreters, having acquired a competent knowledge 
of the language, c. 110. With his usual minuteness, he mentions their names 
and characters, and relates, in chapter 122, how they were punished for their 
perfidy. The Spaniards had now resided above a year among the Mexicans ; 
and it is not surprising that several among them should have made some pro- 



492 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

iiciency in speaking their language. This seema to have been the case. Her- 
rera, dec. 2. lib. x. c. 1. Both B. Diaz, who was present, and Herrera, the most 
accurate and best informed of all the Spanish writers, agree with Cortes in his 
account of the secret correspondence carried on with Montezuma. Dec. 2. lib. 
X. c. 18, 19. De Solis seems to consider it as a discredit to Cortes, his hero, 
that Montezuma should have been ready to engage in a correspondence with 
Narvaez. He supposes that monarch to have contracted such a wonderful 
affection for the Spaniards, that he was not solicitous to be delivered from 
them. After the indignity with which he had been treated, such an atfection 
is incredible ; and even De Solis is obliged to acknowledge, that it must be 
looked upon as one of the miracles which (rod had wrought to facilitate the 
conquest, lib. iv. c. 7. The truth is, Montezuma, however much overawed by 
his dread of the Spaniards, was extremely impatient to recover his liberty. 

Note [117]. Page 236. 

These words I have borrowed from the anonymous Account of the European 
Settlements in America, published by Dodsley, in two volumes 8vo. ; a work 
of so much merit, that I should think there is hardly any writer in the age who 
ought to be ashamed of acknowledging himself to be the author of it. 

Note [118]. Page 238. 

The contemporary historians differ considerably with respect to the loss of 
the Spaniards on this occasion. Cortes in his second despatch to the Emperor, 
makes the number only 150. Relat. ap. Ramus, iii. p. 249. A. But it was 
manifestly his interest, at that juncture, to conceal from the court of Spain the 
full extent of the loss which he had sustained. De Solis, always studious to 
diminish every misfortune that befell his countrymen, rates their loss at about 
two hundred men. Lib. iv. c. 19. B. Diaa affirms that they lost 870 men, 
and that only 440 escaped from Mexico, c. 128. p. 108. B. Palafox, Bishop of 
Los Angeles, who seems to have inquired into the early transactions of his 
countrymen in New Spain with great attention, confirms the account of B. 
Diaz with respect to the extent of their loss. Virtudes del Indio, p. 22. Gomara 
states their loss at 4.^.0 men. Cron. c. 109. Some months afterwards, when 
Cortes had received several reinforcements, he mustered his troops, and found 
them to be only 590. Relat. ap. Ramus, iii. p. 255. E. Now, as Narvaez 
brought 880 men into New Spain, and about 400 of Cortcs's soldiers were then 
alive, it is evident that his loss, in the retreat from Mexico, must have been 
much more considerable than what he mentions. B. Diaz, solicitous to magnif^' 
the dangers and sufferings to which he and his fellow-conquerors were exposed, 
may have exaggerated their loss; but, in my opinion, it cannot well be estimated 
at less than 600 men. 

Note [119J. Page 246. 

Some remains of this great work are still visible, and the spot where the 
fcrigantines v/ere built and launched is still pointed out to strangers. Torque- 
mada viewed them. Monarq. Indiana, vol. i. p. 531. 

Note [120]. Page 249. 

The station of Alvarado on the causeway of Tacuba was the nearest to tho 
city. Cortes observes, that there they could distinctly observe what passed 
when their countrymen were sacrificed. Relat. ap. Ramus, iii. p. 273. E. B. 
Diaz, who belonged to Alvarado's division, relates what he oeheld with his 
own eyes. C. 151. p. 148. b. 149. a. Like a man whose courage was so clear 
as to be above suspicion, he describes with his usual simplicity the impression 
which this spectacle made upon him. " Before (says he) I saw the breasts of 
my companions opened, their hearts yet fluttering, offered to an accursed idol, 
and their flesh devoured by their exulting enemies ; I was accustomed to enter 
a battJe not only without fear, but with high spirit. But from that time I ncvor 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 49;J 

advanced to fight with the Mexicans without a secret horror and anxiety ; my 
heart trembled at the thoughts of the death which I had seen them suffer." 
He takes care to add, that as soon a^ the combat began, his terror went off; 
and indeed, his adventurous bravery on every occasion is full evidence of this. 
B. Diaz, c. 156. p. 157. a. 

Note [121]. Page 252. 

One circumstance in this siege merits particular notice. The account whicJi 
the Spanish writers give of the numerous armies employed in the attack or 
defence of Mexico seems to be incredible. According to Cortes himself, he 
had at one time 150,000 auxiliary Indians in his service. Relat. Ramus, iii. 
275. E. Gomara asserts that they were above 200,000. Cron. c. 136. Her, 
rera, an author of higher authority, says they were about 200,000. Dec. iii. 
lib. i. c. 19. None of the contemporary writers ascertain explicitly the number 
of persons in Mexico during the siege. But Cortes on several occasions men- 
tions the number of Mexicans who were slain, or who perished for want of 
food ; and, if we may rely on those circumstances, it is probable that abova 
two hundred thousand must have been shut up in the town. But the quantity 
of provisions necessary for the subsistence of such vast multitudes assembled 
in one place, during three months, is so great, that it requires so much foresight 
and arrangement to collect these, and lay them up in magazines, so as to be 
certain of a regular supply, that one can hardly believe that this could be ac- 
complished in a country where agriculture was so imperfect as in the Mexican 
empire, where there were no tame animals, and by a people naturally so im- 
provident, and so incapable of executing a complicated plan, as the most 
improved Americans. The Spaniards, with all their care and attention, fared 
very poorly, and were often reduced to extreme distress for want of provisions, 
B. Diaz, p. 142. Cortes Relat. 271. D. Cortes on one Occasion mentions 
slightly the subsistence of his army ; and, after acknowledging that they were 
often in great want, adds, that they received supplies from the people of the 
country, of fish, and of some fruit, which he calls the cherries of the country. 
Ibid. B. Diaz says that they had cakes of maize, and serasas de la tierra ; and 
when the season of these was over, another fruit, which he calls Tunas ; but 
their most comfortable subsistence was a root which the Indians use as food, to 
which he gives the name of Quilites, p. 142. The Indian auxiliaries had one 
means of subsistence more than the Spaniards. They fed upon the bodies of 
the Mexicans whom they killed in battle. Cortes Relat. 176. C. B. Diaz con- 
firms his relation, and adds, that when the Indians returned from Mexico to 
their own country, they carried with them large quantities of flesh of the 
Mexicans salted or dried, as a most acceptable present to their friends, that they 
might have the pleasure of feeding upon the bodies of their enemies in their 
festivals, p. 157. De Solis, who seems to consider it as an imputation of dis- 
credit to his countrymen, that they should act in concert with auxiliaries who 
fed upon human flesh, is solicitous to prove that the Spaniards endeavoured to 
prevent their associates from eating the bodies of the Mexicans, lib. v. c. 24. 
But he has no authority for this from the original historians. Neither Cortes 
himself nor B. Diaz seems to have had any such scruple ; and on many occa- 
sions they mention the Indian repasts, which were become familiar to them, 
without any mark of abhorrence. Even with this additional stock of food for 
the Indians, it was hardly possible to procure subsistence for armies amounting 
to such numbers as we find in the Spanish writers. P*^rhaps the best solution 
of the difficulty is, to adopt the opinion of B. Diaz del Castillo, the most artless 
of all the Historiadore.s primitivos. " When Gomara (says he) on some occa- 
sions relates, that there vvere so many thousand Indians our auxiliaries,, and on 
others, that there were so many thousand houses in this or that town, no regard 
is to be paid to his enumeration, as he has no authority for it, the numbers not 
being in reality the fifth of what he relates. If we add together the different 
numbers which he mentions, that country would contain more millions thau 
there are in Castile." C. 129. But though some considerable deduction should 
certainly be made from the Spanish accounts of the Mexican forces, they must 
have been very numerous ; for nothing but an immense superiority in number 



494 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATlOiN S. 

could have enabled them to withstand a body of nine hundred Spaniards, con- 
ducted by a leader of such abilities as Cortes. 

Note [122]. Page 257. 

In relating the oppressive and cruel proceedings of the conquerors of New 
Spain, I have not followed B. de las Casas as my guide. His account of them, 
Relat. de la Destruyc. p. 18, &c. is manifestly exaggerated. It is from the 
testimony of Cortes himself, and of Gomara who wrote under his eye, that I 
have taken my account of the punishment of the Panucans, and they relate it 
without any disapproba:tion. B. Diaz, contrary to his usual custom, mentions 
it only in general terms, c. 162. Herrera, solicitous to extenuate this barbarous 
action of his countrymen, though he mentions 63 caziques, and 400 men of 
note, as being condemned to the flames, asserts that 30 only were burnt, and 
the rest pardoned. Dec. 3. lib. v. c. 7. But this is contrary to the testimony 
of the original historians, particularly of Gomara, whom it appears he had 
consulted, as he adopts several of his expressions in this passage. The punish- 
ment of Guatimozin is related by the most authentic of the Spanish writers. 
Torquemada has extracted from a history of Tezeuco, compo.sed in the Mexi- 
can tongue, an account of this transaction, more favourable to Guatimozin 
than that of the Spanish authors. Mon. Indiana, i. 575. According to the 
Mexican account, Cortes had scarcely a shadow of evidence to justify such a 
wanton act of cruelty. B. Diaz alfirms, that Guatimozin and his fellow- 
sufferers asserted their innocence with their last breath, and that many of the 
Spanish soldiers condemned this action of Cortes as equally unnecessary and 
unjust, p. 200. b. 201. a. 

Note [123]. Page 259. 

The motive for undertaking this expedition was, to punish Christoval de 
Olid one of his officers who had revolted against him, and aimed at establishing 
an independent jurisdiction. Cortes regarded this insurrection as of such 
dangerous example, and dreaded so much the abilities and popularity of its 
author, that in person he led the body of troops destined to suppress it. He 
marched, according to Gomara, tliree thousand miles, through a country 
abounding with thick forests, rugged mountains, deep rivers, thinly inhabited, 
and cultivated only in a few places. What he suftered from famine, from the 
hostility of the natives, from the climate, and from hardships of every species., 
has notiiing in history parallel to it, but what occurs in the adventures of the 
other discoverers and conquerors of the New World. Cortes was employed 
ill this dreadful service above two years ; and though it was not distinguished 
by any splendid event, he exhibited, during the course of it, greater personal 
courage, more fortitude of mind, more perseverance and patience than in any 
other period or scene in his hfe. Herrera, dec. 3. lib. vi. vii. viii. ix. Gomara, 

Cron. c. 163 177. B. Diaz, 174 — 190. Cortes, MS. penes me. Were one to 

write a life of Cortes, the account of this expedition should occupy a splendid 
place in it. In a general history of America, as the expedition was productive 
of no great event, the mention of it is sufficient. 

Note [124]. Page 259. 

According to Herrera, the treasure which Cortes brought with him,consisted 
of fifteen hundred marks of wrought plate, two hundred thousand pesos of 
fine gold, and ten thousand of inferior standard, many rich jewels, one in par- 
ticular worth forty thousand pesos, and several trinkets and ornaments of 
value. Dec. 4. lib. iii. c. 8. lib. iv. c. 1. He afterwards engaged to give a por- 
tion with his daughter of a hundred thousand pesos. Gomara Cron. c. 237. 
The fortune which ho left his sons was very considerable. But, as we have 
before .related, the sum divided among the conquerors, on the first reduction 
of Mexico, was very small. There appears, then, to be some reason for sus- 
pecting that the accusations of Cortcs's enemies were not altogether destitute 
of foundation. Thev charged him with having applied to his o^wn use a dis^- 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 4ifi 

proportionate share of the Mexican spoils ; with having concealed the royal 
treasures of Montezuma and Guatimozin ; with defrauding the king of his 
fifth ; and robbing his followers of what was due to them. Herrera, dec. 3. lib. 
viii. c. 15. dec. 4. lib. iii. c. 8. Some of the conquerors themselves entertained 
suspicions of the same kind with respect to this part of his conduct. B, 
Diaz, c. 157. 

Note [125]. Page 261. 

In tracing the progress of the Spanish arms in New Spain, we have followeiJ 
Cortes himself as our most certain guide. His despatclies to the Emj)eror con- 
tain a minute account of his operations. But the unlettered conqueror of 
Peru was incapable of relating his own exploits. Our information with respect 
to them, and other transactions in Peru, is derived, however, from contemporary 
and respectable authors. 

The most early account of Pizarro s transactions in Peru was published b}' 
Francisco de Xerez, his secretary. It is a simple, unadorned narrative, carried 
down no further than the death of Atahualpa, in 1533 ; for the author returned 
to Spain in 1534, and, soon after he lauded, printed at Seville his short History 
of the Conquest of Peru, addressed to the Emperor. 

Don Pedro Sancho, an ollicer who served under Pizarro, drew up an account 
of his expedition, which was translated into Italian by Ramusio, and inserted 
in his valuable collection, but has never been published in its original language. 
Sancho returned to Spain at the same time with Xerez. Great credit is duo 
to what both these authors relate concerning the progress and operations of 
Pizarro ; but the residence of the Spaniards in Peru had been so short, at the 
time when they left it, and their intercourse with the natives are so slender, 
that their knowledge of the Peruvian manners and customs is very imperfect. 

The next contemporary historian is Pedro Cieza de Leon, who published his 
Cronica del Peru at Seville in 1553. if he had finished all that he purposes in 
the general division of his work, it would have been the most complete history 
which had been published of any region in the New World. He was well 
qualified to execute it, having served during seventeen years in America, and 
having visited m person most of the provinces concerning which he had occa- 
sion to write. But only the first part of his chronicle has been printed. It 
contains a description of Peru, and several of the adjacent provinces, with an 
account of the institutions and customs of the natives, and is written with so 
little art, and such an apparent regard for truth, that one must regret the loss 
of the other parts of his work. 

This loss is amply supplied by Don Augustine Zarate, who published, in 
1555, his Historia del Descubrimiento y Conquesta de la Provincia del Pern. 
Zarate was a man of rank and education, and employed in Peru as comptroller- 
general of the public revenue. Ilis history, whether we attend to its matter 
or composition, is a book of considerable merit: as he had an opportunity to 
be well informed, and seems to have been inquisitive with respect to the man- 
ners and transactions of the Peruvians, great credit is due to his testimony. 

Don Diego Fernandez published his Historia del Peru in 1571. His sofo 
object is to relate the dissensions and civil wars of the Spaniards in that em- 
pire. As he served in a public station in Peni, and was well accjuainted both 
with the country and with the principal actors in those singular scenes whicli 
lie describes, as he possessed sound understanding and great impartiality, his 
work may be ranked among those of the historians most distinguished for their 
industry in research, or their capacity in judging with respect to the events 
which they relate. 

The last author who can be reckoned among the contemporary historians of 
the conquest of Peru is Garcilasso de la Vega, Inca. For though the first part 
of his work, entitled Commnntarios Reales dd Origin de los Incas Reies del Pe.ru, 
was not published sooner than the year 1609, seventy-six years after the death 
of Atahualpa the last Emperor, yet as he was born in Peru, and was the son of 
an oflScer of distinction among tiie Spanish conquerors, by a Cuya, or lady of 
the royal race, on account of which he always took the name of Inca ; as lie 
'.vas master of the language spoken by the Incas, and acquainted with the tra- 



4% NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

ditions of his countrymen, his authority is rated very high, and often placed 
above that of all the other historians. His work, however, is little more than 
a commentary upon the Spanish writers of the Peruvian story, and composed 
of quotations taken from the authors whom I have mentioned. This is the 
idea which he himself gives of it, lib. i c. 10. Nor is it in the account of 
facts only that he follows them servilely. Even in explaining the institutions 
and rites of his ancestors, his information seems not to be more perfect than 
theirs. His explanation of the Quipos is almost the same with that of Acosta. 
He produces no specimen of Peruvian poetry, but that wretched one which he 
borrows from Bias Valera, an early missionary, whose memoirs have never been 
published. Lib. ii. c. 15. As for composition, arrangement, or a capacity of 
distinguishing between what is fabulous, what is probable, and what is true, 
one searches for them in vain in the commentaries of the Inca. His work, 
however, notwithstanding its great defects, is not altogether destitute of use. 
Some traditions which he received from his countrymen are preserved in it. 
His knowledge of the Peruvian language has enabled him to correct some errors 
of the Spanish writers, and he has inserted in it some curious facts taken from 
authors whose works were never published, and are now lost. 

Note [126]. Page 263. 

One may form an idea both of the hardships which they endured, and of 
the unhealthy climate in the regions which they visited, from the extraordinary 
mortality that prevailed among them. Pizarro carried out 1 12 men, Almagro 
70. In less than nine months 130 of these died. Few fell by the sword ; most 
of them were cut oflf by diseases. Xeres, p. 180. 

Note [127]. Page 264. 

This island, says Herrera, is rendered so uncomfortable by the unwholesome- 
nes9 of its climate, its impenetrable woods, its rugged mountains, and the mul- 
titude of insects and reptiles, that it is seldom any softer epithet than that of 
infernal is employed in describing it. The sun is almost never seen there, and 
throughout the year it hardly ever ceases to rain. Dec. iii. lib. x. c. 3. Dam- 
pier touched at this island in the year 1685 ; and his account of the climate is 
not more favourable. Vol. i. p. 172. He, during his cruise on the coast, visited 
most of the places where Pizarro landed, and his description of them throws 
light on the narrations of the early Spanish historians. 

Note [128]. Page 270. 

By this time horses had multiplied greatly in the Spanish settlements on tlic 
continent. When Cortes began his expedition in the year 1518, though his 
armament was more considerable than that of Pizarro, and composed of persons 
superior in rank to those who invaded Peru, he could procure no more than 
sixteen horses. 

Note [129]. Page 271. 

In the year 1740, D. Ant. UUoa and D. George Juan travelled from Guay- 
aquil to Motupe by the same route which Pizarro took. From the description 
of their journey, one may form an idea of the difficulty of his march. The 
sandy plains between St. Michael de Pieura and Motupe extend 90 miles, with- 
out water, without a tree, a plant, or any green thing, on a dreary stretch of 
burning sand. Voyage, tom. i. p. 399, &c. 

Note [130]. Page 273. 

This extravagant and unseasonable discourse of Valverde has been censured 
by all historians, and with justice. But though he ssems to have been an 
illiterate and bigotted monk, nowise resembling the good Olmedo, who accom- 
pnnied Cortes; the absurdity of his address to Atahualpa must not be charged 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 4y7 

wholly upon him. His harangue is evidently a translation or paraphrase of 
that form, concerted by a junto of Spanish divines and lawyers in the year 
1509, for explaining the right of their king to the sovereignty of the New World, 
and for directing the officers employed in America how they should take pos- 
session of any new country. See Note 23. The sentiments contained in Val- 
verde's harangue must not then be imputed to the bigotted imbecility of a 
particular man, but to that of the age. But Gomara and Benzoni relate one 
circumstance concerning Valverde, which, if authentic, renders him an object 
not of contempt only but of horror. They assert, that during the whole action 
Valverde continued to excite the soldiers to slaughter, calling to them to strike 
the enemy not with the edge but with the points of their swords. Gom. Cron. 
c. 113. Benz. Histor. Nov. Orbis, lib. iii. c. 3. Such behaviour was very dif- 
ferent from that of the Roman Catholic clergy in other parts of America, 
where they uniformly exerted their mfluence to protect tlie Indians, and to 
moderate the ferocity of their countrymen. 

Note [131]. Page 273. 

Two different systems have been formed concerning the conduct of Atahu-* 
alpa. The Spanish writers, in order to justify the violence of their countrymen, 
contend that all the Inca's professions of friendship were feigned ; and that liis 
intention in agreeing to an interview with Pizarro at Caxamalca, was to cut 
off him and his followers at one blow ; that for this purpose he advanced with 
such a numerous body of attendants, who had arms concealed under their gar- 
ments to execute this scheme. This is the account given by Xeres and Zarate, 
and adopted by Herrera. But if it had been the plan of the Inca to destroy 
the Spaniards, one can hardly imagine that he would have permitted them to 
march through the desert of Motupe, or have neglected to defend the passes 
in the mountains, where they might have been attacked with so much advan- 
tage. If the Peruvians marched to Caxamalca with an intention to fall upon 
the Spaniards, it is inconceivable that of so great a body of men, prepared for 
action, not one should attempt to make resistance, but all tamely suffer them-' 
selves to be butchered by an enemy whom they were armed to attack. Ata- 
hualpa's mode of advancing to the interview has the aspect of a peaceable 
procession, not of a military enterprise. He himself and liis followers were in 
their habits of ceremony, preceded, as on days of solemnity, by unarmed har- 
bingers. Though rude nations are frequently cunning and false ; yet if a 
scheme of deception and treachery must be imputed either to a monarch that 
had no great reason to be alarmed at a visit from strangers who solicited ad- 
mission into his presence as friends, or to an adventurer so daring and so little 
scrupulous as Pizarro, one cannot hesitate in determining where to fix the pre- 
sumption of guilt. Even amidst the endeavours of the Spanish writers to 
paUiate the proceedings of Pizarro, one plainly perceives that it was his inten- 
tion, as well as his interest, to seize the Inca, and that he had taken measures 
for that purpose previous to any suspicion of that monarch's designs. 

Garcilasso de la Vega, extremely solicitous to vindicate his countrymen, the 
Peruvians, from the crime of having concerted the destruction of Pizarro and 
his followers, and no less afraid to charge the Spaniards with improper conduct 
towards the Inca, has framed another system. He relates, that a man of ma- 
jestic form, with a long beard, and garments reaching to the ground, having ap- 
peared in a vision to Viracocha, tho eighth Inca, and declared that he was a 
child of the Sun, that monarch built a temple in honour of this person, and 
erected an image of him, resembling as nearly as possible the singular form in 
which he had exhibited himself to his view. In this temple divine honours 
were paid to him, by the name of Viracocha. P. i. lib. iv. c. 21. lib. v. c. 22. 
When the Spaniards first appeared in Peru, the length of their beards, and the 
dress they wore, struck every person so much with their likeness to the image 
of Viracocha, that they supposed them to be children of the Sun, who had 
descended from heaven to earth. All concluded that the fatal period of the 
Peruvian empire was now approaching, and that the throne would be occupied 
by new possessors. Atahualpa himself, considering the Spaniards as messen- 
gers from heaven, was so far from entertatniug any thougiits of resisting them. 

Vol,. I.— fin 



498 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

that he determined to yield imphcit obedience to their commands. From these 
sentiments flowed his professions of love and respect. To those were owing 
the cordial reception of Soto and Ferdinand Pizarro in his camp, and the sub- 
missive reverence with which he himself advanced to visit the Spanish general 
in his quarters ; but from the gross ignorance of Philipillo, the interpreter, tho 
declaration of the Spaniards, and his answer to it, were so ill explained, that, 
by their mutual inability to comprehend each other's intentions, the fatal ren- 
contre at Caxamalca, with all its dreadful consequences, was occasioned. 

It is remarkable, that no traces of this superstitious veneration of the Peru- 
vians for the Spaniards are to be found either in Xeres, or Sancho, or Zarate, 
j)revious to the interview at Caxamalca ; and yet tho two former served under 
Pizarro at that time, and the latter visited Peru soon after the conquest. If 
either the Inca himself, or his messengers, had addressed the Spaniards in the 
words which Garcilasso puts in their mouths, they must have been struck with 
such submissive declarations; and they would certainly have availed themselves 
of them to accomplish their own designs with greater facility. Garcilasso 
himself, though his narrative of the intercourse between the inca and Spaniards, 
preceding the rencontre at Caxamalca, is founded on the supposition of his 
believing them to be Viracochae, or divine beings, P. ii. lib. i. c. 17, &c., yet, 
with his usual inattention and inaccuracy, he admits in another place that the 
Peruvians did not recollect the resemblance between them and the god Viraco- 
cha, until the fatal disasters subsequent to the defeat at Caxamalca, and then 
only began to call them Viracochas. P. i. lib. v. c. 21. This is confirmed by 
Herrera, dec. v. lib. ii. c. 12. In many different parts of America, if we may 
believe the Spanish writers, their countrymen were considered as divine beings 
who had descended from heaven. But in this instance, as in many which occur 
in the intercourse between nations whose progress in refinement is very unequal, 
the ideas of those who used the expression were different from the ideas of 
those who heard it. For such is the idiom of the Indian languages, or such is 
the simplicity of those who speak them, that when they see any thing with 
which they were formerly unacquainted, and of which they do not know the 
origin, they say that it came down from heaven. Nugnez. Ram. iii. 327. C. 

The account which I have given of the sentiments and proceedings of the 
Peruvians, appears to be more natural and consistent than either of the two 
preceding, and is better supported by the facts related by the contemporary 
historians. 

According to Xeres, p. 200, two thousand Peruvians were killed. Sancho 
makes the number of the slain six or seven thousand. Ram. iii. 274. D. By 
Garcilasso's account, five thousand were massacred. P. ii. lib. i. c. 25. The 
number which I have mentioned, being the medium between the extremes, may 
probably be nearest the truth. 

Note [132]. Page 274. 

Nothing can be a nitore striking proof of this, than that three Spaniards 
travelled from Caxamalca to Cuzco. The distance between them is six hundred 
miles. In every place throughout this great extent of county, they were 
treated with all the honours which the Peruvians paid to their sovereigns, and 
even to their divinities. Under pretext of amassing what was wanting for the 
ransom of the Inca, they demanded the plates of gold with which the walls of 
the Temple of tho Sun in Cuzco were adorned ; and though the priests were 
unwilling to alienate those sacred ornaments, and the people refused to violate 
the shrine of their God, the three Spaniards, with their own hands, robbed the 
Temple of part of this valuable treasure ; and such was the reverence of the 
natives for their persons, that though they beheld this act of sacrilege with 
astonishment, they did not attempt to prevent or disturb the commission of it. 
Zarate, lib. ii. c. 6. Sancho ap. Ramus, iii. 375. D. 

Note [133]. Page 278. 

According to Herrera, the spoil of Cuzco, after setting apart the King's 
fifthy was divided among 480 persons. Each received 4000 pesos. This 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 499 

amoante to 1,920,000 pesos. Dec. v. lib. vi. c. 3. But as the general and other 
officers were entitled to a share far greater than that of the private men, the 
sum total must have risen much beyond what I have mentioned. Gomara, r. 
123, and Zarate, lib. ii. c. 8, satisfy themselves with asserting in general, that 
the plunder of Cuzco was of greater value than the ransom of Atahualpa. 

Note [134]. Page 279. 

No expedition in the New World was conducted with more persevering 
courage than that of Alvarado, and in none were greater hardships endured. 
Many of the persons engaged in it were, like their leader, veterans who had 
served under Cortes, inured to all the rigour of American war. Such of my 
readers as have not an opportunity of perusing the striking description of their 
sufferings by Zarate, or Herrera, may form some idea of the nature of tlieir 
march from the sea-coast to Quito, by consulting the account which D. Ant. 
Ulloa gives of his own journey in 1736, nearly in the same route. Voy. torn, 
i. p. 178, &c., or that of M. Bouguer, who proceeded from Puerto Viejo to Quito 
by the same road which Alvarado took. He compares his own journey with 
that of the Spanish leader, and by the comparison gives a most striking idea of 
the boldness and patience of Alvarado in forcing his way through so many 
obstacles. Voyage de Perou, p. 28, &c. 

Note [135]. Page 279. 

According to Herrera, there was entered on account of the king in gold 
155,300 pesos, and 5,400 marks (each 8 ounces) of silver, besides several vessels 
and ornaments, some of gold, and others of silver ; on account of private per- 
sons, in gold 499,000 pesos, and 54,000 marks of silver. Dec. 5. lib. vi. c. 13. 

Note [136]. Page 283. 

The Peruvians not only imitated the military arts of the Spaniards, but had 
recourse to devices of their own. As the cavalry were the chief objects of 
their terror, they endeavoured to render them incapable of acting by means of 
a long thong with a stone fastened to each end. This, when thrown by a 
skilful hand, twisted about the horse and its rider, and entangled them so as to 
obstruct their motions. Herrera mentions this as an invention of their own. 
Dec. 5. lib. viii. c. 4. But as I have observed, p. 178, this weapon is common 
among several barbarous tribes towards the extremity of South America ; and 
it is more probable that the Peruvians had observed the dexterity with which 
they used it in hunting, and on this occasion adopted it themselves. The Spa- 
niards were considerably annoyed by it. Herrera, ibid. Another instance of 
the ingenuity of the Peruvians deserves mention. By turning a river out of 
its channel, they overflowed a valley, in which a body of the enemy was 
posted, so suddenly, that it was with the utmost difficulty the Spaniards made 
their escape. Herrera, dec. 5. lib. viii. c. 5. 

Note [137]. Page 290. 

Herrera's account of Orellana's voyage is the most minute and apparently 
the most accurate. It was probably taken from the journal of Orellana him- 
self. But the dates are not distinctly marked. His navigation down the Coca, 
or Napo, began early in February, 1541 ; and he arrived at the mouth of the 
river on the 26th of August, havmg spent near seven months in the voyage. 
M. de la Condaminc, in the year 1743, sailed from Cuenca to Para, a settlement 
of the Portuguese at the mouth of the river, a navigation much longer than 
that of Orellana, in less than four months. Voyage, p. 179. But the two 
adventurers were very differently provided for the voyage. This hazardous 
undertaking to which ambition prompted Orellana, and to which the love of sci- 
ence led M. de la Condamine, was undertaken in the year 1769, by Madame 
Godin des Odonais from conjugal affection. The narrative of the hardships 
which she suffered, of the dangers to which she was exposed, and of the dis- 



500 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

asterj which befell her, is one of the most singular and affecting stories in any 
language, exhibiting in her conduct a striking picture of the fortitude which 
distinguishes the one sex, mingled with the sensibility and tenderness peculiar 
to tlie other. Lettre de M. Godin a M. de la Condamine. 

Note [138]. Page 291. 

Herrera gives a striking picture of their indigence. Twelve gentlemen, 
who had been officers of distinction under Almagro, lodged in the same house, 
and having but one cloak among them, it was worn alternately by him who 
had occasion to appear in public, while the rest, from the want of a deceat 
dress, were obliged to keep within doors. Their former friends and com- 
panions were so much afraid of giving offence to Pizarro, that they durst not 
entertain or even converse with them. One may conceive what was the con- 
dition, and what the indignation of men once accustomed to power and opu- 
lence, when they felt themselves poor and despised, without a roof under 
which to shelter their heads, while they beheld others, whose merits and services 
were j^ot equal to theirs, living in splendour in sumptuous edifices. Dec. 6. 
lib. viii. c. 6. 

Note [139]. Page 296, 

Herrera, whose accuracy entitles him to great credit, asserts, that Gonzalo 
Pizarro possessed domains in the neighbourhood of Chuquesaca de la Plata, 
which yielded him an annual revenue greater than that of the Archbishop of 
Toledo, the best endowed see in Europe. Dec. 7. lib. vi. c. 3. 

Note [140]. Page 301. 

All the Spanish writers describe his march, and the distresses of both par- 
tics, very minutely. Zarate observes, that hardly any parallel to it occurs in 
history, either with respect to the length of the retreat, or the ardour of the 
pursuit. Pizarro, according to his computation, followed the viceroy upwards 
of three thousand miles. Lib. v. c. 16. 26. 

Note [141]. Page 307. 

It .amounted, according to Fernandez, the best informed historian of that 
period, to one million four hundred thousand pesos. Lib. ii.c. 79. 

Note [142]. Page 308. 

Carvajal, from the beginning, had been an advocate for an accommodation 
with Gasca. Finding Pizarro incapable of holding tliat bold course which he 
originally suggested, he recommended to him a timely submission to his sove- 
reign as the safest measure. When the president's offers were first communi- 
cated to Carvajal, " By our Lady (says he in that strain of buffoonery which 
was familiar to him), the priest issues gracious bulls. He gives them both 
good and cheap ; let us not only accept them, but wear them as reliquee about 
our necks." Fernandez, lib. ii. c. 63. 

Note [143]. Page 310. 

During the rcoellion of Gonzalo Pizarro, seven hundred men were killed in 
battle, and three hundred and eighty were hanged or beheaded. Herrera, dec. 
8. lib. iv. c. 4. Above three hundred of these were cut off by Carvajal. Fer- 
nandez, lib. ii. c. 91. Zarate makes the number ofthose put to a violent death 
five hundred. Lib. vii. c. 1. 

Note [144]. Page 313 

In my inquiries concerning the manners and policy of the Me.iicans, i have 
received much information from a large manuscript of Don Alonso de Corita, 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 501 

one of the judges in the Court of Audience at Mexico. In the year 1553, 
Philip II., in order to discover the mode of levying tribute from his Indian sub- 
jects, that would bo most beneficial to the crown, and least oppressive to them, 
addressed a mandate to all the Courts of Audience in America, enjoining them 
to answer certain queries which he proposed to them concerning the ancient 
form of government established among the various nations of Indians, and the 
mode in v\hich they had been accustomed to pay taxes to their kings or chiefs. 
In obedience to this mandate, Corita, who had resided nineteen years in America, 
fourteen of which he passed in New Spain, composed the work of wliich I have 
a copy. He acquaints his sovereign, that he had made it an object, during his 
residence in America, and in all its provinces w hich he had visited, to inquire 
diligently into the manners and customs of the natives ; that he had conversed 
for this purpose with many aged and intelligent Indians, and consulted several 
of the Spanish Ecclesiastics, who understood the Indian language most per- 
fectly, particularly some of those who landed in New Spain soon after the con- 
quest. Corita appears to be a man of some learning, and to have carried on 
his inquiries with the diligence and accuracy to which he pretends. Greater 
credit is due to his testimony from one circumstance. His work was not com- 
posed with a view to publication, or in support of any particular theory, but 
contains simple though full answers to queries proposed to him officially. 
Though Herrera does not mention him among the authors whom he had 
followed as guides in his history, I should suppose, from several facts of which 
he takes notice, as well as from several expressions which he uses, that this 
memorial of Corita was not unknown to him. 

Note [145]. Page 317. 

The early Spanish writers were so hasty and inaccurate in estimating the 
numbers of people in the provinces and towns in America, that it is impossible 
to ascertain that of Mexico itself with any degree of precision. Cortes 
describes the extent and populousness of Mexico in general terms, which imply 
that it was not inferior to the greatest cities in Europe. Gomara is more 
explicit, and affirms, that there were 60,000 houses or families in Mexico. Cron. 
c. 78. Herrera adopts his opinion, Dec. 2. lib. vii. c. 13 ; and the generality of 
writers follow them implicitly without inquiry or scruple. According to this 
account, the inhabitants of Mexico must have been about 300,000. Torque- 
mada, with his usual propensity to the marvellous, asserts, that there were 
120,000 houses or families in Mexico, and consequently about 600,000 inhabit- 
ants. Lib. iii. c. 23. But in a very judicious account of the Mexican empire, 
by one of Cortes's officers, the population is fixed at 60,000 people. Ramusio, 
iii. 309. A. Even by this account, which probably is much nearer the truth 
than any of the foregoing, Mexico was a great city. 

Note [146]. Page 318. 

It is to P. Torribio de Benavente that I am indebted for tliis curious observa- 
tion. Palafox, Bishop of Ciudad de la Puebla Los Angeles, confirms and illus- 
trates it more fully. The Mexican (says he) is the only language in whicli a 
termination indicating respect, silava^ reverentiaks y de cortfsia, may be affixed 
to every word. By adding the final syllable zin or asm to any word, it be- 
comes a proper expression of veneration in the mouth of an inferior. If, in 
speaking to an equal, the word Father is to be used, it is Tatl, but an inferior 
says Tatzin. One priest speaking to another, calls him Teapixque ; a person 
of inferior rank calls him Teopixcatzin. The name of the emperor who reigned 
when Cortes invaded Mexico, was Monttzuma ; but hia vassals, from reverence, 
pronounced it Monttzumazin. Torribio, MS. Palaf. Virtudes del Indio, p. 65. 
The Mexicans had not only reverential nouns, but reverential verbs. Tlie 
manner in which these are formed from the verbs in common use is explained 
by D. Jos. Aug. Aldama y Guevara in his Mexican Grammar, No, 188. 



502 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Note [147]. Page 320. 

From comparing several passages in Corita and Herrera, we may collect, 
witli some degree of accuracy, the various modes in which the Mexicans con- 
tributed towards the support of government. Some persons of the first order 
seem to have been exempted from the payment of any tribute, and as their 
only duty to the public, were bound to personal service in war, and to follow 
the banner of their sovereign with their vassals. 2. The immediate vassals of 
the crown were bound not only to personal military service, but paid a certain 
proportion of the produce of their lands in kind. 3. Those who held offices 
of honour or trust paid a certain share of what they received in consequence 
of holding these. 4. Each Capullct, or association, cultivated some part of the 
common field allotted to it, for the behoof of the crown, and deposited the 
produce in the royal granaries. 5. Some part of vihatever was brought to the 
public markets, whether fruits of the earth, or the various productions of their 
artists and manufacturers, was demanded for the public use, and the merchants 
who paid this were exempted from every other tax. 6. The Mayeques^ or adscripti 
glebce, were bound to cultivate certain districts in every province, which may 
be considered as crown lands, and brought the increase into public storehouses. 
Thus the sovereign received some part of whatever was useful or valuable in 
the country, whether it was the natural production of the soil, or acquired by 
the industry of the people. What each contributed towards the support of 
government seems to have been inconsiderable. Corita, in answer to one of 
the queries put to the Audience of Mexico by Philip II., endeavours to estimate 
in money the value of what each citizen might be supposed to pay, and does 
not reckon it at more than three or four reals, about eighteen pence or two 
fihillings a head. 

Note [148]. Page 321. 

Cortes, who seems to have been as much astonished with this, as with any 
instance of Mexican ingenuity, gives a particular description of it. Along 
one of the causeways, says he, by which they enjer the city, are conducted two 
conduits, composed of clay tempered with mortar, about two paces in breadth, 
and raised about six feet. In one of them is conveyed a stream of excellent 
water, as largo as the body of a man, into the centre of the city, and supplies 
all the inhabitants plentifully. The other is empty, that when it is necessary 
to clean or repair the former, the stream of water may be turned into it. As 
this conduit passes along two of the bridges, where there are breaches in the 
causeway, through which the salt water of the lake flows, it is conveyed over 
them in pipes as large as the body of an ox, then carried from the conduit to 
the remote quarters of the city in canoes, and sold to the inhabitants, Relat. 
ap. Ramus. 241. A, 

Note [149]. Page 32 

In the armoury of the royal palace of Madrid are shown suits of armour, 
which are called Montezuma's. They are composed of thin lacquered copper- 
plates. In the opinion of very intelligent judges, they are evidently eastern. 
The forms of the silver ornaments upon them, representing dragons, &c. may 
be considered a confirmation of this. They are infinitely superior, in point of 
workmanship, to any eflTort of American art. The Spaniards probably received 
them from the Philippine islands. The only unquestionable specimen of 
Mexican art, that I know of in Great Britain, is a cup of very fine gold, which 
is said to have belonged to Montezuma. It weighs 5oz. 12dwt. Three draw- 
ings of it were exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries, June 10, 1765. A 
man's head is represented on this cup. On one side the full face, on the other 
the profile, on the third the back parts of the head. The relievo is said to have 
been produced by punching the inside of the cup, so as to make the representa- 
tion of a face on the outside. The features are gross, but represented with 
some degree of art, and certainly too rude for Spanish workmanship. This 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 603 

cup was purchased by Edward Earl of Orford, while he lay in the harbour of 
Cadiz with the fleet under his command, and is now in the possession of his 
grandson, Lord Archer. I am indebted for this information to my respectable 
and ingenious friend Mr. Barrington. In the sixth volume of the Archeeologia, 
p. 107, is published an account of some masks of Terra Cotta, brought from a 
burying-ground on the American continent, about seventy miles from the 
British settlement on the Mosquito shore. They are said to be likenesses of 
chiefs, or other eminent persons. From the descriptions and engravings of 
them, we have an additional proof of the imperfect etate of arts among the 
AmericanB. 

Note [150]. Page 323 

The learned reader will perceive how much I have been indebted, in this 
part of my work, to the guidance of the Bishop of Gloucester, who has traced 
the successive steps by which the human mind advanced in this line of its pro- 
gress, with much erudition, and greater ingenuity. He is the first, as far as I 
know, who formed a rational and consistent theory concerning the various 
modes of writing practised by nations, according to the various degrees of 
their improvement. Div. Legation of Moses, iii. 69, &c. Some important 
observations have been added by M. le President de Brosses, the learned and 
intelligent author of the Traite de la Formation Mecanique des Langues, torn. 
j. 295, &c. 

As the Mexican paintings are the most curious monuments extant of the 
earliest mode of writing, it will not be improper to give some account of the 
means by which they were preserved from the general wreck of every work of 
art in America, and communicated to the public. For the most early and com- 
plete collection of these published by Purchas, we are indebted to the attention 
of that curious inquirer, Hakluyt. Don Antonio Mendoza, viceroy of New 
Spain, having deemed those paintings a proper present for Charles V.,the ship 
in which they were sent to Spain was taken by a French cruiser, and they came 
into the possession of Thevet, the King's geographer, who, having travelled 
himself into the New World, and described one of its provinces, was a curious 
observer of whatever tended to illustrate the manners of the Americans. On 
his death, they were purchased by Hakluyt, at that time chaplain of the 
English ambassador to the French court ; and, being left by him to Purchas, 
were published at the desire of the learned antiquary, Sir Henry Spelman. 
Purchas, iii. 1065. They were translated from English into French by Mel- 
chizedeck Thevenot, and published in his collection of voyages, A. D. 1683. 

The second specimen of Mexican picture-writing was published by Dr. Fran- 
cis Gemelli Carreri, in two copper-plates. The first is a map, or representation 
of the progress of the ancient Mexicans on their first arrival in the country, 
and of the various stations in which they settled, before they founded the 
capital of their empire in the lake of Mexico. The second is a Chronological 
Wheel, or Circle, representing the manner in which they computed and marked 
their cycle of fifty-two years. He received both from Don Carlos de Siguenza 
y Congorra, a diligent collector of ancient Mexican Documents. But as it 
seems now to be a received opinion (founded, as far as I know, on no good 
evidence), that Carreri was never out of Italy, and that his famous Giro del 
Mundo is an account of a fictitious voyage, I have not mentioned these paintings 
in the text. They have, however, manifestly the appearance of being Mexican 
productions, and are allowed to be so by Boturini, who was well qualified to de- 
termine whether they were genuine or supposititious. M. Clavigero likewise 
admits them to be genuine paintings of the ancient Mexicans. To me they 
always appeared to be so, though from my desire to rest no part of my narra- 
tive upon questionable authority, 1 did not refer to tiiem. The style of painting 
in the former is considerably more perfect than any other specimen of Mexican 
design ; but as the original is said to have been much defaced by time, I suspect 
that it has been improved by some touches from the hand of a European artist. 
Carreri, Churchill, iv. p. 487. The Chronological Wheel is a ju.st delineation 
of the Mexican mode of computing time, as described by Acosta, lib. vi. c. 2. 
It seems to resemble one which that learned Jesuit had seen ; and if it be ad- 



504 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

jTiitted as a genuine monument. It proves that the Mexicans had artificial or 
arbitrary characters, which represented several things besides numbers. Each 
month is there represented by a symbol expressive of some work or rite pe- 
culiar to it. 

The third specimen of Mexican painting was discovered by another Italian. 
In 1736, Lorenzo Boturini Benaduci set out for New Spain, and was led by 
several incidents to study the language of the Mexicans, and to collect the re- 
mains of their historical monuments. He per; isted nine years in his researches, 
with the enthusiasm of a projector, and the patience of an antiquary. In 
1746, he published at Madrid, Idea de una Nueva. Uistoria General de la America 
Septentrional, containing an account of the result of his inquiries; and he added 
to it a catalogue of his American Historical Museum, arranged under thirty-six 
different heads. His idea of a New History appears to me the work of a whim- 
sical credulous man. But his catalogue of Mexican maps, paintings, tribute- 
rolls, calendars, &c. is much larger tlian one could have expected. Unfortu- 
nately a ship, in which he had sent a considerable part of them to Europe, was 
taken by an English privateer during the war between Great Britain and Spain, 
which commenced in the year 1739 ; and it is probable that they perished by 
falling into the hands of ignorant captors. Boturini himself incurred the dis- 
pleasure of the Spanish court, and died hi an hospital at Madrid. The history, 
of which the Idea, &c. was only a prospectus, was never published. The re- 
mainder of his Museum seems to have been dispersed. Some part of it camo 
into the possession of the present Archbishop of Toledo, when he was primate 
of New Spain : and he published from it that curious tribute-roll which I have 
mentioned. 

The only other collection of Mexican paintings, as far as I can learn, is in 
the Imperial Library at Vienna. By order of their Imperial Majesties I have 
obtained such a specimen of these as 1 desired, in eight paintings made with 
60 much fidelity, that I am informed the copies could hardly be distinguished 
from the originals. According to a note in this Codex Mexicani'^, it appears 
to have been a present from Emmanuel, King of Portugal, to Pope Clement 
VII. who died A. D. 1533. After passing through the hands of several illus- 
trious proprietors, it fell into these of the Cardinal of Saxe-Eisenach, who 
presented it to the Emperor Leojjold, These paintings are manifestly Mexican, 
but they are in a style very different from any of the former. An engraving 
has been made of one of them, in ordcT to gratify such of my readers as may 
deem this an object worthy of their attention. Were it an object of sufficient 
importance, it might perhaps be possible, by recourse to the plates of Purchas, 
and the Archbishop of Toledo, as a key, to form plausible conjectures concerning 
the meaning of this picture. Many of the figures are evidently similar. A. A, 
are targets and darts, almost in the same form with those published by Purchas, 
p. 1070, 1071, iic. B. B. are figures of temples, nearly resembling those in 
Purchas, p. 1 109 and 1 1 13, and in Lorenzana. Plate II. C. is a bale of mantles, 
or cotton cloths, the figure of which occurs in almost every plate of Purchas 
and Lorenzana. E. E. E. seem to be INIexican captains in their war dress, 
the fantastic ornaments of which resemble the figures in Purchas, p. 1110, 
1111. 2113. I should suppose this picture to be a tribute-roll, as their mode of 
noting numbers occurs frequently, D. D. D., &c. According to Boturini, the 
mode of computation by the number of knots was known to the Mexicans as 
well as to the Peruvians, p. 85, and the manner in which the number of units 
is represented in the Mexican paintiiigs in my possession seems to confirm this 
opinion. They plainly resemble a string of knots on a cord or slender rope. 

Since I published the former edition, Mr. Waddilove, who is still pleased to 
continue his friendly attention to procure me information, has discovered, in 
the Library of the Escurial, a volume in folio, consisting of forty slicets of a 
kind of pasteboard, each the size of a common sheet of writing paper, with 
great variety of uncouth and whimsical figures of Mexican painting, in very 
fresh colours, and with an explanation in Spanish to most of them. The first 
twenty-two sheets are the signs of the months, days, &c. About the middle 
of each sheet are two or more large figures for the month, surrounded by the 
signs of the days. The last eighteen sheets are not so filled with figures. 
They seem to be signs of Deities, and images of various objects. According 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 506 

to this Calendar in the Escurial, the Mexican year contained 286 days, divided 
into 22 months of 13 days. Each day is represented by a different sign, taken 
from some natural object, a serpent, a dog, a lizard, a reed» a house, &c. Tlie 
signs of days in the Calendar of the Escurial are precisely the same with those 
mentioned by Boturini, Idea, &c. p. 45. But, if we may give credit to that 
author, the Mexican year contained 360 days, divided into 18 months of 20 
days. The order of days in every month was computed, according to Mm, 
first by what he calls a tridecennary progression of days from one to thirteen, 
in the same manner as in the Calendar of the Escurial, and then by a septenary 
progression of days from one to seven, making in all twenty. In this Calendar, 
not only the signs wliich distinguish each day, but the qualities supposed to 
be peculiar to each month are marked. There are certain weaknesses which 
seem to accompany the human mind through every stage of its progress ia 
observation and science. Slender as was the knowledge of the Mexicans in 
astronomy, it appears to have been already connected with judicial astrology. 
The fortune and character of persons born in each month are supposed to be 
decided by some superior influence predominant at the time of nativity. 
Hence it is foretold in the Calendar, that all who are born in one month will 
be rich, in another warlike, in a third luxurious, &c. The pasteboard, or what- 
ever substance it may be on which the Calendar in the Escurial is painted, 
seems, by Mr. Waddilove's description of it, to resemble nearly that in the 
Lnperial Library at Vienna. In several particulars the figures bear some like- 
ness to those m the plate which I have published. The figures marked D, 
which induced me to conjecture that this painting might be a tribute-roll simi- 
lar to those published by Purchas and the Archbishop of Toledo, Mr. Waddi- 
love supposes to be signs of days : and I have such confidence in the accuracy 
of his observations, as to conclude his opinion to be well founded. It appears, 
from the characters in which the explanations of the figures are written, that 
this curious monument of Mexican art has been obtained soon after the conquest 
of the Empire. It is singular that it should never have been mentioned by any 
Spanish author. 

Note [151]. Page 324. 

The first was called the Prince of the Deathful Lance ; the second the Di- 
vider of Men ; the third the Shedder of Blood ; the fourth the Lord of the 
Dark-house. Acosta, lib. vi. c. 25. 

Note [152]. Page 327. 

The temple of Cholula, which was deemed more holy than any in New 
Spain, was likewise the most considerable. But it was nothing more than a 
mount of solid earth. According to Torquemada, it was above a quarter of .a 
league in circuit at the base, and rose to the height of forty fathoms. Mon. 
Ind. lib. iii. c. 19. Even M. Clavigero acknowledges that all the Mexican 
temples were soUd structures, or earthen mounts, and of consequence cannot 
be considered as any evidence of their having made any considerable progress 
in the art of building. Clavig. ii. 207. 

From inspecting various figures of temples in the paintings engraved by 
Purchas, there seems to be some reason for suspecting that all their temples 
were constructed in the same manner. See vol. iii. p. 1109, 1110, 1113. 

Note [153]. Page 327. 

Not only in TIascala and Tepeaca, but even in Mexico itself, the houses of 
the people were mere huts built with turf or mud, or the branches of trees. 
They were extremely low and slight, and without any furniture but a few 
earthen vessels. Like the rudest Indians, several families resided under the 
same roof, without having any separate apartments. Herrera, dec. 2. lib. vii. 
c. 13. lib. X. c. 22. dec. 3. lib. iv. c. 17, Torquem. lib. iii, c. 23. 

Vol. I.— 64 



506 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Note [154]. Page 327. 

I AM informed by a person who resided long in New Spain, and visited almost 
every province of it, that there is not, in all the extent of that vast empire, any 
monument or vestige of any building more ancient than the conquest, nor of 
any bridge or highway, except some remains of the causeway from Guadaloupe 
to that gate of Mexico by which Cortes entered the city. MS. penes me. The 
author of another account in manuscript observes, " That at this day there 
does not remain even the smallest vestige of the existence of any ancient 
Indian building, public or private, either in Mexico or in any province of New 
Spain. I have travelled, says he, through all the countries adjacent to them, 
viz. New Galicia, New Biscay, New Mexico, Sonora, Cinaloa, the New King- 
dom of Leon, and New Santandero, without having observed any monument 
worth notice, except some ruins near an ancient village in the valley de Casus 
Grandes, in lat. N. 3°. 46'. long. 258°. 24'. from the island of Teneriffe, or 460 
leagues N. N. W. from Mexico." He describes these ruins minutely, and they 
appear to be the remains of a paltry building of turf and stone, plastered over 
with white earth or lime. A missionary informed that gentleman, that he had 
discovered the ruins of another edifice similar to the former, about a hundred 
leagues towards N. W. on the banks of the river St. Pedro. MS. peries me. 

These testimonies derive great credit from one circumstance, that they were 
2iot given in support of any particular system or theory, but as simple answers 
to queries which I had proposed. It is probable, however, that when these 
gentlemen assert that no ruins or monuments of any ancient work whatever 
are now to be discovered in the Mexican empire, they meant that there were 
no such ruins or monuments as conveyed any idea of grandeur or magnificence 
in the works of its ancient inhabitants. For it appears from the testimony of 
several Spanish authors, that in Otumba, Tlascala, Cholula, &;c. some vestiges 
of ancient bviildings are still visible. Villa Segnor Theatro Amer. p. 143. 308. 
3o3. D. Fran. Ant. Lorenzana, formerly Archbishop of Mexico, and now of 
Toledo, in his introduction to that edition of the Cartas de Relacion of Cortes, 
which he published at Mexico, mentions some ruins which are still visible in 
.several of the towns through which Cortes passed in his way to the capital, p. 
4, &c. But neither of these authors gives any description of them, and they 
seem to be so very inconsiderable, as to show only that some buildings had once 
been there. The large mount of earth at Cholula, which the Spaniards dig- 
nified with the name of temple, still remains, but without any steps by which 
to ascend, or any facing of stone. It appears now like a natural mount, covered 
with grass and shrubs, and possibly it was never any thing more. Torquem. 
lib. iii. c. 19. I have received a minute description of the remains of a temple 
3ioar Cuernavaca, on the road from Mexico to Acapulco. It is composed of 
large stones, fitted to each other as nicely as those in the buildings of the Pe- 
ruvians, which are hereafter mentioned. At the foundation it forms a square 
of twenty-five yards ; but as it rises in height it diminishes in extent, not 
gradually, but by being contracted suddenly at regular distances, so that it 
must have resembled the figure B. in the plate. It terminated, it is said, in 
a spire. 

Note [155]. Page 329. 

The exaggeration of the Spanish historians, with respect to the number of 
human victims sacrificed in Mexico, appears to be very great. According to 
(ioinara, there was no year in whicli twenty thousand human victims were not 
olfered to the Mexican Divinities, and in some years they amounted to fifty 
thousand. Cron. c. 229. The skulls of those unhappy persons were ranged 
ill order in a builduig erected for that purpose, and two of Cortes's officers, 
who had counted them, informed Gomara that their number was a hundred 
nnd thirty-six thousand. Ibid. c. 82. Ilerrera's account is still more incredible, 
that the number of victims was so great, that five thousand have been sacrificed 
in one day, nay, on some occasions, no less than twenty thousand. Dec. iii. lib. 
ii. c. 16. Torquemada goes beyond both in extravagance : for he asserts that 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 307 

twenty thousand children, exclusive of otlier victims, were slaughtered annu- 
ally. Mon. Ind. lib. vii. c. 21. The most respectable authority in favour of 
such high numbers is that of Zumurraga, the first Bishop of Mexico, who, in 
a letter to the chapter-general of his order, A. D. 1631, asserts, that the Mexi- 
cans sacrificed annually twenty thousand victims. Davila. Teatro Eccles. 126. 
In opposition to all these accounts, B. de las Casas observes, that if there had 
been such an annual waste of the human species, the country could never have 
arrived at that degree of populousness for which it was remarkable when the 
Spaniards first landed there. This reasoning is just. If the number of victims 
in all the provinces of New Spain had been so great, not only must population 
have been prevented from increasing, but the human race must have been ex- 
terminated in a short time. For besides the waste of the species by such 
numerous sacrifices, it is observable that wherever the fate of captives taken 
in war is either certain death or perpetual slavery, as men can gain nothing by 
submitting speedily to an enemy, they always resist to the uttermost, and war 
becomes bloody and destructive to the last degree. Las Casas positively as- 
serts, that the Mexicans never sacrificed more than fifty or a hundred persons 
in a year. See his dispute with Sepulveda, subjoined to his Brevissima Rela- 
cion, p. 105. Cortes does not specify what number of victims was sacrificed 
annually ; but B. Diaz del Castillo relates that, an inquiry having been made 
with respect to this by the Franciscan monks who were sent into New Spain 
immediately after the conquest, it was found that about two thousand five 
hundred were sacrificed every year in Mexico. C. 207. 

NOTF [l.'ifi]. Pa OF. f?f?0. 

It is hardly necessary to observe, that the Peruvian Chronology is not only 
obscure, but repugnant to conclusions deduced from the most accurate and 
extensive observations, concerning the time that elapses during each reign, in 
any given succession of Princes. The medium has been found not to exceed 
twenty years. According to Acosta and Garcilasso de la Vega, Huana Capac, 
who died about the year 1527, was the twelfth Inca. According to this rule 
of computing, the duration of the Peruvian monarchy ought not to have been 
reckoned above two hundred and forty years ; but they affirm that it had sub- 
sisted four hundred years. Acosta, lib. vi. c. 19. Vega, lib. i. c. 9. By this 
account each reign is extended at a medium to thirty-three years, instead of 
twenty, the number ascertained by Sir Isaac Newton's observations ; but so 
imperfect were the Peruvian traditions, that though tlie total is boldly marked, 
the number of years in each reign is unknown. 

Note [157]. Page 332. 

Many of the earliest Spanish writers assert that the Peruvians offered human 
sacrifices. Xeres, p. 190. Zarate, lib. i. c. 11. Acosta, lib. v. c. 19. But Gar- 
cilasso de la Vega contends, that though this barbarous practice prevailed 
among their uncivilized ancestors, it was totally abolished by the Incas, and 
that no human victim was ever offered in any temple of the Sun. This asser- 
tion, and the plausible reasons with which he confirms it, are sufficient to refute 
the Spanish writers, whose accounts seem to be founded entirely upon report, 
not upon what they themselves iuid observed. Voga, lib. ii. c. 4. In one of 
their festivals, the Peruvians offered cakes of bread moistened with blood 
drawn from the arms, the eyebrows, and noses of their children. Id. lib. vii. 
c. 6. This rite may have been derived from their ancient practice, in their un- 
civilized state, of sacrificing human victims. 

Note [158]. Page 334. 

The Spaniards have adopted both those customs of the ancient Peruvians. 
They have preserved some of the aqueducts or canals, made in the days of 
the Incas, and have made new ones, by which they water every field that they 
rultivate. Ulloa Voyage, torn. i. 422. 477. They likewise continue to use 



503 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

guano, or the dung of sea-fowls, as manure. Ulloa gives a description of thd 
almost incredible quantity of it in the small islands near the coast. Ibid. 481. 

Note [139]. Page 335. 

The temple of Cayambo, the palace of the Inca at Callo in the plain of 
Lacatunga, and that of Atun-Cannar, are described by Ulloa, torn. i. 2b6, &c. 
who inspected them with great care. M. de Condamine published a curious 
memoir concerning the ruins of Atun-Cannar. M6ni. de TAcadcmie de Berlin, 
A. D. 1746, p. 435. Acosta describes the ruins of Cuzco, which he had ex- 
amined. Lib. vi. c. 14. Garcilasso, in his usual style, gives pompous and 
confused descriptions of several temples and other public edifices. Lib. iii. c. 

1. c. 21. lib. vi. c. 4. Don. Zapata, in a large treatise concerning Peru, 

which has not hitherto been published, communicates some information with 
respect to several monuments of the ancient Peruvians, which have not been 
mentioned by other authors. MS. penes me, Articulo xx. Ulloa describes some 
of the ancient Peruvian fortifications, which were likewise works of great ex- 
tent and solidity. Tom. i. 391. Three circumstances struck all those observ- 
ers : the vast size of the stones which the Peruvians emploj^ed in some of their 
buildings. Acosta measured one, which was thirty feet long, eighteen broad, 
and six in thickness ; and yet, he adds, that in the fortress at Cuzco there were 
stones considerably larger. It is difficult to conceive how the Peruvians could 
move these, and raise them to the height even of twelve feet. The second 
circumstance is, the imperfection of the Peruvian art, when applied to working 
in timber. By the patience and perseverance natural to Americans, stones may 
be formed into any shape, nierely by rubbing one against another, or by the 
use of hatchets or other instruments made of stone ; but with such rude tools 
little progress can be made in carpentry. The Peruvians could not mortise 
two beams together, or give any degree of union or stability to any work com- 
posed of timber. As they could not form a centre, they were totally unac- 
quainted with the use of arches in building ; nor can the Spanish authors con- 
ceive how they were able to frame a roof for those ample structures which 
the}' raised. 

The third circumstance is a striking proof, which all the monuments of the 
Peruvians furnish, of their want of ingenuity and invention, accompanied with 
patience no less astonishing. None of the stones employed in those works 
were formed into any particular or uniform shape, which could render them 
fit for being compacted together in building. The Indians took them as they 
fell from the mountain.s, or were raised out of the quarries. Some were 
square, some triangular, some convex, some concave. Their art and industry 
were employed in joining them together, by forming such hollows in the one 
as perfectly corresponded to the projections or risings in the other. This 
tedious operation, which might have been so easily abridged by adapting the 
surface of the stones to each other, either by rubbing, or by their hatchets of 
copper, would be deemed incredible, if it were not put beyond doubt by in- 
.specting the remains of those buildings. It gives them a very singular ap- 
pearance to a European eye. Tliere is no regular layer or stratum of building, 
and no one stone resembles another in dimensions or form. At the same time, 
by the persevering but ill-directed industry of the Indians, they are all joined 
Avith that minute nicety which I have mentioned. Ulloa njade this observation 
concerning the form of the stones in the fortress of Atun-Cannar. Voy. i. p. 
387. Penito gives a similar description of the fortress of Cuzco, the most per- 
fect of all the Peruvian works. Zapata MS. pnies »ne. According to M. de 
Condamine, there were regular strata of building in some parts of Atun- 
Cannar, which he remarks as singular, and as a proof of some progress in 
improvement. 

Note [160]. Page 337. 

The appearance of those bridges which bend with their own weight, wave 
with the wind, and are considerablv agitated bv the motion of every person 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 508 

who passes along them, is very frightful at first. But the Spaniards have 
found them to be the easiest mode of passing the torrents in Peru, over which 
it would be difficult to throw more solid structures either of stone or timber. 
They form those hanging bridges so strong and broad, that loaded mules pass 
along them. All the trade of Cuzco is carried on by means of such a bridge 
over the river Apurimac. Ulloa, torn. i. p. 358. A more simple contrivance 
was employed in passing smaller streams : A basket, in which the traveller 
was placed, being suspendet' from a strong rope stretched across the stream, 
it was pushed or drawn from one side to the other. Ibid. 

Note [161]. Page 341. 

Mv information with respect to those events is taken from Jiotieia breve de 
la expedicion militar de Sinora y Cinaloa, su exito feliz, y vantojoso estado, en 
que por consecuentia de ello, se han puesto anibas provincias, published at 
Mexico, June 17th, 1771, in order to satisfy the curiosity of the merchants, 
who had furnished the viceroy with money for defraying the expense of the 
armament. The copies of this J^otici.a are very rare in Madrid ; but I have 
obtained one, which has enabled me t» communicate these curious facts to the 
public. According to this account, there was found in the mine Yecorato in 
Cinaloa a grain of gold of twenty -two carats, which v.'eighed sixteen mark.s 
four ounces four ochavas ; this was sent to Spain as a present fit for the king, 
and is now deposited in the royal cabinet at Madrid. 

Note [162]. Page 341. 

The uncertainty of geographers with respect to this point is remarkable, for 
Cortes seems to hiive surveyed its coasts with great accuracy. The Archbishop 
of Toledo has published, from the original in the possession of the Marquis 
del Valle, the descendant of Cortes, a map drawn in 1541, by the pilot Domingo 
Castillo, in which California is laid down as a peninsula, stretching out nearlj^ 
in the same direction which is now given to it in the best maps ; and the point 
where Rio Colorada enters the gulf is marked with precision. Hist, de Nueva 
Espagna, 327. 

Note [163]. Page 342. 

I AM indebted for this fact to M. L'Abb6 Raynal, tom. iii. 103 ; and upon 
consulting an intelligent person, long settled on the Mosquito shore, and who^ 
has been engaged in the logwood trade, I find that ingenious author has been 
well informed. Tiie logwood cut near the town of St. Francis of Campcachy 
is of much better quahty than that on the other side of Yucatan ; and the 
English trade in the Bay of Honduras is almost at an end. 

Note [164], Page 348. 

P. ToRRiBio DE Benevente, or Motolinca, has enumerated ten causes of 
the rapid depopulation of Mexico, to which he gives the name of the Ten 
Plagues. Many of these are not peculiar to that province. 1. The introduc- 
tion of the small pox. This disease was first brought into New Spain in tho 
year 1520, by a Negro-slave, who attended Narvaez in his expedition against 
Cortes. Torribio affirms, that one half of the people in the provinces visited 
with this distemper died. To this mortality, occasioned by the small pox, 
Torquemada adds the destructive effects of two contagious distempers which 
raged in the year 1545 and 1576. In the former 800,000, in the latter above 
two millions perished, according to an exact account taken by order of the 
viceroys. Mon. Ind. i. 642. The small pox was not introduced into Peru foi* 
several years after the invasion of the Spaniards ; but there, too, that distem- 
per proved very fatal to tlie natives. Garcia Origin, p. 88. 2. The numbers 
who were killed or died of famine in their war with the Spaniards, particularly 
during the siege of Mexico. 3. The great famine that followed after the re- 
duction of Mexico, as all the people engaged, either on one side or other, had 



510 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

neglected the cultivation of their lands. Something similar to this happened 
in all the other countries conquered by the Spaniards. 4. The grievous tasks 
imposed by the Spaniards upon the people belonging to their Repartimientos. 
5. The oppressive burden of taxes which they were unable to pay, and from 
which they could hope for no exemption. 6. The numbers employed in col- 
lecting the gold carried down by the torrents from the mountains, who were 
forced from their own habitations, without any provision made lor their sub- 
sistence, and subjected to all the rigour of cold ';i those elevated regions. 7. 
The immense labour of rebuilding Mexico, which Cortes urged on with such 
precipitate ardour as destroyed an incredible number of people. 8. The num- 
ber of people condemned to servitude, under various pretexts, and employed 
in working the silver mines. These, marked by each proprietor with a hot 
iron, like his cattle, were driven in herds to the mountains. 9. The nature of 
the labour to which they were subjected there, the noxious vapours of the mines, 
the coldness of the climate, and scarcity were so fatal, that Torribio affirms 
the country round several of those mines, particularly near Guaxago, was 
covered with dead bodies, the air corrupted with their stench, and so many vul- 
tures and other voracious birds hovered about for their prey, that the sun was 
darkened with their flight. 10. The Spaniards, in the different expeditions 
which they undertook, and by the civil wars which they carried on, destroyed 
many of the natives whom they compelled to serve them as Tamemes, or car- 
riers of burdens. This last mode of oppression was particularly ruinous to 
the Peruvians. From the number of Indians who perished in Gonzalo Pizarro's 
expedition into the countries to the east of the Andes, one may form some 
idea of what they suffered in similar services, and how fast they were wasted 
by them. Torribio, MS. Corita, in his Breve y Summaria Relacion, illus- 
trates and confirms several of Torribio's observations, to which he refers. MS. 
jienes me. 

Note [165]. Page 348. 

Even Montesquieu has adopted this idea, lib. viii. c. 18. But the passion of 
that great man for system sometimes rendered him inattentive to research ; 
and from his capacity to refine, he was apt, in some instances, to overlook 
obvious and just causes. 

Note [166]. Page 349. 

A STRONG proof of this occurs in the testament of Isabella, where she dis- 
covers the most tender concern for the humane and mild usage of the Indians. 
Those laudable sentiments of the queen have been adopted in the pubhc law 
of Spain, and serve as the introduction to the regulations contained under the 
title Of the good treatment of the Indians. Recopil. lib. vi. tit. x. 

Note [167]..Page 350. 

In the seventh Title of the first book of the Recopilacion, which contains the 
laws concerning the powers and functions of archbishops and bishops, almost 
a third part of them relates to what is incumbent upon them as guardians of 
the Indians, and points out the various methods in which it is their duty to 
interpose, in order to defend them from oppression either with respect to their 
persons or property. Not only do the laws commit to them this honourable 
and humane office, but the ecclesiastics of America actually exercise it. 

Innumerable proofs of this might be produced from Spanish authors. But I 
rather refer to Gage, as he was not disposed to ascribe any merit to the popish 
clergy to which they were not fully entitled. Survey, p. 142. 192, &c. Henry 
Hawks, an English merchant, who resided five years in New Spain previous 
to the year 1572, gives the same favourable account of the popish clergy. 
Hakluyt, iii. 466. By a law of Charles V. not only bishops, but other eccle- 
siastics, are empowered to inform and admonish the civil magistrates, if any 
Indian is deprived of his just liberty and rights ; Recopilac. lib. vi. tit. vi. ley 
14: and thus were constituted legal protectors of the Indians. Some of the 



^OTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 511 

Spanish ecclesiastics refused to grant absolution to such of their countrymen 
as possessed EncomiendAs, and considered tlie Indians as slaves, or employed 
them in working their mines. Gonz. Davil. Teatro Eccles. i. 157. 

Note [168]. Page 350. 

According to Gage, Chiapa dos Indos contains 4000 families ; and he men- 
tions it only as one of the largest Indian towns in America, p. 104. 

Note [169]. Page 350. 

It is very difficult to obtain an accurate account of the state of population 
in those kingdoms of Europe where the police is most perfect, and where sci- 
ence has made the greatest progress. In Spanish America, where knowledge 
is still in its infancy, and few men have leisure to engage in researches merely 
speculative, little attention has been paid to this curious inquiry. But in tho 
year 1741, Philip V. enjoined the viceroys and governors of the several pro- 
vinces in America, to make an actual survey of the people under their jurisdic- 
tion, and to transmit a report concerning their number and occupations. In 
consequence of this order, the Conde de Fuen-Clara, Viceroy of New Spain, 
appointed D. Jos. Antonio de Villa Segnor y Sanchez to execute that commis- 
sion in New Spain. From the reports of the magistrates in the several dis- 
tricts, as well as from his own observations and long acquaintance with most 
of the provinces. Villa Segnor pubhshed the result of his inquiries in his Teatro 
Americano. His report, however, is imperfect. Of the nine diocesses, into 
which the Mexican empire has been divided, he has published an account of 
five only, viz. the archbishopric of Mexico, the bishoprics of Pueblo de los 
Angeles, Mechoacan, Oaxaca, and Nova Galicia. The bishoprics of Yucatan, 
Verapaz, Chiapa, and Guatimala, are entirely omitted, though the two latter • 
comprehend countries in which the Indian race is more numerous than in any 
part of New Spain. In his survey of the extensive diocess of Nova Galicia, 
the situation of the different Indian villages is described, but he specifies the 
number of people only in a small part of it. The Indians of that extensive 
province, in which the Spanish dominion is imperfectly established, are not 
registered with the same accuracy as in other parts of New Spain. According 
to Villa Segnor, the actual state of population in the five diocesses above men- 
tioned is of Spaniards, negroes, mulattoes, and mestizos, in the diocesses of 

Families. 

Mexico 105,20'2 

Los Angeles ---------- 30,600 

Mechoacan 30,840 

Oaxaca 7,296 

Nova Galicia 16,770 



190,708 

At the rate of five to a family, the total number is _ . - 953,540 

Indian families in the diocess of Mexico ----- 119,511 

Los Angeles 88,240 

Mechoacan - 36,196 

Oaxaca - 44,222 

Nova Galicia ---------- 6,222 



294,391 



At the rate of five to a family, the total number is 1,471,955. We may rely 
with great certainty on this computation of the number of Indians, as it is 
taken from the Malricula, or register, according to which the tribute paid by 
them is collected. As four diocesses of nine are totally omitted, and in that 



5l5i NOTES AND iLLUSTRATiONb, 

of Nova Galicia the numbers are imperfectly recorded, we may conclude that 
the number of Indians in the Mexican empire exceeds "two millions. 

The account of the number of Spaniards, &c. seems not to be equally com- 
plete. Of many places, Villa Segnor observes in general terms, that several 
Spaniards, negroes, and people of mixed race, reside there, without specifying 
their number. If, therefore, we make allowance for these, and for all who re- 
side in tJie four diocesses omitted, the number of Spaniards, and of those of a 
mixed race, may probably amount to a million and a half. In some places 
Villa Segnor distinguishes between Spaniards and the three inferior races of 
negroes, mulattoes, and mestizos, and marks their number separately. But he 
generally blends them together. But from the proportion observable in those 
places, where the number of each is marked, as well as from the account of 
the state of population in New Spain by other authors, it is manifest that the 
number of negroes and persons of a mixed ^ace far exceeds that of Spaniards. 
Perhaps the latter ought not to be reckoned above 300,000 to a million of the 
former. 

Defective as this account may be, I have not been able to procure such in- 
telligence concerning the number of people in Peru, as might enable me to form 
any conjecture equally satisfying with respect to the degree of its population. 
I have been informed that in the year 1761, the protector of the Indians in the 
viccroyalty of Peru computed that 612,780 paid tribute to the king. As all 
females, and persons under age, are exempted from this tax in Peru, the total 
number of Indians ought by that account to be 2,449,120. MS. penes me, 

I shall mention another mode by which one may compute, or at least form a 
guess concerning the state of population in New Spain and Pera. According 
to an accoiuit which I have reason to consider as accurate, the number of 
copies of the bull of Cruzada exported to Peru on each new publication, is, 
1,171,953; to New Spain, 2,649,326. I am informed that but few Indians 
purchase bulls, and that they are sold chiefly to the Spanish inhabitants, and 
those of mixed race ; so that the number of Spaniards, and people of a mixed 
race, will amount, by this mode of computation, to at least three millions. 

The number of inhabitants in many of the towns in Spanish America may 
give us some idea of the extent of population, and correct the inaccurate but 
popular notion entertained in Great Britain concerning the weak and desolate 
state of their colonies. The city of Mexico contains at least 130,000 people. 
It is remarkable that Torquemada, who wrote his Monarquia Indiana about 
the year 1612, reckons the inhabitants of Mexico at that time to be only 7000 
Spaniards and BOOO Indians. Lib. iii. c. 26. Puebla de los Angeles contains 
above 60,000 Spaniards, and people of a mixed race. Villa Segnor, p. 247. 
Guadalaxara contains above 30,000 exclusive of Indians. Ibid. ii. 206. Lima 
cortains 54,000. De Cosme Bueno Descr. de Peru, 1764. Carthagena con- 
tains 25,000. Potosi contains 25,000. Bueno, 1767. Popayan contains above 
20,000. Ulloa, i. 287. Towns of a second class are still more numerous. 
TJie cities in the most thriving settlements of other European nations in Ame- 
rica cannot be compared with these. 

Such are the detached accounts of the number of people in several towns, 
which I found scattered in authors whom I thought worthy of credit. But I 
have obtained an enumeration of the inhabitants of the towns in the province 
of Quito, on the accuracy of which I can rely ; and I communicate it to the 
public, both to gratify curiosity, and to rectify the mistaken notion which I 
have mentioned. St. Francisco de Quito contains between 30 and 60,000 
people of all the different races. Besides the city, there are in the Corresimi- 
ento twenty-nine cnras or parishes established in the principal villages, each of 
Avhich has smaller hamlets depending upon it. The inhabitants of these are 
mostly Indians and mestizos. St. Juan de Pasto has between 6 and 8000 in- 
liabitants, besides twenty-seven dependent villages. St. Miguel de Ibarra, 
7000 citizens, and ten villages. The district of Havalla, between 18 and 20,000 
people. The district of Tacuna, between 10 and 12,000. The district of 
Ambato, between 8 and 10,000, besides sixteen depending villages. The city 
of Riobamba, between 16 and 20,000 inhabitants, and nine depending villages. 
The district of Chimbo. between 6 and 8000. The city of Guayaquil, from liy 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATION t5. ^i<> 

lo 20,000 inhabitants, and fourteen depending villages. The district of Atuasi, 
between 5 and 60(X) iiilutljitants, and four depending villages. Tlic city of 
Cnenza, between 25 and 1{0,001) inhabitants, and nine populous depending 
villages. The town of Laxa, from !J to 10,000 inhabitants, and fourteen de- 
pending villages. This degree of population, Ihough slender if we consider 
llie vast extent of the country, is far beyond what is conunonly supposed. I' 
have omitted to mention, in its proper place, that Quito is the only province in 
{Spanish America that can be denominated a manufacturing country ; hats, 
cotton stuffs, and coarse woollen cloths are made there in such quantities as to 
be sufficient not only for the consumption of tlie province, but to furnish a con- 
siderable article for exportation into other parts of Spanish America. 1 know 
not whether the uncommon industry of this province should be considered as 
the cause or the effect of its populousness. But among the ostentatious in- 
)iabitants of the New World, the passion for every thing that comes from 
Europe is so violent, that I am informed the manufactures of Quito are so 
much undervalued as to be on the decline. 

Note [170]. Page 352, 

These are established at the following places : — St. Domingo in the island 
of Hispaniola, Mexico in New Spain, Lima in Peru, Panama in Tierra Firme, 
Santiago in Gnatimala, Guadalaxara in New Galicia, Santa Fe in the New 
Kingdom of Granada, La Plata in the country of Los Charcas, St. Francisco 
de Quito, St. Jago de Chili, Buenos Ayres. To each of these are subjected 
several large provinces, and some so far removed from the cities where the 
courts are fixed, that they can derive little benefit from their jurisdiction. The 
Spanish writers commonly reckon up twelve Courts of Audience, but they in- 
clude that of ' Manilla, in the Philippiae islands. 

Note [171]. Page 354. 

On account of the.distance of Peru and Chili from Spain, and the di/Kculfy 
of carrying commodities of such bulk as wine and oil across the isthmus of 
Panama, the Spaniards in those provinces have been permitted to plant vines 
and olives : but they are strictly prohibited from exporting wine or oil to any 
of the provinces on the Pacific Ocean, which are in such a situation as to re- 
ceive them from Spain. Recop. lib. i. tit. xvii, 1. 15 — 18. 

Note [172]. Page 355, 

This computation was made by Benzoni, A. D. 1550, fifty-eight }'ears after 
the discovery of America. Hist. Novi Orbis, lib. iii. c. 21. But as Benzoni 
wrote with the spirit of a malecontent, disposed to detract from the Spaniards 
in every particular, it is probable that his calculation is considerably too low. 

Note [173]. Page 355. 

My information with respect to the division and transmission of property iu 
the Spanish colonies is imperfect. The Spanish authors do not explain this 
fully, and have not perhaps attended sufficiently to the effects of their own in- 
stitutions and laws. Solorzano de Jure Ind. (vol. ii. lib. ii. 1. 16.) explains 
in Pome measure the introduction of the teimre of Mayorasgo, and mentions 
some of its effects. Villa Segnor takes notice of a singular consequence of it. 
Jle observes, that in some of the best situations in the city of Mexico, a good 
deal of ground is unoccupied, or covered only with the ruins of the houses 
once erected upon it ; and adds, that as this ground is held by right of Mayo- 
rafgo, and cannot be alienated, that desolation and those ruins become perpetual. 
Teatr. Amer. vol. i. p. 134. 

Note [174]. Page 35C. 

There is no law that excludes Creoles from offices either civil or ecclesiastic. 
On the contrarj', there arc nianv Cedukif, whicli recommend the confi^rring 
Vol. I.— ^3 



614 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

places of trust indiscriminately on the natives of Spain and America. Betaii- 
court y Figueroa Derecho, &c. p. 5, 6. But, notwithstanding such repeated 
recommendations, preferment in almost every line is conferred on native 
Spaniards. A remarkable proof of this is produced by the author last quoted. 
From the discovery of America to the year 1637, three hundred and sixty-nine 
bishops, or archbishops, have been appointed to the different diocesses in that 
country, and of all that number only twelve were Creoles, p. 40. This predi- 
lection for Europeans seems still to continue. By a royal mandate, issued in 
1776, the chapter of the cathedral of Mexico is directed to nominate European 
ecclesiastics of known merit and abilities, that the King may appoint them ta 
supply vacant benefices. MS. penes me. 

Note [175]. Page 358. 

Moderate as this tribute may appear, such is the extreme poverty of the 
Indians in many provinces of America, that the exacting of it is intolerably 
oppressive. Pegna Itiner. par Paroches de Indios, p. 192. 

Note [176]. Page 358. 

In New Spain, on account of the extraordinary merit and services of the first 
conquerors, as well as the small revenue arising from the country previous to 
ihe discovery of the mines of Sacatecas, the encomiendas were granted for 
three, and sometimes for four lives. Recopil. lib. vi. tit. ii. c. 14, &c. 

Note [177]. Page 359. 

D. Ant. Ulloa contends, that working in mines is not noxious, and as a. 
proof of this informs us, that many Mestizos and Indians, who do not belong to 
any Repartimiento, voluntarily hire themselves as miners ; and several of the 
Indians, when the legal term of their service expires, continue to work in the 
mines of choice. Entreten. p. 265. But his opinion concerning the whole- 
someness of this occupation is contrary to the experience of all ages ; and 
wherever men are allured by high wages, they will engage in any species of 
labour, however fatiguing or pernicious it may^e. D. Hern. Carillo Altamirano 
relates a curious fact incompatible with this opinion. Wherever mines are 
ViTought, says he, the number of Indians decreases ; but in the province of 
Campeachy, where there are no mines, the number of Indians has increased 
more than a tiiird since the conquest of America, though neither the soil nor 
climate be so favourable as in Peru or Mexico. Colbert Collect. In another 
memorial presented to Philip III. in tlie year 1609, Captain Juan Gonzales de 
Azevedo asserts, that in every district of Peru where the Indians are compelled 
to labour in the mines, their numbers were reduced to the half, and in some 
places to the third, of what it was under the viceroyalty of Don Fran. Toledo 
in 1581. Colb, Collect. 

Note [178]. Page 359. 

As labour of this kind cannot be prescribed with legal accuracy, the tasks 
s.eem to be in a great measure arbitrary, and, like the services exacted by feudal 
superiors in vinea prato, aut messe, from their vassals, are extremely burden- 
some, and often wantonly oppressive. Pegna Itiner. par Paroches de Indios. 

Note [179]. Page 359. 

The turn of service known in Peru by the name of Mita is called Tattda in 
New Spain. There it continues no longer than a week at a time. No person 
is called to serve at a greater distance from his habitation than 24 miles. This 
arrangement is less oppressive to the Indians than that established in Peru. 
Memorial of Hern. Carillo Altamirano. Colbert Collect. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 615 



Note [inO]. Page 360. 

The strongest proof of this may be deduced from the laws themselves. By 
the multitude and variety of regulations to prevent abuses, we may forrti aa 
idea of the number of abuses that prevail. Though the laws have wisely pro- 
vided that no Indian shall be obliged to serve in any mine at a greater distance 
from his place of residence than thirty miles ; we arc informed, in a memorial 
of D. Hernan Carillo Altamirano presented to the king, that the Indians of 
Peru are often compelled to serve in mines at the distance of a hundred, a 
hundred and fifty, and even two hundred leagues from their habitation. Col- 
bert Collect. Many mines are situated in parts of the country so barren and 
so distant from the ordinary habitations of the Indians, that the necessity of 
procuring labourers to work there has obliged the Spanish monarchs to dis- 
pense with their own regulations in several instances, and to permit the vice- 
roys to compel the people of more remote provinces to resort to those mines. 
Escalona Gazophyl. Perub. lib. i. c. 16. But, in justice to them, it should bo 
observed that they have been studious to alleviate this oppression as much as 
possible, by enjoining the viceroys to employ every method in order to induce 
the Indians to settle in some part of the country adjacent to the mines. Id. ibid. 

Note [181]. Page 362. 

ToRauEMADA, after a long enumeration which has the appearance of accu- 
racy, concludes the number of monasteries in New Spain to be four hundred. 
Mon. Ind. lib. xix. c. 32. The number of Monasteries in the city of Mexicu 
alone was, in the year 1745, fifty-five. Villa Segnor Theat. Amer. i. 34. Ulloa 
reckons up forty convents in Lima ; and mentioning those for nuns, he s&ys 
that a small town might be peopled out of them, the number of persons shut 
up there is so great. Voy. i. 429. Philip III., in a letter to the Viceroy of 
Peru, A. D. 1620, observes, that the number of convents in Lima was so great, 
that they covered more ground than all the rest of the city. Solorz. lib. iii. c. 
23. n. 57. Lib. iii. c. 16. Torquem. lib. xv. c. 3. The first monastery in 
New Spain was founded A. D. 1525, four years only after the conquest. Torq. 
lib. XV. c. 16. 

According to Gil Gonzalez Davila, the complete establishment of th« 
American ciiurch in all the Spanish settlements was, in the year 1649, 1 patri- 
arch, 6 archbishops, 32 bishops, 346 prebends, 2 abbots, 5 royal chaplains, 840 
convents. Teatro Ecclesiastico de las Ind. Occident. Vol. i. Pref. When 
the order of Jesuits was expelled from all the Spanish dominions, the colleges, 
professed houses, and residences which it possessed in the province of New 
Spain were thirty, in Quito sixteen, in the New Kingdom of Granada thirteen, 
in Peru seventeen, in Chih eighteen, in Paraguay eighteen ; in all, a hundred 
and twelve. Collection General de Providencias hasta aqui tomadas sobre 
estranamento, &c. de la Compagnia, part i. p. 19. The number of Jesuits, 
priests, and novices in all these amounted to 2245. MS. penes me. 

In the year 1644 the city of Mexico presented a petition to the king, praying 
that no new monastery might be founded, and that the revenues of those 
already established might be circumscribed, otherwise the religious houses 
would soon acquire the property of the whole country. The petitioners request 
likewise, that the bishops might be laid under restrictions in conferring holy 
orders, as there were at that time in New Spain above six thousand clergymen 
without any living. Ibid. p. 16. These abuses must have been enormous in- 
deed, when the superstition of American Spaniards was shocked, and induced 
to remonstrate against them. 

Note [182]. Page 363. 

Tuis description of the manners of the Spanish clergy I should not; have 
ventured to give upon the testimony of Protestant authors alone, as they may 
be suspected of prejudice or exaggeration. Gage, in particular, who had a 
better opportunity tlian any Protcsta.Mt to view the interior state of Spani^ti 



516 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

America, dcscribrs the corruption of the church which he hail forsaken with 
so much of the acrimony of a new convert, that I shouhl have distrusted his 
evidence, thoujrh it communicates some very curious and striking facts. But 
lienzoni mentions the profligacy of ecclesiastics in America at a very CJirly 
period after their settlement there. Hist. lib. ii. c. 19, 20. M. Frezier, an in- 
telUgent observer, and zealous for his own religion, paints the dissolute manners 
of tiio Spanish ecclesiastics in Peru, particularly the regulars, in stronger 
folours than I have employed. Voy. p. 61. 215, k-c. M. Gentil confirms this 
account. Voy. i. 34. Correal concurs with both, and adds many remarkable 
t ircumstances. Voy. i. 61. 155. 161. I have good reason to believe that the 
manners of the regular clergy, particularly in Peru, are still extremely indecent. 
Acosta himself acknowledges that great corruption of manners had been the 
consequence of permitting monks to forsake the retirement and discipline of 
the cloister, and to mingle again with the world, by undertaking the charge of 
the Indian parishes. De Procur. Ind. Salute, lib. iv. c. 13, &c. He mentions 
particularly those vices of which I have taken notice, and considers the tempt- 
ations to them as so formidable, that he leans to the opinion of those who 
hold that the regular clergy should not be employed as parish priests. Lib. v. 
c. 20. Even the advocates of the regulars admit, that many and great enor- 
mities abounded among the monks of different orders, when set free from the 
restraint of monastic discipline ; and from the tone of their defence, one may 
conclude that the charge brought against them was not destitute of truth. In 
the French colonies the state of the regular clergy is nearly the same as in the 
Spanish settlements, an'd the same consequences have followed. M. Biet, 
superior of the secular priests in Cayenne, inquires, with no less appearance 
of piety than of candour, into the causes of this corruption, and imputes it 
c;hiefly to the exemption of regulars from the jurisdiction and censures of their 
diocessans ; to the temptations to which they are exposed ; and to their en- 
gaging in commerce. Voy. p. 320. It is remarkable, that all the authors who 
censure the licentiousness of the Spanish regulars with the greatest severity. 
concur in vindicating the conduct of the Jesuits. Formed under a discipline 
more perfect than that of the other monastic orders, or animated by that con- 
cern for the honour of the society which takes such full possession of every 
member of the order, the Jesuits, both in Mexico and Peru, it is allowed, main- 
lain a most irreproachable decency of manners. Frezier, 223. Gentil. i. 34. 
The same praise is likewise due to the bishops and most of the dignified clergy. 
Frez. Ibid. 

A volume of the Gazette do Mexico for the years 1728, 1729, 1730, having 
been communicated to me, I find tliere a striking confirmation of what I have 
advanced concerning the spirit of low illiberal superstition prevalent in Spanish 
America. From the newspapers of any nation one may learn what are the 
objects which chiefly engross its attention, and which appear to it most inte- 
resting. The Gazette of Mexico is filled almost entirely with accounts of re- 
ligious functions, with descriptions of processions, consecrations of churches, 
beatifications of saints, festivals, autos de fe, &c. Civil or commercial affairs, 
and even the transactions of Europe, occupy but a small corner in this maga- 
zine of monthly intelligence. From the titles of new books, which are regularly 
inserted in this Gazette, it appears that two-thirds of them are treatises of 
scholastic theology, or of monkish devotion. 

Note [183]. Page 363. 

SoLORZANO, after mentioning the corrupt morals of some of the regul.ar 
clergy, with that cautious reserve which became a Spanish layman in touching 
on a subject so delicate, gives his opinion very explicitly, and with much firm- 
ness, against committing parochial charges to monks. He produces the testi- 
mony of several respectable authors of his country, both divines and lawyers, 
in confirmation of his opinion. De Jure Ind. ii. lib. iii. c. 16. A striking proof 
of the alarm excited by the attempt of the Prince d'Esquilache to exclude the 
regulars from parochial cures, is contained in the Colbert collection of papers. 
Several memorials were presented to the king by the procurators for the mo- 
nastic orders, and replies were made to these in name of the secular clergy. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. M7 

An eager and even rancorous spirit is manifest on both sides in the conduct of 
tjtus dispute. 

Note [184], Page 365. 

Not only the native Indians, but tlic Mestisos, or children of a Spaniard 
and Indian, were originally excluded from the priesthood, and refused admis- 
sion into any religious order. But by a law issued Sept. 28th, 1588, Philip 11. 
required the prelates of America to ordain such mestizos born in lawful wed- 
lock, as they should find to be properly qualified, and to permit them to take 
the vows in any monastery where they had gone through a regular noviciate. 
Recopil. lib. i. tit. vii. 1. 7. Some regard seems to have been paid to this law 
in Now Spain ; but none in Peru. Upon a representation of this to Charlea 
II. in the year 1697, he issued a new edict, enforcing the observation of it, and 
professing his desire to have all his subjects, Indians and mestizos as well sa 
Spaniards, admitted to the enjoyment of the same privileges. Such, how- 
ever, was the aversion of the Spaniards in America to the Indians and their 
race, that this seems to have produced little effect; for in the year 1723 Philip 
V. was obliged to renew the injunction in a more peremptory tone. But so 
unsurmountable are hatred and contempt of the Indians among the Peruvian 
Spaniards, that the present king has been constrained to enforce the formor 
edicts anew, by a law published September 11, 1774. Real Cedula, MS. 
2>enes me. 

M. Clavigero has contradicted what I have related concerning the ecclesias- 
tical state of the Indians, particularly their exclusion from the sacrament of 
the eucharist, and from holy orders, either as seculars or regulars, in such a 
manner as cannot fail to make a deep impression. He, from his own know- 
ledge, asserts, " that in New Spain not only are Indians permitted to partake of 
the sacrament of the altar, but that Indian priests are so numerous that they 
may be counted by hundreds ; and among these have been many liundreds of 
rectors, canons, and doctors, and, as report goes, even a very learned bishop. 
At present there are many priests, and not a few rectors, among whom tliere 
have been three or four our own pupils." Vol. II. 348, &c. I owe it, therefore, 
as a duty to the public as well as to myself, to consider each of tliese points 
with care, and to explain the reasons which induced me to adopt the opinion 
which I have published. 

I knew that in the Christian church there is no distinction of persons, but 
that men of every nation, who embrace the religion of Jesus, are equally en- 
titled to every Christian privilege which they are qualified to receive. I knew 
likewise that an opinion prevailed, not only among most of the Spanish laity 
settled in America, but among " many ecclesiastics (I use the words of Herrera, 
dec. ii. lib. ii. c. 15), that the Indians were not jierfect or rational men, and 
were not possessed of such capacity as qualified them to partake of the sacra- 
ment of the altar, or of any other benefit of our religion." It was against 
this opinion that Las Casas contended with ihe laudable zeal which I have 
described in Books III. and VI. But as the Bishop of Darien, doctor Scpul- 
vida, and other respectable ecclesiastics, vigorously supported the common 
opinion concerning the incapacity of tiie Indians, it became necessary, in order 
to determine llic point, tiiat the authority of the Holy See should be interposed ; 
and accordingly Paul III. issued a bull, A. D. 1537, in which, after condemning- 
the opinion of those who held that the Indians, as being on a level with bruto 
beasts, should be reduced to servitude, he declares that they were really men, 
and as such were capable of embracing the Christian religion, and participating 
of all its blessings. My account of this bull, notwithstanding the cavils of M. 
Clavigero, must appear just to every person who takes the trouble of perusing 
it; and my account is tlie same with that adopted by Torquemada, lib. xvi. c. 
25, and by Garcia, Orig. p. 311. But even after this decision, so low did the 
Spaniards residing in America rate the capacity of the natives, liiat the first 
council of Lima (I call it by that name on the authority ol" the best Spanish 
authors) discountenanced the admission of Indians to the holy communion, 
Torquem. lib. xvi. c. 20, In New Si)ain the exclusion of Indians frotn the 
Barrament was still more explicit. Ibid, After two centuries have elanscd. nnd 



518 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

notwithstanding all the improvement that the Indians may be supposed to have 
derived from their intercourse with tlie Spaniards during that period, we are 
informed by D. Ant. Ulloa, that in Peru, where, as will appear in the sequel 
of this note, they are supposed to be better instructed than in New Spain, 
their ignorance is so prodigious that very few are permitted to communicate, as 
being altogether destitute of the requisite capacity. Voy. i, 341. &c. Solorz. 
Poht. Ind. i. 203. 

With respect to the exclusion of Indians from the priesthood, either as secu- 
lars or regulars, we may observe that while it continued to be the conaion 
opinion that the natives of America, on account of their incapacity, should 
not be permitted to partake of the holy sacrament, we cannot suppose that 
they would be clothed with that sacred character which entitled them to con- 
secrate and to dispense it. When Torquemada composed his Monarquia In- 
diaiM it was almost a century after the conquest of New Spain ; and yet in his 
time it was still the general practice to exclude Indians from holy orders. Of 
this we have the most satisfying evidence. Torquemada having celebrated 
the virtues and graces of the Indians at great length, and with all the com- 
placency of a missionary, he starts as an objection to what he had asserted, 
" If the Indians really possess all the excellent qualities which you have de- 
scribed, why are they not permitted to assume the religious habit ^ Why are 
they not ordained priests and bishops, as the Jewish and Gentile converts were 
in the primitive church, especially as they might be employed with such su- 
perior advantage to other persons in the instruction of their countrymen ?" 
Lib. xvii. c. 13. 

In answer to this objection, which establishes, in the most unequivocal man- 
ner, what was the general practice at that period, Torquemada observes, that 
although by their natual dispositions, the Indians are well fitted for a subordi- 
nate situation, they are destitute of all the qualities requisite in any station of 
dignity and authority ; and that they are in general so addicted to drunken- 
ness, that upon the slightest temptation one cannot promise on their behaving 
with the decency suitable to the clerical character. The propriety of excluding 
them from it, on these accounts, was, he observed, so well justified by experi- 
ence, that when a foreigner of great erudition, who came from Spain, con- 
demned the practice of the Mexican church, he was convinced of his mis- 
take in a public disputation with the learned and most religious Father D. Juan 
de Gaona, and his retraction is still extant. Torquemada indeed acknowledges, 
as M. Clavigero observes with a degree of exultation, that in his name some 
Indians had been admitted into monasteries ; but, with the art of a disputant, 
he forgets to mention that Torquemada specifies only two examples of this, 
and takes notice that in both instances those Indians had been admitted by 
mistake. Relying upon the authority of Torquemada with regard to New 
Spain, and of Ulloa with regard to Peru, and considering the humiliating de- 
pression of the Indians in all the Spanish settlements, I concluded that they 
were not admitted into the ecclesiastical order, which is held in the highest 
veneration all over the New World. 

But when M. Clavigero, upon his own knowledge asserted facts so repugnant 
to the conclusion I had formed, I began to distrust it, and to wish for further 
information.- In order to obtain this, I applied to a Spanish nobleman, high in 
office, and eminent for his abilities, who, on different occasions, has permitted 
me to have the honour and benefit of corresponding with him. I have been 
favoured with the following answer: "What you have written concerning the 
admission of Indians into holy orders, or into monasteries, in Book VIII., 
especially as it is explained and limited in Note LXXXVIII. of the quarto edi- 
tion, is in general accurate, and conformable to the authorities which you quote. 
And although the congregation of the council resolved and declared, Feb. 13, 
A. D. 1682, that the circumstance of being an Indian, or mulatto, or mestizo, 
did not disqualify any person from being admitted into holy orders, if he was 
possessed of what is required by the canons to entitle him to that privilege; 
this only proves such ordinations to be legal and valid (of which Solorzano and 
the Spanish lawyers and historians quoted by him, Pol. Lid. lib. ii. c. 29, were 
persuaded), but it neither proves the propriety of admitting Indians into holy 
orders, nor what was then the common practice with respect to this : but, on 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. sid 

the contrary, it shows that there was some doubt concerning the ordaining of 
Indians, and sorte repugnance to it. 

" Since that time there have been some examples of admitting Indians into 
holy orders. We have now at Madrid an aged priest, a native of Tlascala. 
His name is D. Juan Cerilo de Castilla Aquihual Catehuttle, descended of a 
cazique converted to Christianity soon after the conquest. He studied the 
ecclesiastical sciences in a seminary of Puebla de los Angeles. He was a can- 
didate, nevertheless, for ten years, and it required much interest before Bishop 
Abren would consent to ordain him. This ecclesiastic was a man of unexcep- 
tionable character, modest, self-denied, and with a competent knowledge of 
what relates to his clerical functions. He came to Madrid above thirty-four 
years ago with the sole view of soliciting admission for the Indians into the 
colleges and seminaries in New Spain, that if, after being well instructed and 
tried, they should find an inclination to enter into the ecclesiastical state, they 
might embrace it, and perform its functions with the greatest benefit to their 
countrymen, whom they could address in their native tongue. He has ob- 
tained various regulations favourable to his scheme, particularly that the first 
college which became vacant in consequence of the exclusion of the Jesuits 
should be set apart for this purpose. But neither these regulations, nor any 
similar ones inserted in the laws of the Indies, have produced any effect, on 
account of objections and representations from the greater part of persons of 
chief consideration employed in New Spain. Whether their opposition be well 
founded or not is a problem difficult to resolve, and towards the solution of 
which several distinctions and modifications are requisite. 

" According to the accounts of this ecclesiastic, and the information of other 
persons who liave resided in the Spanish dominions in America, you may rest 
assured, that in the kingdom of Tierra Firme no such thing is known as either 
an Indian secular priest or monk ; and that in New Spain there are very few 
ecclesiastics of Indian race. In Peru, perhaps, the number may be greater, as 
in that country there are more Indians who possess the means of acquiring 
Buch a learned education as is necessary for persons who aspire to the clerical 
character." 

Note [185]. Page 366. 

UzTARiz, an accurate and cautious calculator, seems to admit, that the 
quantity of silver which does not pay duty, may be stated thus high. According 
to Herrera there was not above a third of what was extracted from Potosi that 
paid the king's fifth. Dec. 8. lib. ii. c. 13. Solorzano asserts likewise, that the 
quantity of silver which is fraudulently circulated, is far greater than that 
which is regularly stamped, after paying the fifth. De Ind. Jure, vol. ii. lib, 
V. p. 846. 

Note [186]. Page 368. 

When the mines of Potosi were discovered in the year 1545, the veins were 
so near the surface, that the ore was easily extracted, and so rich tliat it was 
refined with little trouble and at a small expense, merely by the action of fire. 
The simple mode of refining by fusion alone continued until the year 1574, 
when tlie use of mercury in refining silver, as well as gold, was discovered. 
Those mines having been wrought without interruption for two centuries, the 
veins are now sunk so deep, that the expense of extracting the ore is greatly 
increased. Besides this, the richness of the ore, contrary to what happens in 
most other mines, has become less as the vein continued to dip. The vein 
has likewise diminished to such a degree, that one is amazed that the Spaniards 
should persist in working it. Other rich mines have been successively disco- 
vered ; but in general the value of the ores lias decreased so much, while the ex- 
pense of extracting them has augmented, that the court of Spain in tlie year 
1736 reduced the duty payable to the king from -ijifth to a tenth. All tlie quick- 
silver used in Peru is extracted from the famous mine of Guancabelica, dis- 
covered in the j'ear 15G3. The crown has reserved the property of tliis mine 
to itself; and tlie persons who purchase the quicksilver pay not only the price 



520 KOTES AND ILLUSTI 

of it, but likewise a.Jiflh, as a duty to the king. But in the year 1761 tliis duly 
on quicksilver was abolished, on account of the increase of expense in workin;^ 
mines. Ulloa, Entretenimientos, xii — xv. Voyage, i. p. 505. 52o. In conse- 
quence of this abolition of the Jiflh, and some subsequent abatements of price, 
which became necessary on account of the increasing expense of working mines, 
quicksilver, which was lormerly sold at eighty pesos the quintal, is now de- 
livered by the king at the rate of sixty pesos. Campomanes, Educ. Popul. ii. 
132, note. The duty on gold is reduced to a twentieth, or five per cent. Any 
of my readers who are desirous of being acquainted with the mode in which 
the Spaniards conduct the working of their mines, and the refinement of the 
ore, will find an accurate description of the ancient method by Acosta, lib. iv." 
c. 1 — 13, and of their more recent improvements in the metaUurgic art, by 
Gamboa Comment, a las ordenanz. de Minas, c. 22. 

Note [187]. Page 369. 

Many remarkable proofs occur of the advanced state of industry in Spain 
at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The number of cities in Spain was 
considerable, and they were peopled far beyond the proportion that was com- 
mon in other parts of Europe. The causes of this I liave explained. Hist, 
of Clia. V. p. 68. Wherever cities are populous, that species of industry 
which is peculiar to them increases : artificers and manufacturers abound. 
Tlie effect of the American trade in giving activity to these is manifest from a 
singular fact. In the year 1545, while Spain continued to depend on its own 
industry for the supply of its colonies, so much work was bespoke from the 
manufacturers, that it was supposed tliey could hardly finish it in less than six 
3'ears. Campom. i. 406. Such a demand must have put much industry in 
motion, and have excited extraordinary efforts. Accordingly, we are informed, 
that in the beginning of Pliilip II. 's reign, the city of Seville alone, where the 
trade with America centred, gave employment to no fewer than 16,000 looms 
jn silk or woollen work, and that above 130,000 persons had occupation in car- 
rj'ing on these manufactures. Campom. ii. 472. But so rapid and pernicious 
was the operation of the causes which I shall enumerate, that before Phihp III. 
ended his reign the looms in Seville were reduced to 400. Uztariz, c. 7. 

Since the publication of the first edition, I have the satisfaction to find my 
ideas concerning the early commercial intercourse between Spain and her colo- 
nies confirmed and illustrated by D. Bernardo Ward, of the Junto de Com- 
ercio at Madrid, in his Proyiclo Economico, part ii. c. i. " Under the reigns 
of Charles V. and Philip. II." says he, " the manufactures of Spain and of 
the Low-Countries subject to her dominion were in a most flourishing state. 
Those of France and England were in their infancy. The republic of the 
United Provinces did not then exist. No European power but Spain had colo- 
nies of any value in the New World. Spain could supply her settlements 
there with the productions of her own soil, the fabrics wrought by the hands 
of her own artisans, and all she received in return for these belonged to herself 
alone. Then the exclusion of foreign manufactures was proper, because it 
}night be rendered effectual. Then Spain might lay heavy duties upon goods 
exported to America, or imported from it, and might impose what restraints 
she deemed proper upon a commerce entirely in her own hands. But vi'hen 
time and successive revolutions had occasioned an alteration in all those cir- 
cumstances, when the manufactures of Spain began to decline, and the de- 
mands of America were supplied by foreign fabrics, the original maxims and 
regulations of Spain should have been accommodated to the change in her 
situation. The policy that was wise at one period became absurd in the 
other." 

Note [188]. Page 372, 

No bale of goods is ever opened, no chest of treasure is examined. Botli 
are received on the credit of the persons to whom they belong ; and only one 
instan(;e of fraud is recorded, during the long period in which trade was carried 
un with this liberal confidence. AH tlie coined .•'ilvcr that was brought from 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 521 

i'eru to Porlo-bello in tlic year 1654 was found to be adulterated, and to be 
mingled with a fifth part of base motal. The Spanish merchants, with senti- 
ments suitable to their usual integrity, sustained tlie whole loss, and indemni- 
fied the foreigners by whom tliey were employed. The fraud was detected, 
and the treasurer of the revenue in Peru, the author of it, was publicly burnt, 
B. Ulioa. Retablis. de Manuf., &c. liv. ii. p, 102. 

Note [189]. Page 374. 

Many striking proofs occur of the scarcity of money in Spain. Of all the 
immense sums which have been imported from America, the amount of which 
I shall afterwards have occasion to mention, Moncada asserts, that there did 
not remain in Spain, in 1619, above two hundred millions of pesos, one half in 
coined money, the other in plate and jewels. Restaur, de Espagna, disc. iii. c. 
1. Uztariz, who published his valuable work in 1724, contends, that in money, 
plate, and jewels, there did not remain a hundred million. Theor., &c. c. 3. 
Campomanes, on the authority of a remonstance from the community of mer- 
chants in Toledo to Philip 111., relates, as a certain proof how scarce cash had 
become, that persons who lent money received a third of the sum which they 
advanced as interest and premium. Educ. Popul. i. 417. 

Note [190]. Page 375. 

The account of the mode in which the factors of the South Sea company 
conducted the trade in the fair of Porto-bello, which was opened to them by 
the Assiento, I have taken from Don Dion. Alcedo y Herrera, president of the 
Court of Audience in Quito, and governor of that province. Don Dionysio 
was a person of such respectable character for probity and discernment, that 
his testimony in any point would be of much weight ; but greater credit is 
due to it in this case, as he was an eye-witness of the transactions which he 
relates, and was often employed in detecting and authenticating the frauds 
which he describes. It is probable, however, that his representation, being 
composed at the commencement of the war which broke out between Great 
Britain and Spain, in the year 1739, may, in some instances, discover a portion 
of the acrimonious spirit natural at that juncture. His detail of facts is 
curious ; and even English authors confirm it in some degree, by admitting 
both that various frauds were practised in the transactions of the annual ship, 
and that the contraband trade from Jamaica, and other British colonies, was 
become enormously great. But for the credit of the English nation it may be 
observed, that those fraudulent operations are not to be considered as deeds of 
the company, but as the dishonourable arts of their factors and agents. The 
company itself sustained a considerable loss by the Assiento trade. Many of 
its servants acquired immense fortunes. Anderson Chronol. deduct, ii. 38VJ. 

Note [191]. Page 377. 

Several facts with respect to the institution, the progress, and the effects of 
this company, are curious, and but little known to English readers. Though 
the province of Venezuela, or Caraccas, extends four-hundred miles along tho 
coast, and is one of the most fertile in America, it was so much neglected by 
the Spaniards, that during the twenty years prior to the establishment of tho 
company, only five ships sailed from Spain to tiiat province ; and, during six- 
teen years, from 1706 to 1722, not a single ship arrived from the Caraccas in 
Spain. Noticias de Real Campania de Caraccas, p. 28. During this period 
Spain must have been supplied almost entirely witli a large quantity of cacao, 
which it consumes, by foreigners. Before the erection of the company, neither 
tobacco nor hides were imported from Caraccas into Spain. Ibid. p. 117. 
Since tlie commercial operations of the company, begun in the year 1731, tlie 
importation of cacao into Spain has increased amazingly. During thirty 
years subsequent to 1701, the number oi' fanei^as of cacao (each a hundred and 
ten pounds) imported from Caraccas was 643,215. During eighteen years sub- 
sequent to 1731, the number of faneeas imported was 869.247 ; and if we sup- 

Vot. I.— 66 " ' 



522 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

pose the importation to be continued in the same proportion during the re- 
mainder of thirty years, it will amount to 1,448,746 /aneg<M, which is an increase 
of 805,531 /nneg^a*. Id. p. 148. During eight years subsequent to 1756, there 
have been imported into Spain by the company 88,482 arrobas (each twenty- 
five pounds) of tobacco ; and hides to the number of 177,354. Id. 161. Since 
the publication of the Noticias de Campania, in 1765, its trade seems to be on 
the increase. During five years subsequent to 1769, it has imported 179,156 
fanegas of cacao into Spain, 36,208 arrobas of tobacco, 75,496 hides, and 221,432 
pesos in specie. Campomanes, ii. 162. The last article is a proof of the grow- 
ing wealth of the colony. It receives cash from Mexico in return for the cacao, 
with which it supplies that province, and this it remits to Spain, or lays out in 
purchasing European goods. But, besides this, the most explicit evidence is 
produced, that the quantity of Cacao raised in the province is double to what 
it yielded in 1731 ; the number of its live stock is more than treble, and its in- 
habitants much augmented. The revenue of the bishop, which arises wholly 
from tithes, has increased from eight to twenty thousand pesos. Notic. p. 69- 
In consequence of the augmentation of the quantity of cacao imported into 
Spain, its price has decreased from eighty pesos for \hefanega to forty. Ibid. 
61. Since the publication of the first edition, I have learned that Guyana, 
including all the extensive provinces situated on the banks of the Orinoco, the 
Islands of Trinidad and Margarita are added to the countries with which the 
company of Caraccas had liberty of trade by their former charters. Real Ce- 
dula, Nov. 19, 1776. But I have likewise been informed, that the institution of 
this company has not been attended with all the beneficial effects which I have 
ascribed to it. In many of its operations the illiberal and oppressive spirit of 
monopoly is still conspicuous. But in order to explain this, it would be neces- 
sary to enter into minute details, which are not suited to the nature of this 
work. 

Note [192]. Page 380. 

This first experiment made by Spain of opening a free trade with any of 
her colonies, has produced effects so remarkable, as to merit some further illus- 
tration. The towns to which this liberty has been granted, are Cadiz and 
Seville, for the province of Andalusia : Alicant and Carthagena, for Valencia 
and Murcia ; Barcelona, for Catalonia and Aragon ; Santander, for Castile ; 
Corugna, for Galicia ; and Gijon, for Asturias. Append, ii. a la Educ. Popul. 
p. 41. These are either the ports of chief trade in their respective districts, or 
those most conveniently situated for the exportation of their respective produc- 
tions. The following facts give a view of the increase of trade in the settle- 
ments to which the new regulations extend. Prior to the allowance of free 
trade, the duties collected in the custom house at the Havanna were computed 
to be 104,208 pesos annually. During the five years preceding 1774, they rose 
at a medium to 308,000 pesos a year. In Yucatan the duties have arisen from 
8000 to 15,000. In Hispaniola, from 2500 to 5600. In Porto Rico, from 1200 
to 7000. The total value of goods imported from Cuba into Spain was 
reckoned, in 1774, to be 1,500,000 pesos. Educ. Popul. i. 450, &c. 

Note [193]. Page 382. 

The two treatises of Don Pedro Rodriguez Campomanes, Fiscal del real Con- 
sejoy Supremo (an officer in rank and power nearly similar to that of Attorney- 
General in England), and Director of the Royal Academy of History, the one 
entitled Discurso sobre el Fomento de la Industria Popular ; the other, Dis- 
curso sobre la Education Popular de los Artesanos y su Fomento ; the former 
published in 1774, and the latter in 1775, afford a striking proof of this. 
Almost every point of importance with respect to interior police, taxation, 
agriculture, manufactures, and trade, domestic as well as foreign, is examined 
in the. course of these works; and there are not many authors, even in the 
nations most eminent for commercial knowledge, who have carried on their 
inquiries with a more thorough knowledge of those various subjects, and 
a more perfect freedom from vulgar and national prejudices? or who have 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 52i 

iinited more happily the cahn researches of philosophy with the ardent zeal of 
a public spirited citizen. These books are in high estimation among the 
Spaniards ; and it is a decisive evidence of the progress of their own ideas, 
that they are capable of relishing an author whose sentiments are so liberal. 

Note [194]. Page 384. 

The galeon employed in that trade, instead of the six hundred tons to which 
it is limited by law, Recop. lib. xlv. 1. 15, is commonly from twelve hundred to 
two thousand tons burden. The ship from Acapulco, taken by Lord Anson, 
instead of the 500,000 pesos permitted by law, had on board 1,313,843 pesos, 
besides uncoined silver equal in value to 43,61 1 pesos more. Anson's Voy. 384. 

Note [195]. Page 384. 

The price paid for the bull varies according to the rank of different persons. 
Those in the lowest order who are servants or slaves, pay two reals of plate, 
or one shilling ; other Spaniards pay eight reals, and those in public office, or 
who hold encomiendas, sixteen reals. Solorz. de Jure Ind. vol. ii. lib. iii. c. 25. 
According to Chilton, an English merchant who resided long in the Spanish 
settlements, the bull of Cruzado bore a higher price in the year 1570, being 
then sold for four reals at the lowest. Hakluyt, iii. 461. The price seems to 
have varied at different periods. That exacted for the bulls issued in the last 
Predicacion will appear from the ensuing table, which will give some idea of 
the proportional numbers of the different classes of citizens in New Spain and 
Peru. 

There were issued for New Spain — 

Bulls at 10 pesos each ------.-. 4 

at 2 pesos each --_._»_- 22,601 

at 1 peso each --------. 164,220 

at 2 reals each -------- 2,462,500 



2,649,325 



For Peru — 

at 16 pesos 4j reals each .----«. 3 

at 3 pesos 3 reals each ------- 14,202 

at 1 peso 51 reals each ------- 78,822 

at 4 reals each -------- 410,325 

at 3 reals each --------- 668,601 



1,171,953 



Note [196]. Page 385. 

As Villa Segnor, to whom we are indebted for this information contained in' 
his Theatre Americano, published in Mexico A. D. 1746, was accomptant-gene^ 
ral in one of the most considerable departments of the royal revenue, and by that 
means had access to proper information, his testimony with respect to t!ii point 
merits great credit. No such accurate detail of the Spanish revenues in any 
part of America has hitherto been published in the English language ; and the 
particulars of it may appear curious and interesting to some of my readers. 

From the bull of Cruzado, published every two years, there arises 

an aimual revenue in pesos ------- 150,000 

From the duty on silver 700,000 

050,000 



524 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Brought fonvard 850,000 

From the duty on gold 60,000 

From tax on cards --------- 70,000 

From tax on pulque, a drink used by the Indians - - - - 1G!,000 

From tax on stamped paper ------- 41,000 

From ditto on ice --_-_--__ 15,522 

From ditto on leather -------- 2,500 

From ditto on gunpowder -------- 71,550 

From ditto on salt ---- 32,000 

From ditto on copper of Mechoachan ------ 1,000 

From ditto on alum -------- 6,500 

From ditto on Juego de los gallos ------ 21,100 

From the half of ecclesiastical annats ----- 49,000 

From royal ninths of bishoprics, &;c. ------ 68,800 

From the tribute of Indians ------- 650,000 

From Alcavala, or duty on sale of goods ----- 721,875 

From the Almajorifasgo, custom house ----- 373,333 

From the mint ---------- 357,500 



3,552,680 



This sum amounts to 819,161 sterling^. ; and if we add to it the profit ac- 
cruing from the sale of 5000 quintals of quicksilver, imported from the mines 
of Almaden, in Spain, on the King's account, and what accrues from the Averia, 
and some other taxes which Villa Segnor does not estimate, the public revenue 
in new Spain may well be reckoned above a million pounds sterling money. 
Theat. Mex. vol. i. p. 38, &c. According to Villa Segnor, the total produce of 
the Mexican mines amounts at a medium to eight millions of Pesos in silver 
annually, and to 5912 marks of gold. Ibid. p. 44. Several branches of the 
revenue have been explained in the course of the history ; some of which 
there was no occasion of mentioning, require a particular illustration. The 
right to the tithes in the New World is vested in the crown of Spain, by a bull 
of Alexander VI. Charles V. appointed them to be applied in the following 
manner : One fourth is allotted to the bishop of the diocess, another fourth to 
the dean and chapter, and other officers of the cathedral. The remaining half 
ia divided into nine equal parts. Two of these, imder the denomination of 
los dus Novcnos reales, are paid to the crown, and constitute a branch of the 
royal revenue. The other seven parts are applied to the maintenance of the 
parochial clergy, the building and support of churches, and other pious uses. 
Recopil, lib. L tit. xvi. Ley, 23, &c. Avendano Thesaur. Indie, vol. i. p. 184. 

The Alcavala is a duty levied by an excise on the sale of goods. In Spam 
it amounts to ten per cent. In America to four per cent. Solorzano, Polit. 
Indiana, lib. vi. c. 8. Avendano, vol. i. 186. 

The ALmajorifasco, or custom paid in America on goods imported and ex- 
ported, may amount on an average to fifteen per cent. Recopil. lib. viii, tit. 
xiv. Ley, i. Avendano, vol. i. p. 188. 

The Aoeria, or tax paid on account of convoys to guard the ships sailing to 
and from America, was first imposed when Sir Francis Drake filled the New 
World with terror by his expedition to the South Sea. It amounts to two per 
cent, on the value of goods. Avendano, vol. i. p. 189. Recopil. lib. ix. tit. ix. 
Ley, 43, 44, 

I liave not been able to procure any accurate detail of the several branches 
of revenue in Peru later than the year 1614. From a curious manuscript con- 
taining a state of that viceroyalty in all its departments, presented to the Mar 
quis of Montes-Claros by Fran. Lopez Caravantes, accomptant-general in the 
tribunal of Lima, it appears that the public revenue, as nearly as I can com- 
pute the value of the money ia which Caravantes states his accounts, amounted 
in ducats at 4s. lid. to 2,372,768 

Expenses of government ------- 1,242,992 

Net free revenue l,l29,77ti 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. biS 

The total in sterling money .._.--- £583,303 

Expenses of government __--_-- 305,568 

Net free revenue 277,735 

But several articles appear to be omitted in this computation, such as the 
duty on stamped paper, leather, ecclesiastical annats, &c. so that the revenue 
of Peru may be well supposed equal to that of Mexico. 

In computing the expense j( government in New Spain, I may take that of 
Peru as a standard. There the annual establishment for defraying the charge 
of administration exceeds one half of the revenue collected, and there is no 
reason for supposing it to be less in New Spain. 

I have obtained a calculation of tlie total amount of the public revenue of 
Spain from America and the Philippines, which, as the reader will perceive 
from the two last articles, is more recent than any of the former. 

Alcavalas (Excise) and Aduanas (Customs), &c. in pesos fuertes - 2,500,000 

Duties on Gold and silver 3,000,000 

Bull of Cruzado 1,000,000 

Tribute of the Indians 2,000,000 

By sale of quicksilver __------ 300,000 

Paper exported on the king's account, and sold in the royal ware- 
houses 300,000 

Stamped paper, tobacco, and other small duties . _ - 1,000,000 

Duty on coinage of, at the rate of one real de la Plata for each mark 300,000 
From the trade of Acapulco, and the coasting trade from province 

to province 500,000 

Assiento of Negroes - 200,000 

From the trade o(Mathe, or herb of Paraguay, formerly monopolized 

by the Jesuits 500,000 

From other revenues formerly belonging to that order - - - 400,000 

Total 12,000,000 

Total in sterling money £2,700,000 



Deduct half, as the expense of administration, and there remains 
net free revenue --.------ £1,350,000 

Note [197]. Page 385. 

• An author long conversant in commercial speculation has computed, that 
from the mines of New Spain alone the king receives annually, as his fifth, the 
sum of two millions of our money. Harris, Collect, of Voy. ii. p. 164. Ac- 
cording to this calculation, the total produce of the mines must be ten millions 
sterling ; a sum so exorbitant, and so little corresponding with all accounts of 
the annual importation from America, that the information on which it is 
founded must evidently be erroneous. According to Campomanes, the total 
product of the American mines may bo computed at thirty millions of pesos, 
which, at four shillings and sixpence a peso, amounts to 7,425,000/. sterling, the 
king's fifth of which (if that were regularly paid) would be 1,485,000/. But 
from this sum must be deducted what is lost by a fraudulent withholding of tlie 
fiftli due to the crown, as well as the sum necessary for defraying the expense 
of administration. Educ, Popular, vol. ii. p. 131. note. Both these suras are 
considerable. 

Note [198]. Page 385. 

According to Bern, de Ulloa, all foreign goods exported from Spain to 
America pay duties of various kinds, amounting in all to more tJian 25 per 
cent. As most of the gdods with which Spain supplies her colonies are foreign, 
such a tax upon a trade so extensive must yield a considerable revenue. 



526 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Retablis. de Mannf. et du Commerce d'Esp. p. 150. He computes the value 
of goods exported annually from Spain to America to be about two millions 
and a half sterling, p. 97. 

Note |;199]. Page 386. 

The Marquis de Serralvo, according to Gage, by a monopoly of salt, and by 
embarking deeply in the Manilla trade, as well as in that to Spain, gained 
annually a miUlon of ducats. In one year he remitted a million of ducats to 
Spain, in order to purchase from the Conde Olivares, and his creatures, a pro- 
longation of his government, p. 61. He was successful in his suit, and con- 
tinued in office from 1624 to 1635, double the usual time. 



INDEX. 



AB YSSIJVM, an embassy sent to that country 
by Jolui II. king of Portugal, 41. 

^eapulco, the nature of the trade carried on from 
thence to Manilla, 383. Amount of the trea- 
sure oa board the sliip talten by Lord Anson, 
523. 

Scosta, his method of accounting for the differ- 
ent degrees of heal in the old and new conti- 
nents, 462. 

Jidair, his account of the revengeful temper of 
the native Americans, 478. 

Adanson, his justification of Hanno's account of 
the African seas, 449. 

.Africa, the western coast of, tirst explored by 
order of John I. king of Portugal, 34. Is dis- 
covered from Cape Non to Bojador, 35. Cape 
Bojador doubled, 36. The countries south- 
ward of the river Senegal discovered, 39. Cape 
of Good Hope seen by Bartholomew Dias, 40. 
Causes of the extreme heat of the climate 
there, 125. Ignorance of the ancient astrono- 
mers concerning, 449. Expedition to the coast 
of, 394. 

^Agriculture, the state of, among the native Ame- 
ricans, 158. Two principal causes of the de- 
fects of, 161. 

-Sguado, is sent to Hispariiola, as a commissioner 
to inspect the conduct of Columbus, 72. 

^guilar, Jerom de, ia relieved from a long capti- 
vity among the Indians at Cozumel by Fer- 
nando Cortes, 201. 

Albuquerque, Rodrigo, Ilis barbarous treatment 
of the Indians of Hispaniola, 108. 

Mcavala, in the Spanish Customs, the terms ex- 
plained, 524. 

■Alexander the Great, his political character, 23. 
His motive in founding the city of Alexandria, 
ib. His discoveries in India, ib. 

Alnander, VI. Pope, grants to Ferdinand and 
Isabella of Castile the right of all their western 
discoveries, 65. Sends missionaries with Co- 
lumbus on his second voyage, ib. 

Almagro, Diego de, Iiis birth and character, 2G2. 
Associates with Pizarro and De Luque in a 
voyage of discovery, ib. His unsuccessful 
attempts, 263. Is neglected by Pizarro in his 
Spanish negotiation, 265. Is reconciled to him, 
2fiG. Brings reinforcements to Pizarro at Peru, 
274. Beginning of dissensions between him 
and Pizarro, 280. Invades Chili, 281. Is 
created governor of Chili, and inarches to 
Cuzco, 283. Seizes Cuzco out of tlie hands of 
Pizarro, 284. Defeats Alvarado, and takes 
him prisoner, ib. Is deceived by the artful 
negotiations of Francis Pizarro, 285. Is de- 
feated by tlie Pizarros, 286. Is taken prisoner, 
287. Is tried and condemned, ib. Is put to 
death, ib. 

, the son, affords refuge to his father's 

followers at Lima, 291. His character, ib. 
Heads a conspiracy against Francis Pizarro, 
992. Pizarro assassinated, ib. Is acknow- 
ledged as his successor, ib. His precarious 
situation, 293. Is defeated by Vaca de Caatro, 
294. Is betrayed and executed, ib. 

Almajorifasgo, in the Spanish AmtT:ican Cus- 
tonw, the amount of. 521. 



Alvarado, Alonzo, is sent from Lima by Francifi 
Pizarro with a body of Spaniards to relieve 
his brothers at Cuzco, 284. Is taken prisoner 
by Almagro, ih. His escape, 285. 

, Pedro de, is left by Cortes to command 

at Mexico, while he marched against Narvaez, 
231. He is besieged by the Mexicans, 233. 
His imprudent conduct, 234. His expedition 
to Uuito in Peru, 279. 

Amazons, a community of, said to exist in Soutt} 
America, by Francis Orellana, 290. 

America, tile co/itinent of, discovered by Chris- 
topher Coltunbus, 76. How it obtained thia 
name, 81. Ferdinand of Castile nominate.^ 
two governments in, 98. The propositions 
otlered to tile natives, 99. Ih reception of 
Ojeda and Nicuessa among them, ib. Tlie 
South Sea discovered by Balboa, 104. Rio de 
Plata discovered, 108. The natives of, inju- 
riously treated by the Spaniards, 117. The 
vast extent o), 123. The grand objects it pre- 
sented to view, ib. The circumstances of, 
tavourable for commerce and civihzation, ib. 
The climates of, 124. Various causes of the 
peculiarity of its climates, 125. Its rude and 
uncultivated state when tirst discovered, 126. 
Its animals, 127. Its insects and reptiles, 128. 
Birds, ib. General account of its soil, 129. 
Inquiry into the first population of, ib. Coubt 
not be peopled by civilized nations, 132. Tho 
northern extremity ot, contiguous to Asia, 133. 
Probably peopled by Asiatics, 137. Condition 
and character of the native inhabitants in- 
quired into, ib. Were more rude than thfj 
natives of any other known parts of the earth, 
ib. The Peruvians and Mexicans excepted, 

138. The first discoverers incapable of a judi- 
cious speculative examination, ib The various 
systems of philosophers respecting the native.'!, 

139. Method observed in the present review 
of their bodily constitution and circumstances, 

140. The venereal disease derived from this 
part of the world, 148. Why so thinly inha- 
bited, 161. The country depopulated by con ■ 
tinual wars, 174. Causes of the depopulation 
of, traced, 347. This depopulation not tho 
result of any intentional system ol' policy, 348. 
Nor the result of religion, 349. Number ol' 
Indian natives still remaining in Mexico ami 
Peru, 3.50. All the Spanish dominions there 
subjected to two viceroys, 351. Its third vice- 
royalty lately established, ib. Cause of the 
extreme coldness toward the soutliem extre- 
mity of, 464. The natural uncultivated stale 
of the country described, 465. Bones of largo 
extinct species of animals discovered under 
ground near the banks of the Ohio, ib. Why 
IOurr)pean animals drgciiiratJ' tline, 466. Sup- 
po.scii to have undergone a c <iiiviilsive separa- 
tion from Asia, 467. The vicinity of the two 
continents of Asia and America clearly ascer- 
tained, 468, 469, 470. See Mexico, Peru, Cortes, 
Pizarro, Cabot, &c. 

, Norili, project of settling therp, 39C. 

First expedition to, fails, 3!t7. A second expe- 
dition to, ends disastrously, ih. Plan of settlins 
there resumed without eflccf, ib. The coaet 



628 



IJ^DEX. 



of, divided into two parts, 402. Charicrs 
granted to two companies for settling colonies 
in, ib. Emigrations from England to, 436. 
See Colonics, J^Tew- England, Virginia, &c. 
Americans, native, in Spanisli America, tlieir 
bodily constitution and complexion, 140, 141. 
TJieir strength and abilities, 141, 142. Their 
insensibility with regard to their women, 142. 
No deformities in their frame, 144. Thia cir- 
cumstance accounted for, ib. Uniformity of 
their colour, 145. A peculiar race of, described, 
146. The Esquimaux, ib. Patagonians, 147. 
The existence of Patagonian giants yet remain- 
ing to be decided, ib. Their diseases, 148. The 
venereal disease peculiarly theirs, ib. The 
powers and qualities of tlieir minds, 149. Are 
only solicitous to supply immediate wants, ib. 
The art of computation scarcely known to 
them, 150. Have no abstract ideas, ib. The 
North Americans mucli more intelligent than 
tliose of the South, 151. Their aversion to 
labour, 152. Their social state, ib. Domestic 
imion, 153. The women, ib. Their women 
not prolific, 154. Their parental affection and 
filial duty, 155. Their modes of subsistence, 
156, Fishing, ib. Hunting, 157. Agriculture, 
158. The various objects of their culture, ib. 
Two principal causes of the* defects of their 
agriculture, 159. Their want of tame animals, 
ib. Their want of useful metals, 160. Their 
))oIitical institutions, 161. Were divided into 
small independent communities, ib. Unac- 
ijuainted with the idea of property, 162. Their 
Jiigh sense of equality and independence, ib. 
Tlieir ideas of subordination imperfect, ib. To 
what tribes these descriptions apply, 163. 
Some exceptions, 164. Florida, ib. The 
Natchez, ib. The islands, 165. In Bogota, ib. 
Inquiry into the causes of these irregularities, 
ib. Their art of war, 167. Their motives to 
liostilitj', ib. Causes of their ferocity, ib. 
Perpetuity of their animosities, 168. Their 
modes of conducting war, ib. Are not destitute 
of courage and fortitude, 169. Incapable of 
military discipline, 170. Their treatment of 
prisoners, ib. Their fortitude under torture, 
171. Never eat human flesh but to gratify re- 
venge, 172. How the South Americans treated 
their prisoners, ib. Their military education, 

173. Strange method of cl)oo.«ing a captain 
among the Lidians on the banks of the Orinoco, 
ib. Their numbers wasted by continual wars, 

174. Their tribes now recruit their numbers 
by adopting prisoners, ib. Are never foriniila- 
bie in war to more polished nations, 175. Their 
arts, dress, and ornaments, ib. Their habita- 
tions, 176. Their arras, 178. Their domestic 
utensils, ib. Construction of their canoes, ib. 
The listlessncss with which they apply to la- 
bour, 1*9. Their relijion, ib. Some tribes 
altogether destitute of any, 180. Remarkable 
diversity in their religious notions, 181, Their 
ideas of the immortality of the soul, 183. Tlieir 
modes of burial, 184. Why their physicians 
pretend to be conjurors, ib.' Theu" love of 
dancing, 185. Their immoderate passion for 
gaining, 187. Are extremely addicted to drunk- 
enness, ib. Put their aged and incurable to 
death, 189. General estimate of their charac- 
ter, ib. Their intellectual powers, ib. Their 
political talents, 190. Powers of affection, 191, 
Hardness of heart, ib. Their insensibility, ib. 
Taciturnity, 192. Their cunning, ib. Their 
virtues, 193. Their spirit of independence, ib. 
Fortitude, ib. Attachment to their commu- 
nity, ib. Their satisfaction with their own 
condition, 194. General caution with respect 
to this inquiry, ib. Two distinguishable classes, 
195. Exceptions as to their character, 196. 
An antipathy industriotisly encouraged be- 
tween them and the Negroes in America, by 
the Spauiavd9,-358. Their present condition, 



ib. How taxed, ib. Stated services demandefi 
from them, ib. Mode of exacting these ser- 
vices, 359, How governed, ib. Protector of 
the Indians, his function, ib. Reasons why 
so small a progress is made in their conversion, 
364, Their characteristic features described, 
470 Instances of their persevering speed, 
471. 

Jimerigo, Vespucci, publishes the first written 
account of the New World, and hence gave 
name to America, 81. His claim as a disco- 
verer examined, 458. 

Jlnacoana, a female cazique of Hispaniola, her 
base and cruel usage by the Spaniards, 93, 94. 

Jindes, stupendous height and extent of that 
range of mountains, 123. Their height com- 
pared with other mountains, 46J Gonzalo 
Pizarro's remarkable expedition over, 289. 

Animals, large, very few found in America at its 
first discovery, 128, 

Ancients, cause of the imperfection of the art of 
navigation among them, 18. Their geograplii- 
cal knowledge extremely confined, 449, 

Arabians, peculiarly attached to the study of 
Geography, 23 

Argonauts, the expedition of, why so famous 
among the Greeks, 21 

Arithmetic, or computation, tlie art of, hardly 
known to the native Americans, 150 

Ascolino, Father, his extraordinary mission to, 
tlie Prince of the Tartars, 30, 

Asiatic discoveries made by tlie Russians, 135, 

Assiento trade, the nature of, explained, 374. 
The frauds in, and how put an end to, 375, 

Atahualpa, is left by his father Huascar his suc- 
cessor in the kingdom of Cinilo, 269. Defeats 
his brother Huascar, and usurps the empire of 
Peru,ib. Sends presents to Pizarro, 270. Visits 
Pizarro, 272. Is perfidiously seized by hiin, 
273. Agrees with Pizarro on a ransom, ib 
Is refused his liberty, 275, His behaviour dur- 
ing his confinement, ^76. A form of trial be- 
Ftowed on him, ib. Is put to death, 277. Com- 
parison of authorities relating to his transac- 
tions with, and treatment by Pizarro, 497. 

Audience of New Spain, board of, established by 
the Emperor Charles V., 259. Courts of, their 
jurisdiction, 3.52. 

Avrria, a Spanish tax for convoy to and from 
America, when first imposed, 524. Its rate, ib, 

Azores, those islands discovered by the Portu- 
guese, 38, 

Bacon, Nathaniel, heads an insuncction in Vir- 
ginia, 424. Forces the governor and council 
there to fly, ib. They apply to England for 
succour, 425. His death termmates the rebel- 
lion, ib. 

Balboa, Vasco Nugnez do, settles a colony at 
Santa Maria, in the Gulf of Darien, 100. Re- 
ceives intelligence of the rich country of Peru, 
102. His character, 103. Marches across the 
isthmus, 104. Discovers the Southern Ocean, 
ib. Returns, 105. Is superseded in his com- 
mand by the appointment of Pedrarias Davila, 
ib. Is fined by Pedrarias for former transac- 
tions, 106. Is appointed lieutenant-governor 
of the countries on the South Sea, and marries 
Pedrarias's daughter, 106, 107. Is arrested and 
put to death by Pedrarias, 107. 

Bark, Jesuits', a" production peculiar to Peru, 368. 

Barrere, his description of the construction of 
Indian houses, 482. 

Bchaim, Martin, the honour of having discovered 
America falsely ascribed to him by some Ger- 
man authors, 455. Account of him and his 
family, ib. 

Brhring and Tscliirikow, Russian navigators, 
Ilinucht to have discovered the north-west 
extremity of America from the eastward, 135. 
llncerlainly of their accounts, 467. 

Bcnalcazar, governor of St. Michael, reduces 



INDEX. 



»i'* 



• the kingdom of Quifo, 278, 279. Is deprived 
of his cbiiiraand by Pizarro, 289. 

Penjamin, the Jew of Tudela, his extiaordinary 
tniveU, 30. 

Sernaldes, instance of the bravery of the Carib- 
bees mentioned by him, 484. 

Setktncourt, John de, a Xoriuan baron, conquers 
and possesses the Canary islands, 33. 

Birds, an account of those natural to America, 
I'X. The flight oi', often stretch to an immense 
distance from land, 453. 

Bogota, in America, some account of the inha- 
bitants of, 165. Causes of their tame submis- 
sion to tJie Spaniards, 166, Their religious 
doctrines and rites, 183. 

Bojador, Cape, the lirst discovery of, 35. Is 
doubled by the Portuguese discoverers, 36. 

Bosfu, his account of the American war song, 
479. 

Bonadilla, Francis de, is sent to Hispaniola to 
inquire into the conduct of Columbus, 83. 
Sends Columbus home in irons, 83, 84. Is de- 
graded, 85. 

Bougainville, his defence of the Periplus of 
Ilaimo, 448. 

Bouguer, M., his character of the native Peru- 
vians, 473. 

Brasil, the coast of, discovered by Alvarez Ca- 
bral, 82. Remarks on the climate of, 463. 

Bridge^-, Peruvian, described, 508. 

Buenos Jiyres, in South America, some account 
of that province, 344. 

Bulls, papal, of no force in Spanish America, 
before examined and approved by the royal 
council of the Indies, 361. See Crusado. 

Burial of the dead, American mode of, 184. 

Cabot, Giovanni, is appointed to command the 
first expedition to explore unknown countries, 

390. Embarks with his son at Bristol, ib. 
Discovers Newfoundland, ib. Returns to Eng- 
land, ib. No advantage is derived from his 
discoveries, ib. The scheme is abandoned, 

391. lie is appointed governor of a company 
of merchaiit adventurers, for whom he obtains 
a charter, 393. 

, Sebastian, sails on an expedition to South 

America, 392. Visits Brasil, and touches at 
Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, ib. His voyage 
e.xtends the sphere of English navigation, and 
proves the means of opening an intercourse 
with the .\rchipelago, and some towns on the 
coast of Syria, ib. 

Cabral, Alvarez, a Portuguese coimnander, dis- 
covers the coast of Brasil, 82. 

Cacao, the best in quality, produced in the Spanish 
American colonies, 368. The preparation of 
chocolate from, derived from the Mexicans, 
376. 

Cadiz, the galeons and flota removed thither from 
Seville, 372. 

California, the peninsula of, discovered by Fer- 
nando Cortes, 2t>0. The true state of this 
country long unknowTi, 341. Why depreciated 
by the Jesuits, ib. Favourable account of, 
given by Don Joseph Galvez, ib. 

Califomians, the character of, by P. Venegas, 
474. 

Campeachy, discovered by Cordova, who is re- 
pulsed by the natives, 119 

Campomancs, Don Pedro Rodriguez, character of 
his political and commercial WTitings, 522. 
His account of the produce of the Spanish 
American mines, 525. 

Canary islands, erected into a kitigdom by Pope 
Clement VI., 33. Are conquered by John de 
Bethencourt, ib. 

C<innibah, no people ever found to eat human 
flesh for subsistence, though ollen for revenge, 
173. 480. 

Canoes, American the construction of, described, 
178. 
Vol. I.—r 67 



Cararcas, establishment of tin- company trading 
to tliat coast, 377. (irowth of the trade, 521. 

Carihbcc islands, discovered l\y Columbus iu his 
second voyage, 66. 

Caribhces, their spirit peculiarly fierce, 196. 
Their character, by M. de Chanvalon, 474. 
Probable conjecture as to the distinction in 
character between them and the natives of 
the larger islands, 485. 

Carpini, his extraordinary mission to the Prince 
of I he Tartars, 30. 

Carthagena, tlie harbour of, the safest and best 
lortilied of any in all the Spanish American 
dominions, 345 

Cartkaginions, state of commerce and navigation 
among, 20. The famous voyages of Ilaimo 
and Himlico, ib. 

Carvajal, Francisco de, contributes to Vaca de 
Castro's victory over young Alraagro, 294. 
Encourages Gonzalo Pizarro to assume the 
government of Peru, 3tX). Advises Pizarro to 
assume the sovereignty of the country, 302. 
Is seized by Gasca, and executed, 308. 

CastiUo, Bemal Diaz del, character of his His- 
toria Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nufeva 
Espagna, 486. 

Oe.nteno, Diego, revolts from Gonzalo Pizarro to 
the viceroy of Peru, 301. Is defeated by Car- 
vajal, and secretes himself in a cave, 302. 
i?allies out, and seizes Cuzco, 306, 307. Is 
reduced by Pizarro, 307. Is employed by 
Gasca to make discoveries in the regions about 
the river Plata, 310. 

Ckancelour, Richard, sails in search of a north- 
west passage, 393. The fleet is scattered in a 
storm, ib. He enters the White Sea, and win- 
ters at Archangel, ib. Visits Moscow, a dis- 
tance of 1200 miles, and delivers a letter to the 
czar, ib. Is the means of opening a trade 
with Russia, ib Is empowered by tiueen 
Elizabeth to negotiate with the czar in her 
name, ib. 

Chanvalon, M. de, hii character of the native 
Caribbees, 474. 

Chapetones, in the Spanish Amencan colonies, 
who thus distinguished, 356. 

Charles III., king of Spain, establishes packet 
boats between Spain and the colonies, 378. 
Allows free trade to the Windward islands, ib. 
Grants the colonies a free trade with each 
other, 380. 

v.. Emperor, sends Roderigo de Figueroa 

to Hispaniola, as Chief Judge, to regulate the 
treatment of the Indians, 113. Causes this 
subject to be debated before him, 115. Equips 
a squadron at the solicitation of Ferdinand 
Magellan, 253. Resigns his claim on the Mo- 
luccas to the Portuguese, 255. Appoints Cortes 
governor of New Spain, 256. Rewards him 
on coming home, 259. Establishes a board 
called the Audience of New Spain, ib. His 
consultations on American affairs, 294. Esta- 
blishes new regulations, 296. 

Chrsapcak. See Virginia. 

Chili, is invaded by Alniagro, 281. How sub- 
jected by the Spaniards,' 342. Excellence of 
its climate and soil, ib. Cause of its being 
neglected, 343. Prospect of its improvement, 
ib. 

Chiquitos, political State of that people, from 
Fernandez, 478. 

Chocolate, the use of, derived from the Mexicana, 
370. 

Cholula, in Mexico, arrival of Cortes there, with 
some account of the town, 217. A conspiracy 
against Cortes discovered, and tlie inhabitants 
destroyed, ib. 

Church government, Bcntimenti! respecting, at 
the Reformation, 427. Religious persecution 
in the reigns of Queen Mary and Queen Eliza- 
beth, 428. Intolerant spirit"of the church, 429. 
Separation of the Puritans from the churcii. 



63U 



INDEX. 



jl). They are reduced into an ecclesiastical 
system by Ruhert Brown, a popular declaimer, 
Jinrt adopt the name of Brownists, 430. Take 
refuge in Holland, 431. Remove tlience to 
America, 4'M. Church government is esta- 
blished in Massachusetts Bay, 435. Its intole- 
rance, ib. The intolerance of Laud increases 
the emigrations from England, 436. 
Cicero, instance of liis ignorance in geography, 

450. 
Cinalna, political state of the people there, 478. 
Their mode of living, 481. Are destitute of 
all religion, 483. Extraordinary large gram ol' 
gold found there, 509. 
Cineguilla, in the province of Sonora, late dis- 
coveries of rich mines made tliere by the Spa- 
niards, 340. Probable effects of tliese disco- 
veries, 341. 
C7ar?o-f7-o,M., several of his objections answered, 

518, 519. 
Clement VI., Pope, erects the Canary islands into 

a kingdom, 33. 
Climates, influenced by a variety of causes, 
124. Their operation on mankind, 195. In- 
quiry into the cause of tlie dilfereul degrees of 
heat in, 462. 
Cochineal, an important production, almost pe- 
culiar to New Spain, 368. | 
Cold, extraordinary predominance of, in the cli- i 
mate of America, 124. Causes of this pecu- j 
liarity, 125. i 
Colonies, English American, project of settling 
them, 396. Two expeditions fail, 397. The 
first colony established in Virginia, 398. In 
danger of perishing by famine: it returns to 
England, 399. A second attempt made to 
settle there, but the colony perishes by famine, 
400. The scheme of settling there is aban- 
doned, ib. Circumstances in the reign of Eli- 
zabeth unfavourable to colonization, 401. The 
reign of James favourable to the establishment 
of colonies, ib. James divides the coast of 
■America into two parts ; the one called the first 
;or south colony of Virginia, the other tlie 
second or north colony, 402. He grants char- 
ters to two companies for the government of 
them, ib. Tenor and defects of those charters, 
403. Under these charters the settlements of 
the English in Virginia and New England were 
established, ib. Capt. Newport sails from 
England for Virginia, and discovers the Chesa- 
peak, 404. Sails up James river, and founds 
a settlement in Jamestown, ib. Its bad ad- 
ministration, ib. It is annoyed by the Indians, 
and suffers from scarcity and the unliealthiness 
of the climate, 405. Seasonable succours are 
Bent from England, 406. A survey of the 
country is undertaken, ib. Tlie colony depends 
for subsistence chiefly on supplies from the 
natives, 407. A change is made in the consti- 
tution of the company, and a new charter is 
granted with more ample privileges: ib. Lord 
Delaware is appointed governor of the colony, 
ib. Anarchy prevails there, 403. It is almost 
reduced by famine, ib. Lord Delaware arrives, 
and by his wise adrainistralion restores order 
and discipline, 409. His health obliges him to 
return to England, and he is superseded by Sir 
Thomas Dale, who esiablisles m.irtial law, 
ib. A new charter is issued to the colony, and 
new privileges are granted, 410. CuUivat'.on 
of the land is promoted, and a treaty entered 
into with the natives, ib. The land in Virginia 
becomes property, 411. The cultuia of tobacco 
js introduced, and its pernicious consequences, 
ib. The company in England send out a 
number of young women to induce the colo- 
nists to form more extensive plans of industry, 
412. Negroes are first introduced, ib. A 
new constitution is giveii to the colony, ib. A 
f eneral massacre of the English is planned by 
'J»e Indians, and e.xeciued in most-of the sui- 



tlements, 414. A bloody war is couuneneed 
with the Indians, and neither old nor young 
are spared, ib. The settlements extend, and 
industry revives, 415. Defects in the first con- 
stitution of the colonies, 417. King Charles's 
arbitrary government of them, 418. He grants 
them new privileges, 419. They flourish under 
the new govenimenl, 420. The colonists re- 
main attached to the royal cause, and parlia- 
ment makes war on Vh-ginia, which is obliged 
to acknowledge the Coimnonwealih, 420, 421. 
Restraints are laid on the trade of the colonies, 
421. The colonists are dissatisfied with these 
restraints, ib. Are the first to acknowledge 
Charles II., but their loyalty is ill rewarded, ib. 
Restraints on their commerce further extended 
by the navigation act, 422. Effects of the act, 
423. Colonists remonstrate against it, ib. The 
colony of Virginia is attacked by the Indians, 
ib. Discontents are produced by the grants of 
land by the crown, ib. A colony is established 
at New Plymouth in New England, 432. Plan 
of its government, ib. A grand council is ap- 
pointed, 433. A new colony is projected, ib. 
Settles at Massachusetts Bay, 434. The char- 
ter of the company in England being trans- 
ferred to the colonies, they extend in conse- 
quence of it, 436. The colonists increase, 437. 
New settlers arrive, 439. Sectaries settle in 
Providence and Rhode Island, 440. Theologi- 
cal contests give rise to a colony at Connecticut, 
441. Emigrants from Massachusetts Bay settle 
there, ib. Settlements are formed in the pro- 
vinces of New-Hampshire and Maine, ib. 
State of the colonies at the Revolution, 444. 
Are exempted from certain duties, 445. Enter 
into a league of confederacy, ib. Assume the 
right of coining, 446. Are patronized by Crom- 
well, who proposes to transport them to Ja- 
maica,' ib. They decline his offer, 447. See 
J\i~(W- England, Virginia, &c. 
Colonies, Spanish American, view of the policy 
and trade of, 347. Depopulation the first effect 
of them, ib. Causes of this depopulation, ib. 
The smali-pox very fatal to, 348. General idea 
of the Spanish policy in, ib. Early interposi- 
tion of the regal authority in, 349. An exclu- 
sive trade the first object in, 353. Compared 
with those of ancient Greece and Rome, 354. 
The great restrictions they are subject to, ib. 
Slow progress of their population from Europe, 
355. Are discouraged by the state of property 
there, ib. ; and by the nature of their ecclesi- 
astical policy, 350. The various classes of 
people in, ib. Ecclesiastical constitution of, 
360. Form and endowments of the church 
there, 361. Pernicious effects of monastic in- 
stitutions there, ib. Character of the eccle- 
siastics there, 362. Productions of, 365. The 
mines, 366. Those of Potosi and Sacotecas, 
ib. The spirit with which they are worked, 
ib. Fatal effects of this ardour, 367. Other 
commodities that compose the commerce of, 
368. Amazing increase of horned cattle there, 
ib. Advantages which Spain formerly derived 
from them, 369. Why the same advantages 
aje not still received, ib. Guarda costas em- 
ployed to check the contraband trade in, 375. 
The use of register ships uurnduced, 376 ; and 
galeons laid aside, ib. Company of the Ca- 
raccas instituted, 377. Establishment of regular 
packet boats to, 3^r8. Free trade permitted be- 
tween them, ib. New regulations in the go- 
verimient of, 380. Reformation of the courts 
of justice, ib. New distribution of govern- 
ments, ib. A fourth viceroyalty established, 
ib. Attempts to rfiform domestic policy, 381. 
Their trade with the Philippine islands, 383. 
Revenue derived frotn, bv Spain, ."584. Expense 
of administration there, 385. State of popu- 
lation in, 512. The number of raonasterie:i 
ther;. 515. See Mexico, Perv, &o 



INDEX. 



^31 



Columbus, Banholomew, is sent by liis brother 
Christopher to negotiate witli Henry VII. king 
of England, 46. The raisfortiiiies of his voy- 
age, 48. Follows his brotlier to Hispaiiiola, 
69, 70. Is vested witli tiie administration of 
aflairs there by his brother on his return to 
Spain, 73. Founds tlie town of St. Doniingo, 
77. 

, Christopher, birlh and education of, 

42. His early voyages, ib. Marries and settles 
at Lisbon, ib. His geographical retiections, 43. 
Conceive.s the id«a of making discoveries to 
the westward, 44. Offers his services to the 
Genoese senate, 45. Cause of his overtures 
being rejected in Portugal, 46. Applies to tlie 
courts of Casiile and England, ib. His propo- 
sal, how treated by the Spanish geographers, 
47. Is patronized by Juan Perez, 48. His 
proposals again rejected, 49. Is invited by 
Isabella, and engaged in the Spanish service, 
50. Preparations for his voyage, 51. The 
amount of his equipment, ib. Saiis from 
Spain, 52. His vigilant attention to all cir- 
cumstances during his voyage, ib. Apprehen- 
sions of his crew, ib. His address in quieting 
their cabals, ib. Indlcalionsof their approacli- 
iiig land, 54. An island discovered, 55. He 
lands, 56. His interview with the natives, ib. 
Names ilie island San .-^alvadore, ib. Prose- 
cutes liis discoveries southward, 57. Discovers 
and lands on the island of Cuba, ib. Discovers 
Hispaniola, 58. Suffers shipnvreck, but is saved 
by the Indians, 59. Builds a fort, 60. Returns 
to Europe, 61. His expedient to preserve the 
memory of his discoveries during a storm, 62. 
Arrives at the Azores, ib. Arrives at Lisbon, 
ib. His reception in Spain, 63. His audience 
with Ferdinand and Isabella, ib. His equip- 
ment for a second voyage, 65. Discovers the 
Carribbee islands, 66. Finds his colony on 
Hispaniola destroyed, ib. Builds a city, which 
he calls Isabella, 67. Visits the interior parts 
of the country, ib. His men discontented and 
factious, 68. Discovers the island of Jamaica, 
09. Meets his brotlier Bartholomew at Isa- 
oella, 70. The natives ill used by his men, 
and begin to be alarmed, ib. He defeats the 
Indians, 71. Exacts tribute from them, ib. 
Returns to Spain to justify his conduct, 73. Is 
furnished with a more regular plan for coloni- 
zation, 74. His third voyage, 75. Discovers 
the island of Trinidad, 76. Discovers the con- 
tinent of America, ih. State of Hispaniola on 
his arrival, ib. Composes the mutiny of Roldan 
and his adherents, 78. Is distressed by the 
factious behaviour of his men, 82. Complaints 
carried to Spain against him, ib. Is sent home 
in irons, 84. Clears his conduct, but is not 
restored to his authority, ib. His solicitations 
neglected, 8C. Forms new schemes of disco- 
very, ib. Engages in a fourth voyage, 87. 
His treatment' at Hispaniola, ib. Searches 
alter a pas.sage to the Indian ocean, 88. Is 
shipwrecked on the coa.st of Jamaica, 89. Ills 
artifice to secure the friendship of the Indians, 

90. Is delivered, and arrives at Hispaniola, 

91. Returns to Spain, ib. His death, 92. His 
right to the original discovery of America de- 
fended, 2il8. The spirit of adventure raised 
in England by his dis.ovories, 389. Is checlCed 
by the want of skill in navicaiion, ib. His 
system of opening a pass;ige to India by steer- 
ing a western course is adopted by Cabot, 390. 

, Don Diego, sues out his claim to his 

father's privileges, 97. Marries, and hocs over 
to Hispaniola, ib. Establishes a pearl-fishery 
at Cubasua, 98. Projects the conquest of Cuba, 
KKt. His mea.sures tirwartwl by Ferdinand, 
108. Returns to Spain, ib 
Commerce, thv era from which its commencement 
is to be dated, 17. Motives to an intercourse 
among di'tam nations, is. Ptilf flourished in 



the eastern empire after ilie subversion of iIic 
\ve.stern, 28. Revival of, in Europe, 31. 

Compass, mariner's, navigation extended more 
by the invention of, than by all the efforts of 
preceding ages, 32 By wiiom invented, ib. 

Condamine, M., his account of the country at 
the foot of the Andes, in South America, 465. 
His remarks on the character of th<- native 
Americans, 473. 

Congo, the kingdom of, discovered by tlie Portu- 
guese, 39. 

Constantinople, the consequence of removing 
the seal of the Roman Empire to, 27. Conti- 
nued a conunercial city after the extinction of 
the western empire, 28. Became the chief 
mart of Italy, 29. 

Cordova, Francisco Hernandez, discovers Yuca- 
tan, IIU. Is repulsed at Campeachy, and ro- 
tiu-ns to Cuba, ib. 

Corita, Alonzo, his observations on tlic contra- 
band trade of the Spanish colonies, 382, 3H:{. 
Character of his American memoirs, 500, .501, 

Cortes, Fernando, his birth, education, and cha- 
racter, 197. Is by Velasquez appointed coni- 
mander of the armament fitted out by him 
against New Spain, 198. Velasquez becomes 
jealous of him, 199. Velasqriez sends an or.-lor 
to deprive him of his commission, and lay him 
under an arrest, 199. Is protected by his 
troops, ib. The amount of his forces, 200. 
Reduces the Indians at Tabasco, 201 . Arrives . 
at St. Juan de Ulna, ib. His interview with 
two Mexican commanders, ib. Sends presenta 
to Montezuma, 203. Receives others in return, 
ib. His schemes, 205. Establishes a form of 
civil government, 207. Resigns his conunis- 
sion under Velasquez, and assumes the com- 
mand In the king's name, 207, 208. His friend- 
ship courted by the Zempoallans, 208. Builds 
a fort, 209. Concludes a formal alliance with 
several caziques, 210. Discovers a conspiracy 
among his men, and destroys his ships, 21J. 
Advances into the country, 212. Is opposed 
by the TIascalans, 213. Concludes a peace 
with them, 215. His rash zeal, 216. Proceeds 
to Cholula, 217. Discovers a conspiracy 
against him there, and destroys the inhabitants, 
ib. Approaches in sight of the capital city of 
Mexico, ib. His first interview with Monte- 
zuma, 218. Hl« anxiety ,it his situation in the 
city of Mexico, 221. Seizes Montezuma, 223. 
Orders liim to be fettered, 224. Reasons for 
his conduct, ib. Prevails oti MoiUezuma to 
own himself a vassal to the Spanish crown, 

225. Amount and division of his treasure, 

226. Enrages the Mexicans by his imprudent 
zeal, 227. An armament sent by Vela-squez 
to supersede him, 228. His deliberations on 
this event, 2.30. Advances to meet Nai vaez, 
231. Defeats Narvaez, and takes him pri- 
soner, 233. Gains over the Spanish soldiers tci 
his interest, ib. Returns to Mexico, 234. His 
improper conduct on his arrival, ib. Is reso- 
lutely att.ncked by the Mexicans, 235. Attacks 
them in return without success, ib. Death of 
Montezuma, S.36. His extraordinary escape 
from death, 237. Abandons the city of Mex- 
ico, ib. Is attacked by the Mexicans, ib. His 
great losses in the encounter, 238. Difficulties 
of his retreat, ib. Battle of Oliirnba, 239. 
Defeats the Mexicans, 240. Mutinous spirit 
of his troops, 241. Reduces the Tepeacans, 
242. Is strengthened by several reinforcements, 
ib. Returns towards Mexico, 243. F/Stablishes 
his head-quarters at Tezeuco, 244. Reduces 
or conciliates the surrounding country, ib. 
Cabals among his troops, 2-1,5. His prudence 
in suppressing them, ib Builds and launches 
a fleet of brigantines on the lake, 846. Be- 
sieges Mexico, 247. Makes a grand assault to 
take the city by storm, but is repulsed, 248. 
F.vades the Mexican prophecy, 250. Takos 



532 



INDEX. 



Guatimozln prisonrr, 251. Cains possession 
of the city, ib. ; and of the whole empire, 252. 
Defeats another attempt to supersede him iu 
his command, 25t). Is appointed governor of 
New Spain, ib. His schemes and arrange- 
ments, 256, 257. Cruel treatment of the na- 
tives, 257. His conduct subjected to inquiry, 
258. Returns to Spain to justify liimself, 25U. 
T.si rewarded by the emperor Charles V., ib. 
Goes back to Mexico witli limited powers, ib. 
Discovers California, 260. Returns to Spain, 
and dies, ib. Inquiry into the nature of.his 
letters to the emperor Charles V., 485. Authors 
who wrote cf his conquest of New Spain, ib. 

Council of the Indies, its power, 353. 

Creoles in the Spanish American colonies, clia- 
racter of, 356. 

C'roglan, Colonel George, his account of the dis- 
covery of tiie bones of a large e.xtinct species 
of animals in North America, 465. 

Crusades to tlie Holy Land, the great political 
advantiiges derived from, by the European na- 
tions, 2!t. 

Vrusado, bulls of, published regularly every two 
years in the Spanish colonies, 384. Prices of, 
and amount of the sale at the last pubhcation, 
523. 

Cuba, the island of, discovered by Christopher 
Columbus, 57. Is sailed round by Ocampo, 97. 
The conquest of, undertaken by Diego Velas- 
quez, 101. Cruel treatment of the cazique 
Haluey, and his repartee to a friar, ib. Co- 
lumbus's enthusiastic description of a harbour 
in, 453. The tobacco produced there the finest 
in all America, 368. 

Cubagna, a pearl fishery established there, 98. 

Cuniana, the natives of, revenge their ill treat- 
ment by the Spaniards, 118. The country de- 
solated by Diego Ocampo, ib. 

Cuzco, the capital of the Peruvian empire, founded 
by Manco Capac, 268. Is seized by Pizarro, 
278. Is besieged by the Peruvians, 382. Is 
surprised by Almagro, 283. Is recovered and 
pillaged by the Pizarros, 286, 287. Was th^ 
only city in all Peru, 338. 

Dancing, the love of, a favourite passion among 
the Americans, 185. 

JDarien, the isthmus of, described, 103. The in- 
crease of- settlement there obstructed by the 
noxiousness of the climate, 345. 

Delaware, Lord, is appointed governor of Virgi- 
nia, 407. His wise administration there, 409. 
Is obliged to return to England on account of 
his health, ib. 

Dr. Solis, his unfortunate expedition up the river 
Plata, 108. 

, Antonio, character of his Historia de 

la Conquista de Mexico, 486. 

/)' Esquildche, Prince, viceroy of Peru, his vi- 
gorous measures for restraining the excesses of 
the regular clergy there, 363. Rendered inef- 
fectual, ib. 

Diaz, Bartholomew, discovers the Cape of Good 
Hope, 40. 

Discoveries, the difference between those made 
by land and those by sea stated, 450. 

Doilmell, his objections to the Periplus of Hanno 
exploded, 448. 

Domingo, St., on the island of Hispaniola, found- 
ed by Bartholomew Columbus, 76, 77. 

Dominicayis, 'Vaose. in Hispaniola publicly remon 
strate against the cruel treatment of the Indians, 
109. See Las Casas. 

7'>rake, Sir Francis, sails round the world, 395. 

Drunkenness, strong propensity of the Americans 
to indulge in, 187. 

Earth, the globe of, how divided into zones by 

the ancients, 26. 
Egyptians, ancient, state of coramerco and na- 
, vigatlon among them. 19. 



El Dorado, wonderful loporls of a country so 
called, made by Francis Orellana, 290. 

Ek'pkanl, that animal peculiar to the torrid zone, 
465. 

Elizabeth, the reign of, auspicious to discovery, 
394. Siie encourages commerce, and secures 
the trade to Russia, 395. Circumstances in 
her reign unfavourable to colonization, 401. 
Her high 'ilea of lier superior skill in theology, ■ 
428, note. 

Escnrial, curious calendar discovered in the 
library there by Mr. Waddilove, 504. Descrip- 
tion of that valuable monument of Mexican 
art, ib. 

Esquimaux Indians, resemblance between them 
and tlieir neighbours the Greenlanders, 136. 
Some account of, 482. 

Eugene IV., Pope, grants to the Portuguese an 
exclusive right to all the countries tliey should 
discover, from Cape Non to tlie continent of 
India, 38. 

Europe,.hovi affected by the dismemberment of 
the Roman empire by the barbarous nations, 
27. Revival of commerce and navigation, 28. 
Political advantages derived from the cru- 
sades, 29. 

Ferdinand, king of Castile — see Coiumbus and 
Isabella — turns his attention at length to the 
regulation of American affairs, 95. Don Diego 
de Columbus sues out his father's claims 
against him, 97. Erects two governments on 
the continent of America, 98. Sends a fleet 
to Darien, and supersedes Balboa, 105. Ap- 
points Balboa lieutenant-governor of the coun 
tries on the South Sea, 106. Sends Dias dc 
Solis to discover a western passage to the Mo 
lucca.s, 108, Thwarts the measures of Diego 
Colunilius, ib. His decree concerning the 
treatment of the Indians, 109. 

Fernandez , Don Diego, character of his Historia 
del Peru, 495. 

, P., his description of the political 

state of the Chiquitos, 478. 

Figun-oa, Roderigo de, is appointed chief judge 
of Hispaniola, with a commission to examine 
into the treatment of the Indian natives, 113. 
Makes an experiment to determine the capacity 
of the Indians, 117. 

Florida, discovered by Juan Ponce de Leon, 101. 
The chiefs there hereditary, 164. Account of, 
from Alvara Nugnez Cabeca de Veca, 475. 

Flola, Spanish, some account of, 372. 

Fonseca, bishop of Badajos, minister for Indian 
affairs, obstructs the plans of colonization and 
discovery formed by Columbus, 72 75. Pa- 
tronizes the expedition of Alonzo de Ojeda, 80. 

Frobisher, Martin, makes three unsuccessful 
attempts to discover a north-east passage to 
India, 395. 

Galeons, Spanish, the nature and purpose of 
these vessels, 372. Arrangement of their vot- 
age, ib. 

Galvez, Don Joseph, sent to discover the true 
state of California, 341 

Gama, Vasco de, his voyage for discovery, 70. 
Doubles the Cape of Good Hope, ib. Anchors 
before the city of Melinda, ib. Arrives at Cale- 
cut, in Malabar, ib. 

Gamintr, strange propensity of the Americans 
to, 187. 

Ganges, erroneous ideas of the ancients as to the 
position of that river, 4.50. 

Gasca, Pedro de la, sent to Pern as president of 
the Court of Audience in Lima, 304. His 
character and moderation, ib. The powers he 
was vc«ited with, ib. Arrives at Panama, 305 
Acquires possession of Panama with the fleet 
and forces there, 306. Advances towards 
CuSicO. 307 Pizarro's troops desert to l)im, 
308. His moderate use of the victory ib 



INDEX. 



333 



Devises employment for hia soldiers, 310. His 
division of the country among his followers, 
311. The discontents it occasions, ib. Re- 
stores order and government, ib. His reception 
at his return to Spain, 311, 312. 

Gcminus, instance of his ignorance in geogra- 
phy, 451. 

Geography, the knowledge of, extremely confined 
among the ancients, 26. Became a favourite 
study among the Arabians, 28. 

Oiants, the accounts of, in our early travellers, 
unconfirmed by recent discoveries, 32. 472. 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, conducts the tirst colony 
to North America, 396. A charier is granted 
to him and his heirs, ib. Conducts anoUier ex- 
pedition, which ends disastrously, and in which 
he perishes, 397. 

Oioia, Flavio, the inventor of the mariner's com- 
pass, 32. 

Globe, its division into zones by the ancients, 26. 

Gold, why the first metal with which man was 
acquainted, IHO. K.vlraordinary large grain of, 
found in the mines at C'inaloa, 509. 

Gomara, character of his Cronica de la Nueva 
Espagna, 485. 

Good Hope, Cape of, discovered by Bartholomew 
Diaz, 40. 

Gosnold, Bartholomew, is the first who attempts 
to steer a direct course from England to Norlli 
America, 401. Descries Massachusetts Bay, 
and returns to England, ib. The consequences 
of his voyage, i'o. 

Oovernvient, no visible form of, among the native 
Americans, 163. Exceptions, 164. 

Gran Chaco, account of tlie method of making 
war among the natives of, from Lozano, 479. 

Granada, new kingdom of, iti America, by whom 
reduced to the Spauish dominion, 346. Its cli- 
mate and produce, ib. A viceroy lately esta- 
blished there, 351. 

Greeks, ancient, progress of navigation and dis- 
covery among them, 21. Their commercial 
intercourse with other nations very limited, 34. 

Greenland, its vicinity to North America, 136. 

Greenville, Sir Richard, establishes a colony in 
Virginia, which, being in danger of perishing 
by famine, is obliged to return to England, 398. 
Appears ofl^ the coast soon after the departure 
of the colony, and lands fifteen of his crew to 
keep possession of the island, who are destroyed 
by the savages, 399. 

Grijalva, Juan de, sets out from Cuba on a voy- 
age of discovery, 120. Discovers and gives 
name to New Spain, ib. His reasons for not 
planting a colony in his newly discovered 
lands, 121. 

Ouarda Costas, employed by Spain to check illi- 
cit trade in the American colonies, 375. 

Guatiinala, the indigo there superior to any in 
America, .368. 

Guatimozin, nephew and son-in-law of Monte- 
zuma, succeeds Quetlavaca in the kingdom of 
Mexico, 223. Repulses the attarks of the Spa- 
niards in storming the city of Mexico, iJ19. Is 
taken prisoner by Cortes, 251. Is tortured to 
discover his treasure, 252. Is hanged, 257. 

Guiana, Dutch, cause of the excessive fertility 
of tile soil there, 467. 

ffaliluyt, improves the naval and commercial 
skill of the age in which he lived, 402. Is em- 
powered to settle any part of the south colony 
of Virginia, ib, 

Hanno, his Periplus defended, with an account 
of his voyage, 448. 

Hatuey, a cazique of Cuba, his cruel treatment, 
and memorable repartee to a Franciscan friar, 
101. 

Hawkfsxcorlh'.i voyages, account of New Hol- 
land, and the inhabitants from, 476 

Heat, the dilfcrent degrees of in the old and new 
continents aecounted for, 462. Estimated, 466. 



Henry, prince of Portugal, his character and 
studies, 35. Expeditions formed by his order, 
36. Applies for a papal grant of his new dis- 
coveries, 37. His death, 38. 

Hcrrada, Juan de, assassinates Francis Pizarro, 

292. Dies, 293. 

Herrera, the best historian of the conquest of 
New Spain, 486. His account of Orellana's 
voyage, 499. 

Hispaniola, the island of, discovered by Christo- 
pher Columbus, 58. His transactions with the 
natives, ib. A colony lelt there by Columbus, 
61. The colony destroyed, 66. Columbus 
builds a city called Isabella, 67. The natives 
ill used, and begin to be alarmed, 70. Are de- 
feated by the Spaniards, 71. Tribute exacted 
from them, ib. They scheme to starve the 
Spaniards, 72. St. Domingo founded by Bar- 
tholomew Columbus, 77. Columbus sent home 
in irons by Bovadilla, 84. Nicholas de Ovando 
appointed governor, 85. Summary view of 
the conduct ol tlie Spaniards towards the na- 
tives of, 92. Unhappy fate of Anacoana, 94. 
Great produce from the mines there, ib. The 
inhabitants diminish, 90.. The Spaniards re- 
cruit them by trepanning the natives of the 
Lucayos, ib. x'\rrival of Don Diego de Colum- 
bus, 97, 98. The natives of, almost extirpated 
by slavery, 100, 108. Controversy concerning 
the treatment of them, 109. Columbus's ac- 
count of the humane treatment he received 
from the natives of, 453. Curious instance of 
superstition in the Spanish planters there, 466, 

Holguin, Pedro Alvarez, erects the royal standard 
in Peru, in opposition to the younger Almagro, 

293. Vaca de Castro arrives, and assumes the 
command, 294. 

Homer, his account of the navigation of the an- 
cient Greeks, 21, 22. 

Honduras, the value of that country, owing to 
its production of the logwood tree, 341. 

Horned cattle, amazing increase of them in Spa- 
nish America, 368. 

Horses, astonishment and mistakes of the Mexi- 
cans at the first sight of them, 489. Expedient 
of the Peruvians to render them incapable of 
action, 499. 

Huana Capac, inca of Peru, his character and 
family, 269. 

Huascar Capac, inca of Peru, disputes his bro- 
ther Atahualpa's succession to Quito, 269. Is 
defeated and taken prisoner by Atahualpa, ib. 
Solicits the assistance of Pizarro against his 
brother, 270. Is put to death by order of Ata- 
hualpa, 274. 

Hutchinson, Mrs., heads a sect of religious wo- 
men in New-England, who are denominated 
Antinomi.ins, 439. Her doctrines are con- 
demned by a general synod there, 440. 

Incas of Peru, received origin of their empire, 
268. Their empire fomided both in religion 
and policy, 331 . See Prru. 

India, the motives of Alexander the Great in his 
expedition .to, 23. The commerce with, how 
carried on in ancient times, 35 ; and when arts 
began lo revive in Europe, 28. The first voy- 
age made round the Cape of Good Hope, 79. 
Attempts to discover a north-west pxssage to, 
unsuccessful, 392. 395. .\n attempt made by 
the north-east to, 394. A company of mer- 
chants in England is incorporated to prosecute 
discoveries in, 393. A coinmnnlcation with, 
attempted bv land, :194 The design is encou- 

. ragi'd by Uueen Elizabeth, 395. 

Indians \v Spanish .\inerira See Americans. 

fndirs, West, why Columbus's discoveries were 
so named, ()4. 

Innncrnt IV., Pope, his extraordinary mission to 
the Prince of the Tartars, 30. 

Inquisition, court of, when and by whom first 
introduced into Portugal, 452. 



534 



INDEX. 



Itiseets and reptiles, why so numerous and nox- 
ious in America, )2c). 

Iron, tlie reason wliy savage nations were unac- 
quainted with this metal, ISO. 

Isabella, queen of Castile, is applied to by Juan 
I'erez in belialf of Clirislopher Columbus, 48. 
Is again applied to by Uuintamlla and Santan- 
gcl, ib. Is prevailed on to equip him, 50. Dies, 
93. Her real motives for encouraging discove- 
ries in America, 349. 

• , the city of, in Hispamola, built by 

Christopher Coliunbus, 67. 

Italy, tlie fixst country in Europe where civiliza- 
tion and arts revived after the overthrow of 
the Roman empire, iJ9. The commercial spirit 
of, active and enterprising, ib. 

Jamaica, discovered by ChristopherColumbus, 69. 

Jerome, St., three monks ot that order sent by 
Cardinal Ximenes to Hispamola, to regulate 
the treatment of the Indians, III. Their con- 
duct under this commission, ib. , are recalled, 
113. 

Jesuits, acquire an absolute dominion over Cali- 
fornia, 341. Their motives tor depreciatmg the 
country, ib. 

Jews, ancient state of commerce and navigation 
among them, iO. 

John I., king of Portugal, the first who sent ships 
to explore the western coast of Africa, 34. His 
son, Prince Henry, engages in these attempts, 
30. 

— - II., king of Portugal, patronises all attempts 
towards discoveries, 39. Sends an embassy to 
Abyssinia, 41. His ungenerous treatment of 
Columbus, 46. 

Ladrone islands, discovered by Ferainand Ma- 
gellan, 354. 

Lakes, amazing size of those in North America, 
123. 

Las Casas, Barltioloraew, returns from Hispa- 
mola to solicit the cause of the enslaved Indians 
at the court of Spain, 110. Is seni back with 
powers by Cardinal Ximenes, 111. Returns 
dissatisfied, 113. Procures a new commission 
to be sent over on this subject, 113 Recom- 
mends the scheme of supplying the colonies 
with Negroes, ib. Undertakes a new colony, 
114. His conference with the bishop of Darien 
before the emperor Charles V., U5, 116. Goes 
to America to carry his schemes into execution, 
116. Circumstances unfavourable to him, 117. 
Uis final miscarriage, 1)8. Revives his repre- 
sentations in favour of the Indians at the de- 
sire of tlie emperor, 295. Composes a treatise 
on the destruction of America, 296. 

Leon, Pedro Cieza de, character of his Cronica 
del Peru, 495. 

Lery, his description of the courage and ferocity 
of the Toupinambns, 479. 

Lima, the city of, in Peru, founded by Pizarro, 
231. 

Listen, Mr., the British minister at Madrid, his 
answer to several inloresting inquiries relating 
to the admission of Indians into holy orders, 
518. 

Logwood, the rommodity that gjves importance 
to the provinces of Honduras and Yuratan, 
341. Policy of thp Spaniards to defeat the 
English trade in 342. 

Louis, St., king of France, his embassy to the 
Chan of the Tartars, 31. 

I.oiano, his account of the method of making 
war among the natives of Gran Charo, 479. 

Luque, Hernando de, a priest, associates with 
Pizarro in his Peruvian expedition, 262. 

Madeira, the island of first discovered, 36. 

JUadoc, prince of North Wales, story of his voy- 
age and djscovcrv of North America examined, 
4.')fi. 



Magellan, Ferdinand, his accoujit of the gigantic 
size of the Patagonians, J47. The existence 
of this gigantic race yet to be decided, ib. His 
introduction to the court of Castile, 253. la 
equipped with a squadron lor a voyage of dis- 
covery, ib. Sails through the tamous strait 
that bears his name, 254. Discovers the La- 
drone and Philippine islands, ib. Is killed, ib. 

Magnet, its property of attracting iron known to 
the ancients, bui not its polai inclination, 18. 
Extraorduiary advantages resulting from this 
discovery, 32. 

Mala, St., account of its commerce with Spanish 
America, 374. 

Manco i 'apac, founder of the Peruvian empire, 
account of, 268. 

Mandeville, Sir John, his eastern travels, with a 
character of his writings, 31. 

Manila, the colony of, established by Philip U. 
of Spain, 383. Trade between, and Soutb 
America, ib. 

Mankind, their disposition and inamiers formed 
by their situation, 131. Hence resemblances to 
be traced in very distant places without com- 
munication, ib. Have uniformly attained the 
greatest perfection of their nature in temperate 
regions, 195. 

Marco Polo, the Venetian, his extraordinary tra- 
vels in the East, 31. 

Marcst, Gabriel, his account of the country be- 
tween the Illinois and Michilimackinac, 477. 

Marina, Donna, a Mexican slave, her liistorv, 
301. 

Marinus, Tyrius, his erroneous position of China, 
452. 

Martyr, Peter, his sentiments on the first disco- 
very '.f America, 457. 

Maryland. Sec Virginia. 

Massachusetts Bay. See America, Jfew-Eng- 
land, &c. 

Merchants, English, the right of property in the 
North American colonies vested in a company 
of, resident in London, 400. Charters are 
granted to two companies of, to make settle- 
ments in America, 402. Tenor and defects of 
tliese charters, 403. A new charter is granted 
to tlicm, with more ample privileges, 407. 
They are divided by factions, 415. An inquiry 
is instituted into their conduct, 416, They are 
required to surrender their charter, which they 
refuse, ib. A writ of gzio warranto is issued 
out against them, 417. They are tried in the 
court of King's Bench, and the company is 
dissolved, ib. Their charter is transferred to 
the colonies, 4 J 8. 

Mestizos, in the Spani-sh American colonies, dis- 
tinction between them and mulattoes, 357. 

Metals, useful, the original natives of America 
totally unacquainted with, 160. 

Mexicans, their account of their own origin, 
compared with later discoveries, J37. Their 
paintings few in number, and of ambiguous 
meaning, 314. Two c-'i!lections of them dis- 
covered, ib , note. Their language furnished 
with respectful terminations for all its words, 
501. How they contributed to the support of 
government, 502 Descriptions of their histo- 

■ rical pictures, ib. Various exaggerated accounts 
of the number of human victims sacrificed by 
them, .506. 

Mexico, arrival of Fernando Cortes on the coast 
of, 201. His interview with two Mexican offi- 
cers, 202. Information sent to Montezuma, 
will] some Spanish presents, 303. Montezuma 
sends presents to Cortes, with orders not to ap- ■ 
proacli his capital, ib. State of the empire at 
that time, 204. The Zempoallans court the 
friendship of Cortes, 208. Several caziques 
enter into alliance with Cortes. 209. Character 
of the natives of TIascala, 219. The Tlasca- 
lans reduced to sue for peace, 215. Arrival 
of Cortes at the canital city, 218, The citv 



INDEX. 



/JS 



deactibed, 220. Montezuma acknowledges 
himself a vassal to the Spanish crown, -£15. 
Amount of the treasure collected by Cortes, ib. 
Reasons of gold being Ibund in such small 
quantities, 227. Ttie .Mexicans enraged at the 
imprudent zeal of Cortes, ib. ; attack .\1 varado 
during the absence of Cortes, 233. Their reso- 
lute attack on Cortes when he retiu-nud, 235. 
Deatli of .Montezuma, 236. The city aban- 
doned by Cortes, ib. Battle of (Dtuaiba, 240. 
The Tepeacaus redaced, 242. Preparations of 
the Mexicans against the return of Cortes, 243. 
Cortes besieges the city with a lleet on the 
lake, 247. The Spaniards repulsed in storming 
the city, 249. Guatiniozin taken prisoner, 251. 
Cortes appointed governor, 256. His schemes 
and arrangements, 257. Inhuman treatment 
of the natives, ib. Recejition of the new 
regulations there, 258. List and character of 
those auUiors who wrote accounts of the con- 
quest of, 485. A retrospect into the form of 
^overtmient, policy, and arts in, 313. Our in- 
formation concerning, very imperfect, 314. 
Origin of the monarchy, 315. Number and 
greatness of the cities, 316. Mechanical pro- 
fessions there distinguished front each other, 
317. Distinction of ranks, ib. Political insti- 
tutions, 319. Power and solendour of their 
monarchs, 320. Order of government, ib. 
Provision for the support of it, ib. Police of, 
ib. Their arts, 321. Their paintings, il). 
Their method of computing time, 323. Their 
wars continual and ferocious, 324. Their fu- 
neral rites, ib. Imperfection of their agricul- 
ture, ib. Doubts concerning the extent of the 
empire, 325. Little intercourse among its 
several provinces, ib. Ignorance of money, 
326. State of tlieir cities, ib. Temples and 
other public buildings, ib. RpHgion of, 329. 
Causes of the depopulation of this country, 
347. The small-pox very fatal there, 348. 
Kumber of Indian natives remaining there, 
350. Description of the aqueduct for the sup- 
ply of the capital city, 502. See Colonies. 

Michael, St., the gulf of, in the South Sea, dis- 
covered and named by Balboa, 104. The 
colony of, established by Pizarro, 268. 

Migrations of mankind, why first made by land, 
17. 

Mind, hiunan, tJie efforts of it proportioned to 
the wants of the body, 151. 

Mines of South America, the great inducement 
to population, 340. Some account of, 306. 
Their produce, ib. The spirit with which they 
are worked, 367. Fatal etfects of this ardour, 
ib. Evidence of the pernicious effects of la- 
bouring in them, 514. Of Mexico, total pro- 
duce of, to the Spanish revenue, 523, 52^1. 

Molucca islands, the Spanish claims on, sold by 
the emperor (Charles V . to the Portuguese, 25o. 

Monastic institutions, (he pernicious effects of, 
in the Spanish American colonics, 361. Num- 
ber of convents there, 515. 

Monsoons, the periodical course of, wlien disco- 
vered by mtvigators, 25. 

Montesino, a Dominican preacher at St. Domingo, 
publicly remonstrates against tlie cruel treat- 
ment of the Indians, 109. 

Montezuma, the first intelligence received by the 
Spaniards of this prince, 121. Receives intel- 
ligence of the arrival of Fernando Cortes in 
his dominions. 203. His presents to Cortes, ib. 
Forbids him to approach his capital, ib. State 
of his empire at this time, 204. Hi5< character, 
ib. His iwrplexity at the arrival of the Spa- 
* liiards, ib. His timid negotiations with Cortes, 
206. His scheme for dc.^troyinc Cortes at Cho- 
lula discovered, 217. His irresolute conduct, 
218. His first interview with Cortes, 219. Is 
seized by Cortes, and confined to the Spanish 
quarters, 223. Is fettered, 224. Acknowledges 
hinuelf a vassal to the Spanish crown, 225 



Remains inflexible with regard to religion, 227. 
Circumstances of his death, 236. Account of 
a gold cup of his in England, .502. 
Mulattocs, in the Spanish American colonies, 
explanation of this distinction, 357. 

JVarvaez, Pamphilo, is sent by Velasquez witlj 
an armament to Mexico, to supersede ' ortes. 
22i(. Takes possession of Zempoalla. 231. la 
•defeated and taken prisoner by Cortes, 233. 
How he carried on his correspondence with 
Montezuma, 491. 

J\l'atchi:z, an American nation, their political in- 
stitutions, 164. Causes of their tame submis- 
sion to the Spaniards, 166. Their religious 
doctrines, ib. 

JVavigation, the arts of, very slowly improved 
by mankind, 17. The knowledge of, prior to 
commercial intercourse, ib. Imperfections of, 
among the ancients, IH. More improved by 
the invention of the mariner's compass than 
by all the efforts of preceding ages, 32. The 
first naval discoveries undertaken by Portugal, 
33. 

JVegrnes, their peculiar sittiation under the Spa- 
nish dominion in .America, 357. Arc first in- 
troduced into Virginia, 4!2 

J\rtw Kngland, first attempts to settle in, unsuc 
cessful, 426. Religious disputes give rise to 
the colony there, 427. A settlement is formed 
at New Plymouth in Massachusetts Bay, 432. 
Plan of its government, ib. All property ia 
thrown into a conunon stock, 433. A grand 
council is appointed, ib. A new colony is pro- 
jected at Massachusetts Bay, and a charter 
granted for its establishment, 434. Its settle- 
ment there, 435. A new church is instituted 
there, ib. Its intolerance, 436, Cliarter of the 
English company of merchants in London ia 
transferred to the colonies, ib. The colony 
at Massachusetts Bay extends, 437. None but 
members of the church are admitted as free 
men there, ib. Bad consequences of tins regu- 
lation, 438. The settlement increases, and the 
assembly is restricted to the representatives of 
freemen, ib. Extent of political liberty as- 
sumed by tb"; assembly, ib. Spirit of fanati- 
cism spreads in the colony, 439. New settlers 
arrive, and the doctrines of the Antinomians 
are condemned by a general synod, 440. Secta- 
ries settle in Providence and Rhode Island, ib. 
Theological conte.sts give rise to the colony of 
Connecticut, 441. Emigrants from Massachu- 
setts Bay settle in Connecticut, ib. The Dutch, 
who had establislied a few trading towns on 
the river there, peaceably withdraw, ib. Set- 
tlements are formed in the provinces of Nevr 
Hampshire and Maine, 442. Further encroach- 
ments of the English are resisted by the natives, 
ib. War with the Pequod tribes is commenced, 
443. Purification of the army, ib. The In- 
dians are defeated, ib. Cruelties exercised 
agaL'ist them, 444. Emigrations from England 
to the colonies are prohibited by proclamation, 
ib. Colony of Massachusetts Bay is sued at 
law, and found to have forfeited its rights, ib. 
Confederacy of the States in, 445. See Colo- 
nies. 

J^'ewfoundland, its situation described, 462. Dis- 
covery of, by Cabot, 390. 

J\ri'.ir Holland, some account of the country and 
inhnbilants, 476. 

JVcio Pltjmouik, settlement at, 432. See Colo- 
nirs, JVi^w England. 

JVew Spain, discovered and named by Juan de 
Grijalva, 120. See Mexico. 

J^igno, Alouso, his voyage to America, 81. 

J^orwrpians, might in ancient times have mi- 
grated to and colonized America, 136. 

Jfagnei Vela, Blasco, appointed viceroy of Peru, 
to enforce the new regulations, 297. His cha- 
racter, 299. Commits Vaca dc Castro to prison, 



636 



INDEX. 



jl). Dissensions between Iiim and tlie Court of 
Audience, 300. Is conhued, ib. Recovers liis 
liberty, 301. Resumes ins command, ib. Is 
pursued by Gonzalo Pizarro, ib. Is del'eaied 
and killed by I'izarro, 302. 

Ocampo, Diego, sent with a squadron from His- 
paniola to desolate the country of Cumana, 
117. 

', Sebastian de, first sails round Cuba^ 
and discovers it to be an island, 97 

Ocean, though adapted to facilitate the inter- 
course between distant countries, continued 
long a formidable barrier, 17. See Compass 
and Mavigatton. 

Ojeda, Alonzo de, his private expedition to the 
West Indies, 80. His second voyage, 85. Ob- 
tains a government on the continent, 98, 99. 

Olmedo, Father Bartholomew de, checks the 
rash zeal of Cortes at Tlascala in Mexico, 216. 
Is sent by Cortes to negotiate with Narvaez, 
230. 

* rellana, Francis, is appointed to the command 
of a bark built by Gonzalo Pizarro, and deserts 
him, 290. Sails down the Maragnon, ib. Re- 
turns to Spain with a report of wonderful dis- 
coveries, ib. Herrera's account of his voyage, 
499 

Orgognez, commands Alraagro's party against 
the Pizarros, and is defeated and killed by 
them, 286. 

Orinoco, the great river of, discovered by Chris- 
topher Columbus, 76. Strange melliod of 
choosing a captain among the Indian tribes on 
the banks of, 173. The amazing plenty offish 
in, 475. 

Otahcite, the inhabitants of, ignorant of the art 
of boiling water, 482. 

Otumba, battle of, between Cortes and the Mexi- 
cans, 239, 240. 

Ovanilo, Nicholas de, is sent governor to Hispa- 
niola, 85. His prudent regulations, ib. Re- 
fuses admission to Columbus, on his fourth 
voyage, 87. His iingenerous behaviour to Co- 
luiiibns on his shipwreck, 89, 90. Receives 
htm at length, and sends him home, 91. En- 
gages in a war with the Indians, 93. His cruel 
treatment of them, ib. Encourages cultivation 
and manufactures, 95. His method of trepan- 
ning the natives of the Lucayos, 96. Is re- 
called, 97. 

Pacific Ocean, why and by whom so named, 254. 

Packet boats, first establishment of, between 
Spain and her American colonies, 378. 

Panama, is settled by Pedrarias Davila, 107. 

Parmenides, the first who divided the earth by 
zones, 451. 

Patagonians, some account of, 147. The reality 
of their gigantic size yet to be decided, 472. 

Pedrarias Davila, is sent with a fleet to super- 
sede Balboa in his government of Santa Maria 
on the isthnuis of Darien, 105. Treats Balboa 
ill, 108. Rapacious conduct of his men, ib. 
Is reconciled to Balboa, and gives him his 
daughter, 107. Puts Balboa to death, ib Re- 
moves his settlement from Santa Maria to Pa- 
nama, ib. 

Penguin, the name of that bird not derived from 
the Welsh language, 456. 

Perez, Juan, patronizes Columbus at the court 
of Castile, 48. His soleuni invocation for the 
success of Columbus's voyage, 52. 

Periplns of Hanno, the authenticity of that work 
justified, 448. 

Peru, the first intelligence concerning Ihi.'s cotmtry 
received by Vasco Nugnez de Balboa, 104. 
'J'he coast of, first discovered by Pizarro, 264. 
Pizarto's second arrival, 267. His hostile pro- 
ceedings against the natives, ib. The colony 
of St. Michael established, 268. State of the 
empire at the time of this invasion, ib. The 



kingdom divided between ilua^car and Am- 
hualpa, 269. Atahualpa usurps the govern ■ 
ment, ib. Huascar solicits assistance from 
Pizarro, 270. Atahualpa vi.siis Pizarro, 272. 
Is seized by Pizarro, 273. Agreement for his 
ransom, ib. Is refused his hberty, 375. Is 
cruelly put to death, 277. Confusion of the 
empire on this event, ib. Uuito reduced by 
Benalcazar, 278, 279. Tlie city of Lima 
founded by Pizarro, 281. Chili invaded by 
Ainiagro, ib. Insurrection of the Peruvians, 

282. Almagro put to death by Pizarro, 287. 
Pizarro divides the country among his follow- 
ers, 288. Progress of tlie Spanish arms there, 
289. Francis Pizarro assassinated, 392. Re- 
ception of th(! new regulations there, 297, 298. 
The viceroy confined by the court of audience, 
300. The viceroy defeated and killed by Gon- 
zalo Pizarro, 302. Arrival of Pedro de la 
Gasca, 306. Reduttion and death of Gonzalo 
Pizarro, 308. The civil wars there not carried 
on with mercenary soldiers, 309. But never- 
theless gratified with immense' rewards, ib. 
Their profusion and lu.xury, ib. Ferocity of 
their contests, 310. Their want of faith, ib. 
Instances, ib. Division of, by Gasca, among 
his followers, 311. Writers who gave accounts 
of the conquest of, 493. A retrospect into the 
original government, arts, and manners of the 
natives, 313. The high antiquity they pretend 
to, 329. Their records, 330. Origin of tlieir 
civil policy, ib. Tliis founded in religion, 331. 
The authority of the incas absolute and tin- 
limited, ib. All crimes were punished capi- 
tally, 332. Mild genius of their religion, ib. 
Its influence on their civil policy, ib, ; and on 
their military system, 333. Peculiar state of 
property there, ib. Distinction of ranks, 334. 
State of arts, ib. Improved state of agricul- 
ture, ib. Their buildings, 335. Tlieir public 
roads, ib. Their bridges, 336. Their mode of 
refining silver ore, 337. Works of elegance, 
ib. Tlieir civilization, nevertheless, but im- 
petfect, 338. Cuzco the only place that had 
the appearance of a city, ib No perfect sepa- 
ration of professions, ib. Little commercial 
intercourse, ib. Their unwarlike spirit, lb. 
Eat their flesh and fish raw , 339. Brief ac- 
count of other provinces under the viceroy of 
New Spain, ib. Causes of the depopulation 
of this country, 347. The smallpox very fatal 
there, 348, Their method of building, 508. 
State of the revenue derived from, by the 
crown of Spain, 520. See Colonies. 

Peter I , czar of Russia, his extensive views in 
prosecuting Asiatic discoveries, 133. 

Philip It. of Spain, his turbulent disposition aided 
by his American treasures, 369, Establishes 
the colony of Manila, 383, 

Philip III., exhausts his country by inconsiderate 
bigotry, 370. 

Philippine Islands, discovered by Ferdinand Ma- 
gellan, 254. A colony established there by 
Philip 11. of Spain, 383. Trade between, and 
America, ib. 

Pkmnicians, ancient state of commerce and na- 
vigation among them, 19. Their trade, how 
conducted, 448. 

Phi/fir, the art of, in America, why connected 
with divination, 184. 

Pinto, Chevalier, his description of the charac- 
teristic features of the native Americans, 470, 

Pinzon, Vincent Yanez, commands a vessel 
under Columbus in his first voyage of disco- 
very, 51. Sails to America on a private ad- 
venture with four ships, 81, Discovers Yuca- 
tan, 97. 

Pizarro, Ferdinand, is besieged in Cuzco by the 
Peruvians, 282. Is surprised there by Alniag/o, 

283. Escapes with Alvarado 285. Defejids 

^- u_.-.i..- „. .1„ . «f annin <s>» I. 



his brother at the court of Spain. 288. 
committed to prison, ib. 



IxNDEX. 



537 



riiarro, Francisco, attends Balboa in his sfttlc- 
moiit on tlie istlunus of Darien, 100. Mardics 
uiidor liim acroBS tlie Istliiinis, wIktc lli<:y <li^«- 
co\cx tlioSoutliSea, 103. His birth, (•diicatioii, 
and character, 261. Associates with Alinagro 
and Dc Luque in a voyagi^ of discovery, iiti'i. 
His ill success, ib. Is recallt^d, and deserted by 
most of his followers, 203, -Hii. Keniains on 
the island of Gorgoiia for supplies, 264. Dis- 
covers the coast of Peru, ib. Returns to Pa- 
nama, 265. Goes to Spain to solicit reinforce- 
ments, ib. Procures the supreme command 
for himself, 206. Is assisted with money by 
Cortes, ib. I.,ands again in Peru, 267. His 
hostile proceedings against the natives, ib. 
Establishes the colony of St. Micliael, 268. 
State of the Peruvian empire at this time, ib. 
Cause of his easy penetration into the country, 
270. Is applied to by Huascar for assistance 
against his victorious brother .\tahualpa, ib. 
State of his forces, ib. Arrives atCaxamaIca, 
371. Is visited by the inca, 272. His perfi- 
dious seizure of him, 273. Agrees to Atahu- 
alpa's offer for his ransom, ib. Division of 
their plunder, 274. Refuses Atahualpa his 
liberty, 275. His ignorance exposed to Atahu- 
alpa, 276. Bestows a form of trial on the inca, 
ib. Puts him to death, 277. Advances to 
Cuzco, 278. Honours conferred on him by the 
Spanish court, 2.S0. Beginning of dissensions 
between him and .\lmaero, ib. His civil regu- 
lations, ib. Founds the city of Lima, 281. 
Insurrection of the Peruvians, 282, 283. Cuzco 
seized by Almagro, 284. Deludes .\lmagro by 
negotiations, 285. Defeats Almagro, and takes 
him prisoner, 286. Puts Almagro to death, 

287. Divides tlie country among his followers, 

288, 289. The impolitic partiality of his allot- 
ments, ib. MakeshisbrotherUonzalogovernor 
of Quito, 289. Is assassinated by Juan do 
Herreda, 292. 

, Gonzalo, is made governor of Quito 

by his brother Francis, 289. His expedition 
over the Andes, ib. Is deserted by Orcllana, 
290. His distress on this event, ib. His disas- 
trous return to Quito, 291. Is encouraged by 
the people to oppose Nugnez Vela, the new 
^•iceroy, 299. Assumes the government of 
Peru, 301. Marches against the viceroy, 302. 
Defeats and kills him, ib. Is advised by Car- 
vaja! 10 assume the sovereignty of the country, 
ib. Chooses to negotiate with the court of 
Spain, 303. Consultations of the court on his 
conduct, ib. His violent resolutioiis on the 
arrival of Pedro dc la Gasca, 305. Resolves 
to oppose him by violence, 306. Marches to 
reduce Centeno at Cuzco, 307. Defeats him, 
ih. Is deserted by his troops on the approach 
of Gasca, 308. Surrenders, and is executed, 
ib. His adherents men of no principle, 309. 

Plata, Rio de, discovered by Dias de Soils, 108. 
Its amazing width, 461. 

Playfair, Mr., prof<;ssor of mathematics in Edin- 
burgh, the result of his comparison of the nar- 
rative and charts eiven in Captain Cook's 
voyages, published in 1780, and Mr. Coxe's 
account of the Russian discoveries, printed in 
the same year, in which the vicinity of the two 
continents of Asia and America is clearly as- 
certained, 468, 469. 

riiny, the naturalist, instance of his ignorance in 
geography, 451. 

Fnnce de Leon, Juan, discovers Florida, 101. 
Romantic motive of his voyage, ib. 

Pnpulation. of the earth, slow progress of\ 17. 

Porlo Bello, discovered and named by Christo- 
pher Columbus, 8.S. 

Pitrto Riro, is settled and subjected by Juan 
Ponce de I>eon, 97. 

Porlo Santo, the first discovery of, 36. 

Portugal, when and by whom the court of In- 
quisition was first introduced into. 4.'>2. 
Vol. I.— RR 



Porlvgucsf, a view of the circumslances that 
induced thorn to undertake the disrovery of 
unknown countries, 33. First African disco- 
veries of, 34. Madeira discovered, 36. They 
double C;a|>c Bojador, ib. Obtain a papal grant 
of all the countries they should discover, 38. 
Ca(ie Verd islands and the Azores discovered, 
it). Voyage to the Kast Indies by Vasco do 
(Jama, 79. 

Pntosi, the rich silver mines there, how disco- 
vered, 366. Tlie mines of, greatly exhausted, 
and scarcely worth working, 519. 

Prisoners of war, how treated by the native 
Americans, 170. 

Property, the idea of, unknown to the native 
Americans, 161. Notions of the Brasilians 
concerning, 477. 

Protector of the Indians in Spanish America, his 
function, 359. 

Ptolemy, the philosopher, his geographical de- 
scriptions more ample and exact tlian those of 
his predecessors, 27. His Geography translated 
by the Arabians, 28. His erroneous position 
of the Ganges, 449. 

Quctlaitaca, brother of Montezuma, succeedsi 
him as king of Mexico, 243. Conducts in per- 
son the fierce attacks which oblige Cortes to 
abandon his capital, ib. Dies of the small- 
pox, ib. 

t^uevedo, bishop of Darien, his conference with 
Las Casas on the treatment of the Indians, in 
the presence of the einperor Charles V., 115. 

Qicksilver, the property of the famous mines of, 
at Guanacabelica, reserved by the crown ot' 
Spain, 519. The price of, why reduced, 520. 

Quinquina, or Jesuits' Bark, a production pecu- 
liar to Peru, 368. 

Quipos, or historic cords of the Peruvians, some, 
account of, 330. 

Quito, the kingdom of, conquered by Huanl 
Capac, inca of Peru, 269. Is left to his son 
Atahualpa, ib. Atahualpa's general revolts 
after his death, 278. Is reduced by the Spa 
niards mider Benalcazar, 278, 279. Benalcazar 
deposed, and Gonzalo Pizarro made governor, 
289. 

Raleiffk, resumes the jrian of settling colonies in 
North America, 397. Despatches Amadas and 
Barlow to examine the intended settlements, 
who discover Virginia, and return to England, 
397, 398. Kstablishes a colony in Virginia, 
which, on account of famine, is obliged to re- 
turn to England, 398, 399. Makes "a second 
attempt to settle a colony there, which perishes 
by famine, 400. Abandons the design, ib. 

Ramusio, his defence of Hanno's account of the, 
coast of Africa, 448. 

Register ships, for what purpose introduced in 
the trade between Spain and her colonies, 376, 
Supersede the use of the galeons, ib. 

Religion of the native Americans, an inquiry 
into, 179. 

Ribaf, his account of the political state of the 
people of Cinaloa, 481. Of their want of reli- 
gion, 483. 

Rio de la Plata and Tucuman, account of those 
provinces, 343. 

Rivers, the amazing size of those in America, 123. 

Robinson, Professor, his remarks on the tempera- 
ture of various climates, 4fi2. 

Roldan, Francis, is left chief justice inllispanioU 
hy Christopher Columbus, 73. Becomes the 
ringleader of a mutiny, 77. Submits, 78. 

Romans, their progress in navigation and discf^ 
very, 24. Thi'ir military spirit averse to nie 
chanical arts and comrnerce, ib. Navigation 
and trade favoured in the provinces under their 
government, 24,25. Their extensive disc^ve 
ries by land, 27. Their empire and the scipncr*- 
defltioyed together, ih. 



53U 



INDEX. 



Rubruquis, Father, liis embassy from France to 
the Chan of the Tartars, 31. 

Itansia, a trade to, opened by the English, 393. 
Restricted to a company of British merchants, 
ib. The connection with the Russian empire 
encouraged by Queen KUzabeth, 395. 

Mussians, Asiatic discoveries made by them, 134. 
Uncertainty of, 467. 

Saeolecas, the rich silver mines there, when dis- 
covered, 3G6. 

San Salvador, discovered and named by Ciiris- 
topher Columbus, 56. 

Hancho, Don Pedro, account of his history of the 
conquest of Peru, 495. 

Sandoval, the shocking barbarities executed by, 
in Mexico, 257. 

•, Francisco Tello de, is sent by the 

emperor Charles V. to Mexico, as visitador of 
America, 397. His moderation and prudence, 
ib. 

Savage life, a general estimate of, 189. 

Scalps, motive of the native Americans for taking 
them from their enemies, 479. 

f<srralvo, Marquis de, his extraordinary gains 
during his viceroyalty in America, 526. 

Seville, extraordinary increase of its manufac- 
tures by the American trade, 520. Its trade 
greatly reduced, ib. The American trade re- 
moved to Cadiz, 371. 

Silver ore, method of refining it practised by the 
native Peruvians, 337. 

Small-pox, Indian territories depopulated by, 438, 

Sonora, late discoveries of rich mines made there 
by tiie Spaniards, 340. 

Soul, American ideas of the immortaUty of, 
183. 

Soutk Sea, first discovered by Vasco Nugnez de 
Balboa, 104. 

Spain, general idea of the policy of, with regard 
to the American colonies, 350. Early interpo- 
sition of the regal authority in the colonies, ib. 
All the American dominions of, subjected to 
iwo viceroys, .352. A third viceroyalty lately 
established, ib. The colonies of, compared 
with those of Greece and Rome, 354. Advan- 
tages she derived from her colonies, 369. Why 
she does not still derive the same, ib. Rapid 
decline of trade, 370. This decline increased 
by the mode of regulating the intercourse with 
America, ib. Employs guarda costas to check 
illi(;it trade, 375. The use of register ships in- 
troduced, 376. Establishment of the company 
of Caraccas, 377. Enlargement of commercial 
ideas there, ib. Free trade permitted to several 
provinces, 378. Revenue derived from Ame- 
rica, 384. Specification, 523. 

Spaniards, their curious form of taking posses- 
sion of newly discovered countries, 459. 

Slrabo, a citation from, proving the great geo- 
graphical ignorance of the ancients, 449. His 
own want of geographical knowledge, 451. 

Superstition always connected with a desire of 
penetrating into the secrets of futurity, 184. 

Tapia, Christoval de, is sent from Spain to Mex- 
ico, to supersede Cortes in his command, but 
fails in the attempt, 256. 

Tartars, the possibility of their migrating to 
America, 135. 

Tithes of Spanish America, how applied by the 
court of Spain, 524. 

Tlascala, in Mexico, character of the natives of, 
213. Oppo.se the passage of the Spaniards, ib. 
Are reduced to sue for peace, 214, 215. 

Tobacco, that of Cuba the best flavoured of any 
in all America, :168. The use of, first intro- 
duced into England, 399. Culture of, in Vir- 
ginia, and its consequences, 411. Its exporta 
tion thence is annually increased, 412. Tratle 
for, opened with HoilamI, 413. Grants and 
monopoly of 418, 4 Hi. 



Toupinambos, account of their ferociouatouragc, 
from Lery, 479. 

Trade, no efforts made in England to extend it 
in the reign of Henry VII. or liis immediate 
successors, 391. To what causes that neglect 
was owing, ib. 

, free, opened between Spain and her colo- 
nies, 378. Increase of the Spanish customs 
from this measure, 522. 

winds, tlie periodical course of, when dis- 
covered by navigators, 25. 

Travellers, ancient, character of their writings, 
31, .32. 

Trinidad, the island of, discovered by Christopher 
Columbus on his third voyage, 76. 

Tucuman and Rio de la Plata, account of those 
provinces, 343. * 

Tyre, the commerce of that city, how conducted, 
448. 

Ulloa, Don Antonio de, his description of the 
characteristic features of the native Ameri- 
cans, 479. His reason for the Americans not 
being so sensible of pain cis the rest of man- 
kind, 480. His account of the goods exported 
from Spain to America, with the duty on them, 
525. 

faca de Castro, Christoval, is sent from Spain 
to regulate the government of Peru, 288. Ar- 
rives at Quito, 293. Assumes the supreme 
authority, ib. Defeats young Alinagro, 294. 
The severity of his proceedings, ib. Prevents 
aix insurrection concerted to oppose the new 
regulations, 298. Is imprisoned by the new 
viceroy, 299. 

Valverde, Father Vincent, his curious harangue 
to Ataliualpa, inca of Peru, 273. Gives his 
sanction to the trial and condemnation of Ata- 
hualpa, 277. 

Vega, Garcilasso de la, character of his com- 
mentary on the Spanish writers concerning 
Peru, 495. 

Vegetables, their natural tendency to fertilize the 
soil where they grow, 129. 

Velasquez, Diego de, conquers the island of Cuba, 
100. 1 18. His preparations for invading New 
Spain, 197. His difliculty in choosing a com- 
mander for the expedition, ib. Appoints Fer- 
nando Cortes, 198. His motives to this choice, 
ib. Becoraessuspiciousof Cortes, 199. Orders 
Cortes to be deprived of his commission, and 
arrested, ib. Sends an armament to Mexico 
after Cortes, 228. 

Venegas, P., his character of the native Califor- 
nians, 474. 

Venereal disease, originally brought from Ame- 
rica, 148. Appears to be wearing out, 149. 
Its first rapid progress, 472. 

Venezuela, history of that settlement, 345. 

Venice, its origin as a maritime state, 29. Travels 
of Marco Polo, 31. 

Verd Islands, discovered by the Portuguese, 38. 

Viceroys, all the Spanish dominions in America 
subjected to two, 351. A third lately esta- 
blished, ib. Their powers, ib. A fourth esta- 
blished, 380. 

Villa, Segnor, his account of the state of popu- 
lation in New Spain, 511. His detail of the 
Spanish American revenue, 523. 

Villefagna, Antonio, one of Cortes's soldiers, 
foments a mutiny among his troops, 345. Is 
discovered by Cortes and hanged, ib. 

Virginia, first discovery of, 398. Attempt to 
settle there unsuccessful, 398, 399, A second 
attempt to settle there, when the colony per- 
ishes by famine, 400. The scheme of settling 
there abandoned, ib. Is divided into two colo- 
nies, 402. Charters are granted to two corn- 
panies to make settlements in, ib. Captain 
Newport sails from England to, and discovers 
the Chosapeak. 404. He proceeds up James 



INDEX. 



539 



nvfcr, ami founds a colony in Jamestown, ib. 
Its bad administration, ib. Captain Smitii is 
excluded t'rum liis seat at t]iu council board, 
405. Tlie colony is annoyed liy the Indians, 
and suffers from scarcity and the unliealthiness 
of tlie climate, ib. Sniitli is recalled, and the 
prosperity of the colony restored, ib. He is 
taken prisoner by tlie Indians, liis life spared, 
and his liberty obtained through the interces- 
sion of the favourite daughter of an Indian 
chief, 405, 406. Returns to Jamestown, and 
finds the colony in distress, 408. The colonists 
are deceived by the appearance of gold, ib. A 
survey of the country is uudertakeii by Smith, 
ib. The company obtains a uvw ciiarier Willi 
more ample privileges, 407. The jurisdiction 
of the council in, is abolished, and the govern- 
ment vested in a council resident m London, 
ib. Lord Delaware is appointed governor and 
captain-general of tlie culouy, and Sir Thomas 
Gates and Sir George Summers are vested with 
the command till his arrival, ib. The vessel 
in which they embark is stranded on the coast 
of Bermudas, ib. Smith returns to England, 
and anarchy prevails in the colony, 408. The 
Indians withhold supplies, and the colony is 
reduced by famine, ib Gales and Summers 
arrive from Bermudas, and find the colony in 
a desperate situation, ib. They are about to 
return to England, when Lord Delaware ar- 
rives, 409. He reconciles all diffeiences, and 
perfectly restores subordination, ib. Is obligi'd 
to resign the government, and return to Eng- 
land on account of his health, ib. Is super- 
seded by Sir Thomas Dale, who establishes 
martial law, ib. .Another charter is granted 
to the colony, with new privileges, 410. The 
land is cultivated, and a treaty concluded with 
the Indians, ib. Rolfe, a man of rai\k in the 
colony, marries the daughter of an Indian 
chief, ib. The land first becomes property, 
4U. The culture of tobacco is introduced, ib. 
The quantity e.xported increases every year, 

412. Negroes are first introduced, ib. A ge- 
neral assembly of representatives is formed, 
ib. A new constitution is given to the colony, 
and a trade for tobacco opened with Holland. 

413. The necessary precautions for the defence 
of the colony being neglected, a general mas- 
sacre of the English is planned by the Indians, 
and executed in most of the settlements, 413, 

414. A bloody war is commenced with the 
Indians, 414. Their plantations are attacked, 
and the owners murdered, 415. A few escape 
to the woods, where they perish with hunger, 
ib. The settlements extend, and industry re- 
vives, ib. The strength of the colony is consi- 
derably weakened, 418. A temporary council 
is appointed for its government, ib. The arbi- 
trary govenmient of the colonies on the acces- 
sion of Charles L, ib. The colonists seiEe Sir 



John Harvey, the governor, and send him pri 
soner to England, 419. He is released by llio 
king, and reinstated in his government, ib. Is 
succeeded by Sir Jotm Berkeley, whose viha 
administration is productive of the best eflects, 
ib. New privileges are granted to the colony, 
which tiourishes under the new government, 
420. It is attacked by the Indians, 423. Dis- 
contents are produc ed by grants of land from 
the crown, ib. An insurrection breaks out, 
and the governor and council are firced to fly, 
424. They apply to Enjilaiid for succour, 4-25. 
The rebellion is terminated by the death of 
Nathaniel Bacon, ib. The governor is rein- 
slaied, and an assembly called, il). The mo- 
deration of its proceedings, ib. General st.ate 
of the colony tUl the year 1688, 426. See 
Colonies, 
f^olcaiios, remarkable number of, in the northern 
parts of the globe, discovered by the Russians, 
467. 

Wafer, Lionel, his account of a peculiar race of 
diminutive Americans, 146. Compared with 
similar productions in Africa, ib. 

H'ar song of the native Americans, the seuli- 
ments and terms of, 479. 

Willougkby, Sir Hugh sails in search of a north- 
east passage to India, 393. Steers along the 
coast of Norway, and doubles the North Cape, 
ib. His squadron is separated in a storm, and 
his ship driven into an obscure harbour in Rus- 
sian Lapland, where he and all bis companions 
are frozen to death, ib. 

fVomen, tlie condition of, among the native Ame- 
ricanH, 153, 154. Arc not prolific, 154. Arc 
not permitted to join in their drunken feasts, 
lea. Nor to wear ornaments, 481. 

A'«rcz, Francisco de, secretary to Pizarro, the 
earUest writer on his Peruvian expedition, 495. 

Ximenes, Cardinal, his regulations for the treat- 
ment of the Indians in the Spanish colonies, 
111. Patronizes the attempt of Ferdinand 
Magellan, 253. 

Yucatan, the province of, discovered by Pinzoii 
and Dias de Solis, 97. Described, 460, 161. 
From whence that province derives its valiii", 
342. Policy of the court of Spain with respect 
to, ib. 

Zarate, Don Augustine, character of his History 
of the Conquest of Peru, 495. 

Zones, the earth how divided into, by the geo- 
graphy of the ancients, 26. By whom first so 
divided, 451. 

Zummaraga, Juan de, first bishop of Mexico, 
the destroyer of all the ancient records of the 
Me.tican empire, 314. 



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